beautiful yudofu. beyudoful.

this is why i need you people to keep me in check.  i start punning.

yudofu

what is it?  a beautiful, light tofu dish that can be served warm or cold.

how long does it take?  this is the brilliant part.  about 15 minutes.

i love japanese cooking because with simple techniques and the same

few ingredients, you can make endless combinations of dishes.

what is bonito?

...what IS bonito?  bonito is a common japanese ingredient.  it's a predatory fish

native to asia that is dried, shaved, and used either as a garnish or a base in recipes

and sauces.  ghee is to indian food what bonito is to japanese food.

in the past, bonito came in big plastic bags, shredded like coconut flakes.

it's become a lot more processed in modern times, mostly for speed and ease

of use.

Eden brand bonito flakes, traditional style.  Between $6 and $8
at Whole Foods Market.

bonito pellets.  Usually between $2-$6 at Asian grocers.

the pellet brand and similar brands powder the bonito and combine it with kombu,

salt, sugar, MSG, and some processed compounds i can neither pronounce nor digest.

this is one of those cases where traditional food has become doctored and processed

in the name of "convenience."  it's so SO important to read ingredients.  i love eden brand

because i can trust that there's no funny business hidden in the label.  i used to cook with

the pellets, but it always left me feeling dehydrated and puffy.  on the contrary, after cooking

with the eden flakes, i felt light and wonderful.

real, whole foods are beautiful <3 p="">

making yudofu

ingredients

--tofu--

1 package silken tofu

--sauce--

4 tbsp shredded dried bonito flakes (eden is a great brand)

1 3 inch strip dried kombu

1/3 cup shoyu or 1/4 cup tamari

1 tbsp mirin

3 cups water

--garnish--

2 scallions

1 sheet roasted nori

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

rinse kombu in cold water.  place kombu in three cups cold water in a medium-sized

saucepan and bring to a boil.  once boiling, add bonito flakes, lower temperature,

and simmer for ten minutes.*

add mirin, tamari/shoyu, and bring back to a rolling boil.

cube silken tofu and GENTLY place it on a spoon with a strainer.  lower into

boiling sauce for 2-3 minutes.  gently lift and roll tofu cubes into a shallow bowl.

once all cubes are boiled, take sauce off the heat.  pour sauce over tofu using a strainer

to remove any stray tofu or bonito flakes that may be lurking around.

cover in grated fresh ginger, scallions, shredded nori, and enjoy!

*i save time here by stuffing the bonito in a tea or coffee filter and tie it off at the top.

this means i don't have to strain the sauce at the end.  it's just a convenience thing.

you certainly don't have to do it, but it IS easier.

Leek Soup

Red Velvet cake.
That was how I was supposed to spend my birthday.
Then I got really sick and spent the day in bed.  I ordered this big, beautiful vegan/gluten-free red velvet birthday cake, then drove my sick butt 20 minutes across town to get it.  I took it home, set it on the kitchen counter, and just looked at it mournfully before putting it in the fridge downstairs.

I think I got sick because of the perfect storm:

+ Went to chic bars two days before moving. (Side note: I'm mostly mentioning this not because I think it made me sick, but because I want to brag on the internet about how I went to a New York City speakeasy with leather couches.  Yeah, it had a mahogany bar.)
+ Dug through the attic moving boxes
+ Seasonal pollen

I woke up on my birthday feeling rotten, so I decided to make a slow-simmer dish to justify laying on the couch watching Law & Order for five hours.

- + leek soup + -

My guide to stocks will be helpful before making this dish.  Don't just buy veggie stock boxes.  I promise it will taste much better homemade.  If you do use a box stock, make sure it doesn't have tomatoes or sugar.  That will alter the flavor significantly.

+ 2 leeks

+ 1 gallon spring water

- stock -

+ 2 carrots

+ 1/2 onion

+ shiitake stems

+ scallions
+ 1/4 cup rough-chopped parsley
+ 1/4 cup rough-chopped cabbage
+ 1/4 cup napa cabbage
+ 2 bay leaves
note:  The above ingredients are what went into my stock.  Yours can have anything.  Again, see my guide to stocks link above for details.
- stock seasoning -
+ 2 tbsp. mirin
+ 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
+ dash ume vinegar
+ sea salt and tamari to taste

Bring gallon of water to boil in a large soup pot.  Add stock ingredients, lower heat, and simmer 45 minutes to 1 hour.  After 45 minutes, check on the water level in your pot (it should have descended between 1-2 inches) and add your stock seasonings.  Simmer another 15 minutes or as necessary.

In a separate soup pot, stir-fry chopped leeks until bright green.  If you're going oil-free, you can water-saute them.  I used olive oil.

