Washism

There is this sweet nori (seaweed) paste which i am so addicted to having with my rice these days that each time we buy a bottle, it finishes in less than a week.

Akin to how the Australians like their marmite on toast, the Japanese children love this tsukudani paste on rice. Ask anyone here and they will probably reminisce gohan desu yo! (Its time for rice!) as a favourite topping on their rice.

Rice being the main staple here, it is common to say the dish “goes well with rice”.

Basically, if there is no need to eat rice, there is no need for savoury foods in traditional Japanese food culture.

So since i really love this new discovery, i tried to make some, and found it so easy!

J asked how come the bottle is full again.

”did you buy another bottle?”

apparantly, it is not good to get stuck on this because of the high sugar content.

But with this homemade version, the sugar content can be controlled.

The basic tsukudani recipe

nori 5pieces (tear into pieces)

water 9tbs

shoyu 2 and half tbs

brown sugar 1 small teaspoon

Bring liquids & sugar to a gentle boil, add in seaweed, stir and you are done!

The tsukudani bottle has been appearing for dinner pretty often these days

Main was

Sour pumpkin and pork curry

that i found in a magazine that was reccommending this to boost the poor summer appetite.

150 pork slices (cut into bite sized pieces)

2 small green peppers (1cm squares)

1/4 a large pumpkin (cut into 2cm pieces)

3 large tomatoes (cut into cubes)

a handful of sliced mushrooms (any type)

1 tablepoon each of ginger, onions, garlic (finely chopped)

3tsp curry powder

Fry ginger, onions, garlic in 1 tsp of oil, add in pork slices, 1tsp of curry powder, some salt and pepper, and a dash of white wine. Dish out.

Fry the vegetables, add the tomatoes last, stir in the remaining curry powder & 1/3 tsp salt, 1 tsp white wine, cover and simmer on very low heat for 20 minutes.

Put pork slices back, stir in 1 tbs of yoghurt, 3/4 cup water with 3/4 tbs of miso dissolved. Bring to boil, add 1/2 cup milk, stir and serve with hot rice.

Salad was

Mixed vegetables and beans salad with jelly dressing

Jelly dressing has been the in thing for salads these days and this is the first time i am making.

Jure

Gelatine 5g (dissolved in 1 tbs of water and popped in the microwave 600W 40sec)

Dashi 1 cup (or consomme)

shoyu 2tbs

vinegar 1tbs

mix the dissolved gelatine with dashi & condiments and chill for 3 hours.

toss any cool vegetable mix with the jelly for a refreshing non oil summer salad.

rain rain rain