Shojin Japanese cooking class

Hiryozi to daikon no nimono - Deep-fried tofu cake and daikon stew

On Monday night my husband and I attended a Shojin Japanese Cuisine cooking class at PCC, our local food coop. Our instructor, Kanako, told us that shojin cuisine refers to vegetarian cooking that originated in the Buddhist monasteries. The dishes she made reminded me of some of the macrobiotic dishes I used to cook. In my last post I made a humorous reference to a time when I followed a macrobiotic diet (honest fact #9), but in reality I loved the food we consumed during those years. (The modern macrobiotic diet was made popular by Michio Kushi, and was based on traditional Japanese cooking.) This class made me reflect on how much I enjoyed Japanese food, and why I should restock my pantry with such things as sea vegetables, daikon, mirin and sake!

The first thing Kanako made was dashi, a Japanese broth made from kombu and dried shiitake. (There are many versions of dashi that include fish, especially dried bonito flakes.) I used to make this all the time, and it was my standard version of "vegetable stock" before I learned to reach for the handy aseptic carton. Sheesh. The stock is rich and flavorful and Kaneko said you could make a big pot of it and store it in the fridge to use as needed. She used dashi in all the dishes she made in class. (She also said I could share her recipes on this blog.)

Dashi

• 2 cups water
• 3" x 3" piece kombu (dried kelp) rinsed quickly or wiped with damp towel
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms

1. Put water, kombu and mushrooms in a medium pot. Soak for several hours, or overnight if time permits. (In the refrigerator if overnight)
2. Heat the pot over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat just before water starts to boil.
3. Remove kombu and mushrooms, squeezing moisture from mushrooms into the pot.

Shiitake develops the best flavor in cool water but if you don't have time for a long soak you can place the kelp, mushrooms and water in a pot, heat to just below boiling, turn off the heat and soak for 15 minutes. That's usually what I end up doing though I mean to soak it overnight.

Kanako stemmed the shiitakes and added the sliced caps to the rice dish. She also cut the kombu into 1/2" squares and added it to one of the dishes. Using the kombu is a matter of personal taste.



Hiryozi to daikon no nimono - Deep-fried tofu cake and daikon stew

OK, I admit the deep-fried tofu cakes were ridiculously delicious. But I doubt I'll be deep-frying anything in the "easy vegan" kitchen. When Kanako described growing up in Japan where her family kept a pot of oil handy, and deep-fried foods were cooked every day, she almost convinced me that it was a good idea. But, whoa, that's not going to happen. I might make the incredibly delicious tofu balls in the oven or in a pan on the stove, and if I do and it works, I'll share the recipe with you. In the meantime, let me tell you about the daikon; I don't even like cooked daikon that much, but it was DELICIOUS — sweet and mellow. According to Kanako, this is the perfect time to buy daikon, and I believe her. You could cook the daikon, maybe add some large carrot chunks, kale or bok choy and wok-browned tofu cubes, and have a wonderful stew. I'll post a recipe soon.


Nasu dengaku - Grilled eggplant with miso topping
Gobo takikomi Gohan - Rice with burdock root

I loved the rice with burdock root, but I'm going to give you the much simpler recipe for grilled eggplant with miso topping. The topping is very versatile, and you could mix a batch and keep it for months in a sealed container in the refrigerator. You could use it on fried tofu, potatoes or whatever you want.

Grilled eggplant with miso topping

• 2 ounces red miso paste
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 2 tablespoons dashi
• 3 Japanese or 1 large globe eggplant
• 3 tablespoons canola oil (more as needed)
• toasted sesame seeds (for garnish)

1. Place miso, sugar, mirin, dashi in a small saucepan. Mix together well. Place over medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon until you get a creamy consistency, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
2. Cut eggplant in half lengthwise.
3. Heat a large cast iron skillet to medium. Add oil.
4. Grill the eggplant with the cut side down. After 5 minutes, flip to cook through. Continue to flip eggplant until cooked and soft, ending with cut side up. (Add more oil if necessary to prevent sticking.)
5. Spoon miso sauce over cut side of eggplant and place under broiler for a minute or two. Garnish with sesame seeds. (If you cooked the eggplant in a pan that can't go under the broiler, carefully transfer with a large spatula onto a broiler pan before adding sauce.)
6. Cut into sections to serve.

