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.
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.
In the fridge was a package of baby bella mushrooms. When I’m grocery shopping the beautiful displays of fruits and vegetables inspire me to over imagine what I’ll cook. The mushrooms were fresh and firm, full of promise though I had no recipe in mind. They were on sale. That was a week ago, and they were still in the fridge. Though the following recipe calls for using a variety of mushrooms, it was very nice with only the one kind.
I made a nice welcome-home dinner because Mr. Tess is back for a couple of weeks. I had some pretty little cucumbers in the fridge, and while I love cucumbers with just a little salt, he’s not a big fan of them. To make them more special, I found a recipe called Tosa-Style Cucumbers. Without prompting, he told me the cucumbers were really delicious. I started wondering exactly what does “Tosa-style” mean?
Pickling: Tsukemono Pickles are a vast domain in Japanese cuisine with an endless variety of delicate and strong pickled foods, preserved in many different ways. The pickles I’ve made are all quick and simple to make, so I’m missing most of that variety. From “Easy Japanese Pickling—in five minutes to one day” by Seiko Ogawa…
This is a non-Japanese recipe. After the anticipation of planting last spring, our beautiful variety of tomatoes was mostly devoured by woodchucks, our harvest was meager. Though we covered the plants, an early frost got most of the large green tomatoes. I did save some of the green cherry tomatoes, and made 6 jam jars of green cherries.
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.
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…
Garlic in Kombu Soy Sauce Tsukemono
from Easy Japanese Pickling
Use in chow mein, in fried rice, or as a sauce for tofu salad.
Tori Namban-zuke is a versatile Japanese recipe that can be served hot or cold. This recipe is quick and easy, but allow time for the chicken to marinate over-night. It will keep in a refrigerator for up to 5 days. Make it ahead in preparation for a busy day at work, or even better, for a party.
This quick to make Japanese tsukemono is sweet and salty. Use a light sweet miso for sweeter flavor, a dark strong miso for a saltier vegetable. As with all of this Japanese cooking, I’m not quite sure what I’m aiming for. I made this twice in the past few days: the first time the pictures were terrible. The second time, I sliced the carrots too thin and they got over-cooked and soft, but here are the pretty pictures. The original recipe called for 2 carrots for 4 people, but there was too much dressing (in my mind) for the amount of veg.
Acharazuke: Turnip Persimmon Pickles
serves 3 to 4
from Japanese Pickling, page 48
The following is an adaptation of the recipe in the book in order to use ingredients on hand. My version has more persimmons or less turnips than the original, and I used more chile peppers. If you can’t find dried persimmons, dried apricots would be a possible substitute.
Tess's Japanese Kitchen 