Japonesque autumn dinner, a symphony of tastes

two slices cut from a smallish pumpkin
one carrot
one onion
1/2 sweet potatoe
1/2 eggplant
1-2 shiitake mushrooms
1 perilla leaf
1 sprig of chrysanthemum leaves
1 pinch of mitsuba (Japanese flat parsley- like green)
6 shishitou peppers (small Japanese chili-like peppers)
radish sprouts and red cabbage sprouts, one pinch each
3 prawns in shell
cinnamon
nutmeg
1 tbsp sour cream
1 tblsp.butter
1 tblsp. olive oil
1 cube of chicken consomme’
deep frying oil
3 tblsp. flour
dried bread crumbs
ponzu (Japanese citrus vinegar) soy sauce, one lemon cut

stew:
clean and cut all the vegetables, cut onion into quarters, heat butter in a saucepan, add onion, brown slightly, add sweet potatoe, pumpkin, carrot, , sautee for about 5 minutes then add 2 inches of hot water and the chicken consomme, simmer on small flame, add cinnamon and nutmeg, simmer til veggies are soft. Stir in 1 tbsp of sour cream. This will mix with the melted sweet potatoe and pumpkin to an orange creamy sauce with a wonderful aroma. Cut chrysanthemum leaves and add to veggies. Add mitsuba leaves. Stir, set aside.

tempura:
cut eggplant lengthwise, then add 3-4 cuts to the halves vertically to make them flare out (see Japanese tempura), leaving the bud on. Separate head and stem of the mushroom(s).
mix flour and water, turn eggplant , shiitake, shishitou, perilla leaf, prawns in there, then turn in dry bread crumbs til covered on both sides.
heat oil in fryer, deep fry in several servings til golden brown, fry the prawns last so the vegetables do not take on the prawn taste.
make a dipping sauce from ponzu, soy sauce, lemon juice and hot water in a small bowl for the fried eggplant

Arrange pumpkin stew and tempura on a plate, sprinkle with the two kinds of sprouts. Serve with tempura dipping bowl on the side.

All the different vegetable flavours and the prawns will become a symphony of tastes and aromas.

Stuffed pumpkin with Oriental spices

 A healthy comfort food that warms you up as it contains ginger, cinnamon and cardamom etc., and looks beautiful too on a party table in winter. I think, I will make it again for Christmas. Serves maybe 4-6.

Stuffed pumpkin for Halloween

1 whole pumpkin about 20-25cm diameter or more

2 tablespoons Raisins
1 tablespoon pine seeds
1 half banana
1 half apple (Jonathan or boskop is better)
A bit of lemon peel
1/2 sweet potato
1 carrot
1 handful of boiled chestnuts
1/2 cup of mixed boiled beans (chickpeas, red beans, peas…)
2 baby onions (sharlot)
1/2 cup of brown mushrooms

1/2-2/3 cups of jasmine rice and brown rice (and wild rice if you like)

4cm of ginger root
1 cinnamon stick, cinnamon powder
Star anis (2-3 stars)
1 teaspoon of cloves, clove powder
1/2 teaspoon Baharat (Arabic spice mixture, you can make your own e.g. recipe here: www.geocities.com/umhajar/baharat.html, it repeats some of the other spices but this way you can adjust the taste)
Cayenne pepper
2 piment seeds (allspice)
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
Cardamom powder
2-3 teaspoons of brown sugar
1/8 l sweet cream

Boil the rice
Chop all the vegetables and fruits into small slices or cubes
Heat butter or oil in pot, sautee the mushrooms with the onions and pine seeds
Add carrot and sweet potato and turn down heat to small
Add beans and spices, raisins, sugar
Add some water to prevent burning
When vegetables are semi-soft, add cream
Boil slowly for another 5 minutes or so
Add rice, mix well

Preheat oven to 175 C

Cut off the top of the pumpkin, remove seeds and fiber
brush the inside with butter
Spoon the mixture into the pumpkin, replace top as a lid

Place pumpkin on baking dish or alu-foil
Bake for about 75 minutes

**the vegetable can be varied, you can also add chopped nuts and/or cranberries or other dried fruit or leave out the cream and replace the butter by oil to make it vegan

Japonesque autumn vegetable dinner

Today was one of those gentle autumn days. Typhoon is gone, some of the cold too, and your spirits are just lifted enough to actually enjoy and notice autumn. So tonight I cooked and stayed home….  and here is what I made (serves one):

two slices cut from a smallish pumpkin
one carrot
one onion
one burdock stick
one eggplant
one cucumber
2 tblsp. miso
1 tblsp.butter
1 tblsp. olive oil
1 cube of chicken consomme’
deep frying oil
1 tblsp. flour
1 tblsp. chickpea flour
ponzu (Japanese citrus vinegar) soy sauce, one lemon cut

clean and cut all the vegetables, cut onion into quarters, cucumber into thick diagonal slices
heat butter in a saucepan, add onion, brown slightly, add pumpkin, carrot, burdock, sautee for about 5 minutes then add 1 inch of warm water and the chicken consomme, simmer on small flame til veggies are soft.