Wakame to serori no sumiso ae - seaweed & celery salad with miso vinegar
Namasu - Daikon & carrot salad with sweet vinegar

We actually started with the salads, above. They were both tasty but my favorite was the carrot and daikon. This salad is supposed to be good for digestion and preventing heartburn. I have no personal experience with this but you could try it and let me know!

Daikon and carrot salad with sweet vinegar

• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/2 medium daikon radish, washed well (peeled, if not organic)
• 1 medium carrot, washed well (peeled, if not organic)
• salt
• 1 teaspoon dried chili flakes

1. Mix the rice vinegar and mirin in a small saucepan.
2. Heat over medium heat and cook until the alcohol in the mirin evaporates. (The cooking is just a minute or two, and whether or not alcohol evaporates during cooking is questionable. Alcohol content can vary among brands of mirin from 0 to 14%.)
3. Add lime juice to the dressing.
4. Cut the daikon and carrot into matchsticks or grate on a course grater.
5. Sprinkle salt over the vegetables and leave for 5 minutes.
6. Rinse the radish and carrots under running water to remove salt, and squeeze out excess water.
7. Toss the vegetables with the dressing and garnish with the chili flakes.

Tonyunabe - Vegetable one-pot dish in vegetable broth

Above you see a hotpot that was cooked in a traditional Japanese cooking pot. It was filled with wonderful vegetables that were cooked in a broth of dashi and soy milk. I'd give you the recipe but my arms are tired from all this typing. Go make dashi!

Uwajimaya / tamarind-tofu-cabbage-bowl

My cousin is an only child, and I am one of three siblings - not that any of us are children anymore — but we were. He had a LOT of toys, and he didn't like to share. My cousin lived in a large four bedroom row-house with his parents and our grandparents. That house was a source of seemingly endless entertainment for my brothers and me. For one thing, it had one of those magical double staircases — you could go to the second floor from the living room, travel through the upstairs hallway to the rear of the house, and descend a second staircase into the back pantry. The second-floor area with the second staircase was dark, cluttered and spooky, making it very alluring for games of hide-and-seek or "disappearing cousin." Technically, we weren't allowed to use the rear staircase because it was "too dark," "too dangerous," "too cluttered." All the more reason why we were unstoppable in its use. But, as enticing as this physical aspect of the house was, nothing was as alluring as the toy room.

There was one bedroom in the house dedicated solely to toy storage. The room was stacked, floor to ceiling along all four walls, with every game, puzzle, science kit and general toy that could be imagined. My memory has the stuff stacked three-deep so that there wasn't a lot of walking space left, but that could be time embellishing memory. Or not. My cousin was the ruler of this cache, and it was up to him to decide which toys we could play with. Now, I'm not saying he was selfish, or a tyrant, but he was a little arbitrary about which things we could use. I knew he'd never let us use the chemistry set, but there were certain other things I gravitated towards, and was often frustrated by his iron grip. His parents encouraged him (sort of) to share, but didn't make him.

He'd usually let us play Clue, but not always. Sometimes he'd allow the Lincoln Logs, which was good since I was the only one who liked them. The boys would tire of them quickly and go off to run up and down the staircases while I built farms and housing developments. But the real object of my desire, the Legos, were usually off limits. I'd plead and beg for those Legos, and only rarely would he concede. The cuz had a most remarkable collection of tiny little Legos, including little white window frames and shutters. He had zillions of intricate pieces, and playing with them was heaven. My brothers would soon get bored, and I'd have them all to myself until my cousin required them back in their storage location.

I'd love to go back in time and have a glimpse at that room again to see if it really contained every toy made, or just seemed like it. It was a little daunting to be in the presence of so much stuff I wanted. Kind of like last weekend, actually, when I found myself in the grown-up food equivalent of the toy room.

Part of our stash from Umajiwaya

When we walked into Uwajimaya Inc in Seattle's International District, I literally burst out laughing. Uwajimaya is an Asian supermarket that has everything you could possibly want, from fresh vegetables to the most obscure seasoning AND an entire gift and kitchen tool department. I didn't know which way to turn. You can get one hour of free parking if you spend six dollars, and the minute we walked into the store, it was pretty clear that wouldn't be a problem. We didn't buy any veggies, though they were sorely tempting, having just been to the farmers market the day before, but headed toward the aisles of Asian foods. I had a shopping list that magically expanded as I spied more and more ingredients I suddenly remembered "I just had to have." We found all the expected things like dried mushrooms, brown rice vinegar, rice noodles and yuba, but also unexpected things like an organic mix of brown jasmine-red-black rice from Thailand. We were able to find locally made tofu and tempeh, as well as Shark brand sriracha (without preservatives) in a giant bottle for just $2.99, less than we'd previously paid for a small bottle.

