Author: admin

Creamy Cheesy Hosta Dip
April 27, 2018

Creamy Cheesy Hosta Dip

I’m on a hosta shoot binge because they’ve started to unfurl in my garden, and while you can eat them up until they reach about 7 – 8 inches and fully uncurl, they become progressively more bitter and tough, rather than sweet and tender. This …

forage, ornamental, recipes, vegetable
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by admin
Grilled Hosta Skewers
April 24, 2018

Grilled Hosta Skewers

I’m currently reveling in the hosta shoots that are coming up–another two weeks and they’ll be too tough and bitter to eat and then I’ll have to wait until the flower buds come in. Right now they’re deliciously tender and mild, perfect for skewering and …

asian, Japanese, ornamental, recipes, sansai
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by admin
Tempura Hosta Shoots
April 23, 2018

Tempura Hosta Shoots

It’s spring and my hostas are starting to come up. This means hosta shoots galore. With a flavor and texture like artichokes, they are absolutely delicious as tempura, which is what I made today for lunch. You might feel weird eating something you’d thought of as an ornamental plant for so long, but the Japanese have long known it as a wonderful spring sansai (mountain vegetable.)

Ingredients for Tempura Donburi

  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup iced water
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup panko breading
  • 1/2 cup corn starch
  • 12 – 15 hosta shoots
  • Enough vegetable oil to cover 2 inches of the bottom of the pot
  • Bowl of hot rice
  • Tentsuyu (3:1:1 Dashi Stock:Soy sauce:Sake)
  • Lemon wedge
  • Grated Daikon (pureed radish can be used in place)
1. Heat pot of oil over medium high heat, until the oil sizzles when you drop in a few pieces of panko. Do not allow to smoke. It should just sizzle and bubble around the batter (and there should be lots of bubble but they should be tiny–if the bubbles are big, your heat is too high), taking some time to reach the golden colored stage–you don’t want the outside to burn before the inside is done.
2. In a bowl, gently beat egg, water, and flour until combined into a thin batter.
3. Coat vegetables in thin dusting of corn starch, then dip in batter, dredge in panko breading. Fry in oil until golden, flipping gently if necessary, and drain on paper towel.
4. Mix tentsuyu with grated daikon. Arrange tempura on top of rice, pour tentsuyu radish mixture over the tempura. Serve while hot and crispy.
asian, edible, Japanese, ornamental, recipes, sansai, vegetable
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by admin
Sui Dou Chi 水豆豉 (Brined Fermented Soy Beans)
April 20, 2018

Sui Dou Chi 水豆豉 (Brined Fermented Soy Beans)

If you don’t like natto, you could most likely skip this post, but if you do, then this wouldn’t be too out of your depth. This is something out of my childhood and my ancestral province of Sze Chuan. I used black soybeans but traditionally, …

asian, chinese, recipes
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by admin
Pizza Taiyaki
April 19, 2018

Pizza Taiyaki

There is an answer to a question that I had been asking myself for the better part of this week: Can I make… Pizza taiyaki? The answer is, apparently, yes. Yes I can. I was baking bread today and figured I could take some of …

asian, recipes, taiyaki
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by admin
Tako-Taiyaki?!?!
April 13, 2018

Tako-Taiyaki?!?!

My taiyaki pan is at it again! This time I’m making takoyaki but in the shape of a taiyaki. This is super easy and delicious, especially if you, like me, are very heavy handed with the octopus. You can use shrimp, mussels, oysters, calamari, fish, kimchi, cheese, mochi as well! I know takoyaki purists are going to be aghast at this creation but my stomach feels no regret.

Hot and savory, with tasty pieces of octopus!