cut eggplant lengthwise, then add 3-4 cuts to the halves vertically to make them flare out (see Japanese tempura), leaving the bud on.
mix flour and water, turn eggplant in there, then turn in dry chick pea flower til covered on both sides.
heat oil in fryer, deep fry eggplant til golden brown.
make a dipping sauce from ponzu, soy sauce, lemon juice and hot water in a small bowl for the fried eggplant

put cucumber slices into a pretty ceramic bowl, and miso into a small bowl for dipping (Japanese style)

serve everything at the same time, and your Japonesque autumny comfort food is ready. = )

Shepherd Salad Bruschetta

This is a hybrid dish between the typical Turkish salad and the Italian bruschetta. It makes a fabulously refreshing, healthy lunch or dinner on a hot summer day and takes less than 10 minutes to prepare. Super easy!

you need:
1 tomato
1/2 small cucumber
2 sprigs of fresh basil
olive oil
1/2 dark baguette
salt
1 lime
one pinch of sprouts

Cut the baguette in half lengthwise. Cut tomato and cucumber into cubes. Chop basil. Sprinkle olive oil on the baguette (instead of butter), spoon the veggies onto the baguette, let them spill (they will be too much to fit on it). Put basil on top. Sprinkle some salt over it, sprinkle olive oil over the veggies, cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice over it, top with sprouts. Buon appetito/Afiyet olsun!

Seafood vegetable stir fry with lemon and white wine

Another pick-me-up during the summer heat

serves 2:

half a lemon
1 bag of frozen seafood mix (squid, scallops, shrimps…)
1/2 carrot
1 large eringhi mushroom
1/2 purple onion
1/2 bitter gourd
white wine
salt
tarragon
dried parsley
dill
olive oil

yoghurt

Peel the onion and the lemon, cut veggies into slices, cut onion into 1/8s, cut lemon into pieces
Stir fry everything in olive oil in a wok, after adding frozen sea food, on small flame, add salt
add white wine, fill wok to half the height of the food with wine, cover, steam
add herbs, stir. Add two tbl spoons of  plain yoghurt

Serve with brown rice.

Tangy summer stir fry with chicken, pomegranate seeds, macadamia nuts and grapefruit

This is meant to be a pick-me-up after a long, hot, humid summer day. Light, low calory, and yet hearty and loaded with vitamins.

serves 1-2:

1 chicken breast, skin removed
1/2 cucumber
1 small eggplant
1/2 large onion
1/2 bok choy
2 stalks of komatsuna (Jap. green vegetable)
1/2 red grapefruit
1 handful of macadamia nuts
1 small green bell pepper
Japanese enoki mushrooms
2 tbl spoons of dried pomegranate seeds (from Pakistan, found at the Halal foods shop)
sesame oil
balsamico vinegar
water melon liqueur
salt
paprika
rosemary

Cut all the veggies into pieces/ slices for the wok.
Peel the grapefruit half, separate the pieces
Heat 2-3 tbl spoons of sesame oil in a wok, add the onion. Add the meat, salt, stir, add eggplant, then the nuts, the bell pepper, add the softer veggies after a few minutes of stir frying. Then add the pomegranate seeds after soaking them in a little water for a few minutes, and the grapefruit, add more salt, spice and herb, pour a generous shot of watermelon liqueur over everything and steam for a couple minutes.
Ready!
The combination of the pomegranate and the grapefruit gives it a nice refreshing tanginess.

Detox salad with grapefruit and water radish

On a fasting day, replace lunch or dinner with this salad to give your system a rest and gently encourage detoxing while providing your body with vitamins and minerals, plenty of fiber, water and very few calories.

1 grapefruit
1 kiwi fruit
1 banana
1 thin bundle of mizuna
two cuts of lemon
1 inch of daikon (water radish)
Honey
Salt

Peel the grapefruit, divide the slices and cut each slice into half. Peel the kiwi fruit, cut into slices, cut the slices into quarters. Peel and cut the banana into slices. Cut the mizuna leaves (sort of the long and delicate Japanese answer to ruccola) into 2 inch sections.
Mix everything in a salad bowl.
For the dressing grate 1 one inch from a daikon/Japanese water radish (other radish may do too), squeeze the juice from the 2 lemon cuts over it, add some salt and one tea spoon of honey. Mix carefully til the honey and salt are dissolved. Pour over salad and mix. (The daikon should generate enough water to make the dressing almost liquid.)