The first things we used from our shopping expedition were the tofu and rice in a recipe from our "Vegan Yum Yum" cookbook. Though not an Asian dish per se, the tamarind tofu cabbage bowl was satisfyingly delicious. It was a simple and tasty last minute dinner solution.

Everything we've made from the cookbook so far has been easy and delectable, and this was no exception.

The rice reminded me of a delicious Thai rice we'd been given as a gift some time ago. When this rice is gone, I think I might make my own three-rice blend from the rice available at the coop. I'll use a jasmine brown rice for the bulk of the mix, a red rice and a black rice.

Bottoms up / veganmofo 2009

Oooo. Edamame, corn and spicy potatoes - my fave.

Only one more week of vegan mofo, and I really haven't exploited the cute baby pix opportunities at all. So here we go. Babycakes (a.k.a. my granddaughter) was at our house all day Saturday, and in addition to puzzles, books, ball throwing, singing, dog petting, walk taking and discovering rotten apples in the dirt, etc., I got to try out my "microwave cake-in-a-cup making activity for those with short attention spans" (no age requirements). Apparently, even five minutes start to finish is too long for some.

Bottoms up! Cheers and all. Sure do love this almond milk.

I shared all the ingredients and told her what the final product would be but she just wanted to put her hands into everything and toss it around. Cool. Once the batter was on her fingers she didn't put them into her mouth as I thought she would, and I just managed to wipe them off before she ran out of the room to join her Uncle Jordan. The one ingredient she was most excited about (it wasn't the coconut) was the almond milk. When I was putting the almond milk into the measuring cup, she wanted some, so I gave her a little in a cup. She loved it, and drank quite a bit before spilling it onto the floor. She had some with her lunch, too. She's still too young to make the leap from ingredients to final product, but I can assure you she was quite pleased with that final product when she consumed it with her lunch. "Kek," she said. Cake, indeed.

On Friday night I found myself alone for dinner. My husband was traveling home from a meeting in D.C., and my son was working. When I cook for myself the food choices tend to be based on availability and convenience. That usually means: what's in the fridge and can it be cooked in a wok? There was lacinato kale, a small slab of tofu, leftover brown rice and some red pepper. Fried rice with good seasonings and a dab of cashew cheese made my perfect dinner. And maybe a little leftover kek.

note: How to cut lacinato (dinosaur) kale for a stir-fry or salad: Remove the center stems from the leaves with a scissors or by "stripping" the leaves with your fingers. Gather all the kale into a wad and roll up into a tight roll. Slice thinly across the roll with a santoku or other sharp knife.

Tofu and veggies in ginger-garlic sauce

I love cookbooks, and even though I own a lot, there are always more I want. But, recently, something happened that made me ask this question: "What might make you suspect you own too many cookbooks?" We had been to the library a few weeks before, and brought home several cookbooks to try. We made a couple of dishes from them, and found one book in particular very appealing. Then, as I sat reading in the living room one evening, my husband walked into the room carrying our favorite of the borrowed cookbooks. "We own this," he said. "Huh?," I responded. "We own this cookbook. I just found it on the shelf." Yikes. I really should try to use our cookbooks more often, or at least get a grip on which ones are on the shelf.

So when I needed something to make for dinner did I turn to one of my many cookbooks for a recipe? Nope. I found an interesting mushroom recipe in my collection that I'd clipped from Better Homes and Gardens back in 2007, but had never made. (attributed to Catherine Wilkinson) I've adapted the seasonings and expanded it from a mushroom side-dish into a main dish that includes veggies and tofu.

My son and I cooked dinner together with me doing the cutting and him doing the cooking. I precut and measured all the ingredients into little dishes, just like the TV chefs, and cooking was fast and easy, just the way I like it. What a team! The dish was wonderful, and I think it's one I'll make often.



