Senmaizuke Turnip and Kombu Tsukemono

05Feb09

The most common turnip (Tokyo turnip) in Japan is only about 2 inches in diameter, but the Kyoto turnip (shougoin kabu) is extraordinarily large and is used for the famous senmaizuke pickles, which translates literally as thousand sheet pickles and that is exactly what they look like. Pickling them is a traditional preparation for winter around Kyoto. The thin slices are layered in barrels with salt and weighted for several days. This recipe is a quick version—it takes only a few hours.

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Tags: Japanese Recipes, Tsukemono, turnips

Garlic Miso Turnip Tsukemono

03Feb09

This recipe may look familiar, because I’ve made it before. This time, however, I used turnips instead of radishes. This would have been very pretty with tiny baby turnips, but unfortunately I’d purchased some rather large turnips. The plan was to make “Senmaizuke” in which the turnips are sliced into paper thin circles and layered with kombu. The picture in my book shows them cut into pretty white and dark green layered squares.

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Tags: Tsukemono, Japanese Recipes

Cucumbers in Spicy Soy Sauce

27Jan09

If you are trying to add more vegetables or salads to your diet, I highly recommend this book: Easy Japanese Pickling in five minutes to one day. This dressing is written to be used with small Japanese eggplants, but Ms. Ogawa suggests that cucumbers make a nice variation. It’s an easy and original way to serve either vegetable.

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Tags: Tsukemono, Japanese Recipes, cucumbers, Japanese Cooking

Broccoli Asazuke

30Jul08

This is another Japanese quick pickle (tsukemono). I never would have come up with the idea of eating broccoli and apples together, but it makes a pretty combination of green, red, and white, crunchy and soft.

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Tags: Tsukemono, broccoli

Cauliflower Tsukemono with Citrus and Kombu

25Jun08

Citron is the name for many different botanically related fruits. Some of my research indicated that a cook could use a “sour orange” from various Mediterranean counties (also not available), a many fingered citron called “Budha’s Hand” from China, or a grapefruit. I bought and tasted the rind of a grapefruit, and found it unpleasant. Apparently citrons have thick skins and a small amount of very sour juice. Maybe, sort of like grapefruits…

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Tags: Tsukemono, Japanese Recipes