Japanese Dinner #3

I was up near the Japanese food store today, and decided to make another Japanese-themed dinner.

I made miso soup, negi-toro, asparagus with vinegar-miso, and a teriyaki dish.

First, a word on miso pastes. There are many types of miso pastes these days, the two main ones being akamiso (red miso) and shiromiso (white miso)... Both contain rice and soybean that have fermented. However red miso undergoes a longer fermentation that gives it a deeper colour and more intense flavor.

Asparagus with Vinegar-Miso:
I made the asparagus with vinegar-miso according to the recipe in 'The Japanese Kitchen' - see yesterday's post. This recipe doesn't involve butter or cooking the paste. I think that it was plenty good without all the butter of my hollandaise version, though it could use some thickening... maybe if I cook it briefly?

Teriyaki:
I made a fresh teriyaki sauce:

• 1/4 cup tamari soy sauce (soy sauce)
• 1 cup water
• fresh grated ginger (about 1 tbsp or to your taste)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup cold water

It's simple to make... just mix all the ingredients, except for the cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water, and heat in a pan. Mix the cornstarch with the cold water, then stir it into the hot sauce to thicken it.

The teriyaki dish was pretty simple, too. I cooked some chicken in a pan with sesame oil, and sauteed some maitake mushrooms in another pan with vegetable oil. Place the chicken and mushrooms atop some udon noodles, poured the teriyaki sauce over, then topped with some freshly toasted sesame seeds.

Nothing too special... this recipe for teriyaki sauce worked well.