Bitter melon, pineapple and chicken stir fry- a summer fatigue antidote

Goya champuru, Thai style

One of my genius inventions for international healthy gourmet cooking….

Goya, the bitter gourd or bitter melon from Okinawa is traditionally known as one of the few things that help combat the effects of the Japanese humid summer heat which leaves you feeling drained and void of energy, if you are not careful. And as I crave everything bitter anyway, starting from tea, coffee, goya and wild vegetables and bitter herbs to bitter lemon, Vermouth and even Campari, occasionally (but rarely, beer) I love the bitter gourd, one of those exotic vegetables that you eat every time you go to Okinawa, and which are recently available everywhere, all summer, in Tokyo.

So, here is what I made today and it instantly woke up my spirits:

you need:

1 large goya, deseeded, cut into crescent slices
1/2 pineapple, cut into cubes
1/2 large onion, sliced
1/3 lotus root, peeled and sliced and cut into halves
2 Tbl spoons sake (rice wine)
2 Tbl spoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
plenty of Thai sweet chili sauce
salt
1 tea spoon sugar
soy sauce
300g lean chicken meat (sasami), cut into thick slices
3-4 Tbl spoons of olive oil

Heat olive oil in a Chinese wok (bowl shaped thin iron pan)
for stir frying :
add onion
add lotus root
then add chicken
when everything is half done
add goya
add pineapple
stir about every 20-30 seconds

add sake and mirin for steam frying, put lid on pan for a few minutes
when goya starts to change colour from dark green to a more yellowish-brownish green
add sweet chili sauce
stir a few more times
done!

Serve with brown rice, and for garnish slice a cherry tomato and lay radish sprouts on top of the tomato on the side

serves 3-4

Mon, August 3, 2009 –

Bitter melon, blueberry and ginger Midsummer stir fry

Another invention of mine to counter the midsummer fatigue, when you run out of stamina, vitamins and energy. It works!

for two persons you need:

1/2 large goya (bitter melon/bitter gourd-see photograph in yesterxday’s blog) or 1 small/normal one
1/2 cup frozen blueberries (canned or raw one will melt into juice too soon)
1/2 large onion
1 cup of chicken meat or less, cut into small cubes
1 inch of ginger root
1 tangerine
sake, mirin, salt, Thai sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, lemon juice from one slice or a quirt from a bottle of lemon essence
3 tbl spoons olive oil, 1 tbl spoon sesame oil
Wok for stir frying

Cut the goya in half lengthwise, remove seeds and most of the white part with a tea spoon. Discard seeds etc., cut goya into 1cm thick crescents (see photo)
Cut onion into half rings
peel ginger root and cut into small sticks
peel and divide tangerine

Heat olive oil in wok,
add onion, sautee til glassy
add goya and ginger, stir fry for a couple of minutes
add chicken
add salt
add sesame oil (late, to keep the aroma)
add sake and mirin, cover for a couple of minutes and steam fry
add blueberries, stir fry
add tangerine
add lemon juice, stir
add sweet chili sauce, stir fry for another 20-30 seconds
done!

Serve with brown rice, sprinkle radish sprouts on top of the stir fry for extra tang and vitamins etc.

Recommended drinks to go with this, before or after:
Iced green tea/ earl grey tea/ French water melon liqueur with sparkling water and ice for an aperitif/Perrier with ginger juice and lemon or lime

Tue, August 4, 2009

Stir fried fruit

Fed up with your raw detox diet? Here comes the stir fried fruit salad!

Today it was kind of cold outside and I felt like I could not face another apple, raw carrot or banana for lunch, I craved something warming and comforting. So here is what I did, in my usual forceful style:
being a cosmopolitan, irreverent chef who is self trained in Oriental cuisine I came up with the following solution how to make a cooling food into a warming food:

you use

1 small red apple
1 banana
1 onion
3-4 tea spoons of chili powder
some ginger powder
some turmeric
1 dried chili pepper
1 table spoon honey
by choice add two tbl spoons of chopped chicken breast, sausage or bacon
orange flower water (neroli)
1 tbl spoon olive oil
parsley (dried or chopped)

Chop everything, heat the oil in a wok or fry pan, stir fry fruit and onion, add meat if you chose to use it, add curry and other spices, add neroli, stir, add the chopped chili pepper, add the honey, stir, let it cook for a few more minutes, add parsley, stir- finished!
Turns your fruit salad into something that looks like lunch!