Recipe for Batter

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup cold water
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon dashi powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 beaten egg
  • Vegetable oil/spray for the pan.
  • 1/2 cup – 1 cup chopped cooked octopus/shrimp/calamari
  • 1 tablespoon minced pickled ginger
  • 3 tablespoons diced scallions
  • Kewpie Mayo
  • Okonomiyaki sauce
  • Shaved bonito flakes (katsuobushi)
  • Aonori (green seaweed powder)
  1. Mix the flour, water, soy sauce, dashi powder, baking powder, and egg together. Add ginger, scallions, octopus, and scallions into the batter.
  2. Heat and oil a taiyaki pan over medium high heat. Pour the batter in and allow to cook until golden, about 5 minutes on each side.
  3. Remove and serve hot with okonomiyaki sauce, mayo, shaved bonito flakes, and aonori powder.
  4. If you don’t have aonori powder, running nori sheets through the food processor is a good substitute.
Japanese, recipes, taiyaki
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by admin
Buta-don (Simmered Pork Over Rice)
April 11, 2018

Buta-don (Simmered Pork Over Rice)

This is a simple lunch or dinner you could make that reheats well as leftovers for lunch the next day! I like this dish with thinly sliced pork belly, but if you can’t get that, thinly sliced pork loins work too. You can top it …

asian, Japanese, recipes
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by admin
Cheeseburger Taiyaki
April 10, 2018

Cheeseburger Taiyaki

What is the most dangerous thing you bought for your kitchen this year? For me, it’s my taiyaki pan. It’s clearly one of the most dangerous things in my arsenal because of all the insane things I could make with it. Here’s a recipe for …

asian, Japanese, recipes, taiyaki
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by admin
Matcha Taiyaki
April 9, 2018

Matcha Taiyaki

I was browsing around H-Plaza (a Korean home goods strip mall) in Great Neck today and came across this adorable taiyaki pan. I loved taiyaki as a kid, especially the custard cream ones, so of course I snatched it up and ferreted it home so I could make it for my kids as well. Traditionally, it’s filled with sweetened red bean paste which I also happen to have on hand. I most likely will not be limiting myself to just sweet fillings, and in the coming days will most produce a slew of both savory and sweet taiyaki shaped treats!

Recipe for Taiyaki (Makes 3-4)

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon matcha powder
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 4 tablespoons filling (canned sweet red bean paste or custard)
  1. Combine all the dry ingredients together and then add milk and egg until a batter is formed.
  2. Heat the taiyaki pan over medium flame and oil well.
  3. Drizzle batter into one side of the taiyaki pan until about halfway filled in each depression. Spoon two tablespoons of filling of your choice into the batter. Cover with more batter until filled.
  4. Close the taiyaki pan and allow to cook until first side is golden, about 4 – 5 minutes. WIthout opening it, flip to the other side and cook until golden as well. Remove and serve hot!

Recipe for the Pastry Cream Filling (for 4 Taiyaki)

  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoons corn starch
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (don’t skimp! Use really good vanilla extract, the bean, or vanilla paste. It makes a difference.)
1. Pour 1/2 cup half and half, 1 and a half cups whole milk, and vanilla extract into a saucepan and heat on medium.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk corn starch, sugar, and egg together until well combined and smooth. I used an electric mixer.
3. Once the milk has started steaming (but not boiling!), temper the egg yolk mixture by adding a little bit of the hot milk at a time while whisking quickly until fully combined. If the milk boiled, the heat might curdle the egg, rendering it inedible.
4. Strain the mixture through a wire mesh strainer and return it to the saucepan on medium high. Continue to whisk until the pastry cream has thickened.
5. Place into a heatproof container and contact cover with parchment paper (we don’t use cling wrap but you can if you do.)
asian, Japanese, recipes, taiyaki
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by admin
Steamed Vegetable Dumpling (蔬蒸餃)
April 8, 2018

Steamed Vegetable Dumpling (蔬蒸餃)

I made this with hairy bittercress but you could potentially do it with a lot of different mild flavored greens (spinach, shepherd’s purse, edible chrysanthemum, goosefoot, stinging nettle). My particular version only has 3 main ingredients–egg, shiitake mushroom, and the greens, but other versions can include …

annual, asian, chinese, recipes, vegetable, vegetarian, weed
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by admin