Tofu and vegetables in ginger and garlic sauce (serves four)

• 1 tablespoon vegan margarine (Earth Balance)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup green onions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (tuong ot toi) or 1/4 to1/2 teaspoon Thai red curry paste* (optional)
  
• 12 ounces baby bella (cremini) mushrooms (or portabella or shiitake)
  
• 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce (I used low-sodium)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk (I used light)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice (I used 2)
• 2 cups broccoli, cut into narrow strips
• 1 large carrot, julienned
• 6 to 8 ounces tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• cooked brown rice (I used basmati)

1. Steam the broccoli and carrots briefly in a small amount of water in a covered pot until the broccoli turns bright green and is crisp-tender. Uncover and set aside.
2. Heat the margarine and oil in a large skillet. Add the tofu, green onions, cilantro, ginger and garlic. Cook and stir for 1 minute.
   
3. Stir in the mushrooms and soy sauce and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the coconut milk and chili-garlic sauce. Add the broccoli and carrots. Bring to boiling, turn down heat and simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice.
6. Serve over cooked rice.

*Thai red curry paste can be very hot so use discretion. If using this, you might want to start with 1/4 teaspoon, depending on how spicy you like your food.

Just want to mention that the weather has certainly taken a turn for the better here in southern Wisconsin. Over the weekend the thermometer soared into the 40s (: D), and combined with the sunshine, it felt like spring to us. But what do we know? We unbutton our coats when it hits 30! (Not me, of course. I admit that 30 feels pleasantly balmy, but I still require appropriate clothing. I keep my long underwear on until at least March.)

In addition to the great weather, I had another pleasant weekend experience. My friend Claire won two tickets to the operetta Candide, by being the first person to call in to a radio station, and she invited me along. (Don't you sometimes wonder who those people are that win the radio call-in contests?) We had dinner together and then attended the performance, which was wonderful and hilarious. What a great evening — and I stayed awake for the whole thing.

Easy, creamy butternut squash soup with truffle oil

Recently, while my son was visiting from Seattle, we went to a shop I've been meaning to explore ever since it first opened. Vom Fass is a shop originating in Germany•, that sells bulk artisan oils and vinegars which are decanted from kegs. For some reason, our little city has the first, and so far only, U.S. store.

Confronted with a large room full of kegs of exotic sounding products, we just stood there and stared until the very friendly and extremely knowledgeable shopkeeper handed us small spoons and invited us to taste anything we wanted. Even that was daunting, but we gave it a shot. I tried to limit my tasting so as not to get too confused, but Aaron tasted widely. In the end, I chose a truffle oil made with extra virgin olive oil and a balsam cherry vinegar that can be used to made fizzy-water drinks as well as for more traditional recipes. There are bottles in sizes starting at 50 milliliters that you purchase with the idea of bringing them back to refill. I got 100-milliliter (a little more than three ounces) bottles.

I'm still thinking about the avocado oil I tasted. Did you know that avocado oil, in addition to being good for skin and hair, has a very high smoke point and is good for cooking? And it tastes exactly like avocado. Next time.

Now for the butternut squash soup. I made dinner the way I'm most comfortable cooking, and the way I cook most often—no recipes. The plan was to use the pressure cooker to create a fast and easy soup. (I've been making simple soups in my pressure cooker for 20 years so the basics are pretty much cemented in my mind. But you could also bake or steam the squash.) And to try out my Cuisinart Smart Stick immersible blender. I've had the blender for quite a while but never tried it! I mostly make soup in an enameled cast iron pot, and you're not supposed to use an immersion blender in that 'cause it might scratch, so using the pressure cooker was incentive to try the blender. We have winter squash from the CSA piling up so I picked the largest butternut squash. It was huge, but I wanted a lot of soup left over for lunches. I won't give an exact recipe but just general guidelines for using the pressure cooker. (I have a six-quart stainless steel Aeternum pressure cooker.) I cut the squash into large (two inch?) chunks and peeled them. Butternut has an edible skin, but I wasn't sure how the blender would deal with the skin, so I peeled off the thinest possible layer.

I sliced a medium onion and sautéed it in the pot with a little extra virgin olive oil. When the onion was translucent, I added the cut squash. I added water just below the top of the squash, and brought the pot up to pressure. I turned down the flame a bit and cooked it for 10 minutes at pressure. I brought the pressure down by running cold water over the lid.

