Okra Miso

Okra Miso

I don’t have butterbur where I am, which is where the original recipe, fuki-miso or bakke-miso, comes from. It’s a wild sansai that is foraged during the spring in Japan. It’s delicious over a hot bowl of white rice, topped with a creamy egg yolk. …

Three Egg Sisters (Butter Uni Miso Sauce, Ikura, Egg Yolk Over Rice)

Three Egg Sisters (Butter Uni Miso Sauce, Ikura, Egg Yolk Over Rice)

I feel like I’ve mentioned often how much I absolutely adore sea urchin. While I most often meet it in the sushi restaurant, occasionally I’ll purchase it from the Asian grocery store if it’s available. While I have prepared it in other ways, including pasta, …

Korean Raw Crabs Marinated In Soy Sauce (Ganjang-Gejang)

Korean Raw Crabs Marinated In Soy Sauce (Ganjang-Gejang)

I didn’t think there could be a better way to eat raw crabs other than the spicy variety–but I was wrong. I’ve never actually had the soy sauce marinated version, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I think a part of me thought that …

Korean Spicy Marinated Raw Crab

Korean Spicy Marinated Raw Crab

It’s midwinter and I was suddenly hit with the craving for raw marinated crabs. Don’t ask me why but my appetite told me I needed to get me some of that delicious and succulent sweet treat or else I wasn’t going to be in a …

Seolleongtang (Korean Ox Bone Soup)

Seolleongtang (Korean Ox Bone Soup)

This milk colored broth pairs perfectly with a black earthenware bowl. I used the black to show the contrast of how white the soup is. I found that in order to make it extremely rich and flavorful, I baby it over a rolling boil with …

Karasumi / Bottarga / Wu Yu Zi / 烏魚子  (Cured Mullet Roe) Pasta

Karasumi / Bottarga / Wu Yu Zi / 烏魚子 (Cured Mullet Roe) Pasta

Every Autumn I import a few boxes of cured Mullet roe, also called bottarga-karasumi-wu yu zi, from Taiwan to give out as gifts during the holiday season and it’s always a hit. Karasumi is a delicacy in Asia, made from the sacs of the mullet …

Man Tou Recipe

Man Tou Recipe

A lot of my childhood memories of breakfast and late night snacks surround these fluffy, sweet, steamed breads that would accompany rice porridge and all sorts of salty pickles and other cured fare. We’d dip them in spicy doufuru (fermented tofu) drizzled in sesame oil …

Hokkaido Milk Bread (Bread Machine)

Hokkaido Milk Bread (Bread Machine)

My mom gave me a beast of a Zojirushi bread machine that she no longer planned on using. I had been making bread by hand at home, and this was a welcome change. One of the breads that I could never make quite right is …

Yakiniku Gyutan (Grilled Beef Tongue, A Serenade)

Yakiniku Gyutan (Grilled Beef Tongue, A Serenade)

Oh glorious beef tongue, Juicy, fat, and tender, You don’t take much to make people happy, To your delicious, smoky, beefy flavor I surrender Beef tongue is probably my favorite cut of beef for yakiniku style barbecues. No, let me amend that, it is my favorite …

Half-Half Ikura (Salted Gently Seasoned Salmon Caviar)

Half-Half Ikura (Salted Gently Seasoned Salmon Caviar)

I picked up a pound of sujiko, which is fresh salmon roe still in its sack, from Mitsuwa on our way back from an Aikido seminar yesterday. Both of my kids absolutely love ikura, which is the cured version, but it’s so expensive that I …