Pour soup stock through strainer into your leek pot, covering your leeks and oil with soup stock.  Throw away or compost stock veggies.  Simmer soup another 10-15 minutes, taste for seasoning, and serve!

This was one of my favorite recipes I've ever made.

Battle of the Brines

Salt or pepper?
Sweet or savory?
Glazed or frosted?

Welcome to the Battle of the Brines, where we debate the age-old question of ume or shoyu.

I used tamari to make them gluten-free.

Before we begin, I should note that I forgot to add water and did 100% tamari, so these pickles are going to be black as a bat turd in a cave at midnight.

They probably taste saltier.

Chop two daikon radishes into paper-thin slices.  

As you can see, ours are a little thicker.  

This is what happens when you pickle at midnight.  

If you have a benriner mandolin, use that.

Split the daikon into two batches.  

Batch A will become ume pickles.  

Here my lovely hand model has sprinkled 

1 teaspoon of sea salt into Batch A.

This is the batch that will become the ume pickles.

She is kneading the daikon until they begin to weep water.  This takes about 3-4 minutes.

This is the part I forgot to photo-document.  So this is what it looked like:

The white things are daikon slivers, which are square in Photoshop-adelphia.

We are adding ume vinegar until we're about 1/2" below the top of the pickles.  

The pickles will release more water overnight.  

Squish those pickles down as low as they can get, and cover them with a cabbage leaf.

Comme ça.  Daikon, ume vinegar, and cabbage leaf.  

This cabbage leaf will mold.  That's ok.  

That's what it's there for.  Don't eat it.  

Cover your jar in cheesecloth and place in a warm, dry spot for the next 3-5 days!

Now place Batch B in the recently vacated bowl.

Add 2 tsp. shoyu or tamari and knead for 3-4 minutes.

Add daikon, tamari/shoyu, and water to the jar until pickles are almost covered.

2 parts tamari/shoyu to 1 part water.

Cover with a cabbage leaf and cheesecloth, and wait 4-5 days!

Check back in on Friday and we'll let you know which pickle was more delicious!

Slow and Steady Nishime

It's midnight.
The only light in the kitchen is the fridge.
I've got a chocolate pie slice. 
And a microwave.  
The whole world is asleep.  
I'm in fuzzy jammies.

Are you with me?

Okay, we're going to do a complete 180.  It's 4:30 on a Wednesday afternoon, my fridge is packed with random crap ranging from dijon mustard to old white rice, I'm starving, and I think my blood sugar is about to render me insensate.  Let's slow-cook a crock pot of whole root vegetables for an hour.

What is nishime?

In the macrobiotic definition, it's a slow-cooking root vegetable dish that has grounding and gentle balancing energy.  It's great for people with excessive yin conditions going on.  I like it because it curbs my sugar and salt cravings.

It's not chocolate pie.  I'm not in fuzzy jammies.  But I also pay approximately $0 in medication, down from a previous $200 per-month, so I think I'll go cry about it into my very expensive sweater.

What vegetables can I put in nishime?


- daikon
- carrot
- turnip
- rutabaga
- parsnip
- celeriac
- celery

And just to be wild and crazy, today I accented my nishime with...  fiddlehead fern!

nishime with sweet + sour sauce

 Select your veggies.  Today I'm making my small dish of nishime (2 servings) with turnip, parsnip, daikon, carrots, and celery.

Roll cut your cylindrical veggies (in my case, parsnip, daikon, and carrots).  To do this, cut at a diagonal, slicing each previous diagonal in half to get chunky, uneven slices.  I'm posting a video on how to do this later this week.

This is my bowl of roll-cut daikon.  Each piece is about 2"x 2"x2"

As you roll-cut your veggies, the most important thing is NOT shape.  It's size.  If your pieces are uneven, they'll cook unevenly.  Try to get them all the same size.

My finished veggies.  I like to finish all my cutting first and place my ingredients in separate bowls so I know what I have.

Layer veggies in a soup pot.  I placed these in circles so you can see what went on bottom (outer rings) to the top (middle of the pot).  Daikon and parsnip on bottom, followed by carrots, turnips, and my lightest veggie, celery, on top.

Add about 1/2 to 1 inch of filtered water, bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer for 40 minutes to an hour, until vegetables are bright but soft enough to eat without chomping.

It was my friend's first time eating nishime, so I made a sauce out of 1 tsp. kuzu, 1 tbsp. ume vinegar, and 1 tsp. brown rice syrup, mixed with a little cold water and poured over the finished veggies.  

Enjoy with a grain, a quick veggie, and a smile!