I added a blob of sweet white miso to the pot and went at it with the immersion blender. In no time at all and with virtually no effort, I had a pot of ultra creamy squash soup. I couldn't believe it—no messy blender to wash; no multiple filling and emptying into an extra pot. As I've said before, pressure cooked vegetables are so flavorful that not much is needed to season them, so I took a minimalist approach. I added a scant teaspoon of truffle oil, a few grinds of black pepper, the juice of one lime and some minced parsley.

A co-worker groaned when I told him about the oil and said it was way too much. What do I know? It was a large pot of soup, and it tasted sublime. There was a faint earthy mushroom flavor that was not at all pronounced or overwhelming.

To go with the soup, I put brown basmati rice into the rice cooker with chopped up red Hungarian peppers and a teaspoon of dried chipotlé powder. When it was cooked I added a large handful of baby arugula and a small amount of grated Teese.

On the side we also had some steamed broccoli Romanesco; just about the weirdest looking vegetable I've ever seen, but the CSA grows it. It looks like it was created in a math lab. (Yes. MATH lab.) It was sweet and delicious and served unseasoned. Unfortunately, the photo didn't turn out.

•note #1: For terrific Wisconsin-made vinegars, I recommend Colleen's Tough Times.

note #2: Don't have an immersion blender? No Problem. I used to make this soup using my regular blender. Just blend it in batches and pour it into a second pot.

note #3: Usually when I make this soup, I don't cook the onion in with the squash. Instead, I sauté three or four onions in a separate pan and then blend them with the squash once it is cooked. You get a rich onion-flavored soup this way. Or use the pressure cooker for the onions and then remove them to cook the squash.

Benja Krayatip Rice with greens, tomatoes and cashews

One of my husband's graduate students from China gave him a gift of a muslin bag filled with many different colors of rice. It came with a folder, mostly in Thai, with a English description of the rice, cooking instructions and a note that the rice was recommended for "diabetic people, weight control people and aged people." With a description like that, how could I lose? The bag contained Thai brown glutinous rice, Thai hom mali rice, Thai brown hom mali rice, Kam Doi Muzer rice, red hom mali rice and hom kurlap rice. Much to my surprise, when I googled the name Benja Krayatip rice, I found information about how the rice is grown. Here is what I found:

THAI ROYAL PROJECT

Queen Sirikat promotes and directs the production of Benja Krayatip Rice on a Model Farm in Baan Yang Noi, Khuengnai District, Ubon Ratchathani Province, Thailand.

Benja Krayatip Rice

Benja Krayatip Rice is a perfect mix of 6 Thai rices. Grown under the auspices of the Thai Royal Family, in rice fields maintained according to strict Royal standards, this special blend of rice is selected, grown and harvested in the greenest possible way. Only natural pesticides ( a solution of marigold and black sugar cane) are used and in the actual planting process only the power of the water buffalo hand plow and strength of native farmers is used. No machinery of any kind is used in or near the rice paddy fields. The rice is then harvested by hand so no rice is damaged, and subsequently sorted using a computer camera laser method. This ensures that only the perfect rice grains are selected packed and shipped.

With this Royal project, the goal of the Royal family is to ensure that the rice is grown in the “greenest” possible way, minimizing the chances of contamination from oil-based machinery and using only “natural” pesticides. Lastly, in keeping with their ecological approach to farming, the rice is “fair – traded”.


So, apparently this is no ordinary rice. One of my sons said he has seen similar rice in Asian grocery stores, and if you can find it, I highly recommend it. This bag was purchased in the Beijing airport. I was going to label this post, "leftover rice," because that's what it was, but after uncovering this information, I decided to upgrade the title. I cooked the rice in my rice cooker and it cooked up perfectly and tasted delicious. I had a lot leftover so I used it in a stir fry the next day. For this stir fry, I kept the ingredients separate as I cooked them. Along with the rice I used beet greens and cippolini onion from our CSA, tomatoes from our garden and raw cashews.

Fried rice

No recipe tonight - just a photo of the fried rice I made for supper. It was just a simple stir fry with lots of baby broccoli, carrots, yellow and orange peppers, onion, mushrooms and leftover rice. I seasoned it with a spice mixture from Penzeys called Bangkok Blend, and tamari. Even when I don't think I have enough energy left to make dinner, something as simple as this still beats some over-seasoned convenience food. Yeah.