Japanese Seven Spice Blend

Shichimi Togarashi

photo by george billard

Togarashi, the Japanese word for “chiles,” is a group of condiments always including chiles that bring out the clean, simple flavors of Japanese food. Shichimi togarashi is also called seven spice (shichi is “seven” in Japanese), because seven ingredients are generally used. It works well with fatty foods such as unagi (broiled eel), tempuras, shabu shabu (small bits of food cooked in rich broth), noodle dishes, and yakitori (grilled dishes). Nanami togarashi is a close cousin, with a slightly different proportion of ingredients emphasizing citrus zest.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sansho (or 1 tablespoon black peppercorns)

1 tablespoon dried tangerine peel

1 tablespoon ground red chile pepper (or less to your taste)

2 teaspoons flaked nori

2 teaspoons black sesame seeds

2 teaspoons white poppy seeds

2 teaspoons minced garlic

To make shichimi togarashi:

Combine 2 tablespoons sansho (or 1 tablespoon black peppercorns), 1 tablespoon dried tangerine peel, 1 tablespoon ground red chile pepper, 2 teaspoons flaked nori, 2 teaspoons black sesame seeds, 2 teaspoons white poppy seeds and 2 teaspoons minced garlic. Grind together to a chunky consistency.

Makes 1/2 cup.

Store refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 month.

From Chowhound

Salmon Sausage with Somen Noodle Salad

This recipe is still very much in development stage. On my last supermarket trip I bought couple of salmon sausages on a whim and now I had to come up with a way to cook and serve them. I did a search on Google and almost all hits were recopies on how to make the sausages but very few on cooking them.

Decision on how to cook the sausages was fairly straightforward since there are basically only three choices: pan fry, grill, bake or poach. My choice was the simplest, pan frying. The choice of what to serve it with or on was more complex. Do I serve it as a hotdog or on top of rice or some sort of noodles like cellophane or rice noodles? Since I had some leftover Somen noodles from last night’s dinner the decision was basically made for me.  All I had to do was add some julienned cucumber and radishes plus arugula and dress it with rice vinegar dressing (one part each of rice vinegar, Mirin or honey and water). I sliced the salmon sausage, served it on top of some noodle salad and topped sausage slices with mayonnaise & wasabi sauce.

Next time I will try glass noodles (cellophane, mug bean, starch noodles…too many names for same noodle) or rice vermicelli with teriyaki sauce.

Sunomono

Sunomono is Japanese cold noodle salad made with somen (buckwheat) noodles, served with rice vinegar dressing and topped with cooked cold shrimp, crab meat, daikon, shiitake mushrooms and cucumber. Very much a summer favorite.

3 bundles of Somen Noodles

Cook somen:
Bring 2 1/2 quarts water to a rolling boil in a 4-quart saucepan over moderately high heat. Add noodles and 1 cup more water. When water returns to a boil, add 1 cup cold water and bring back to a boil. Simmer noodles until just tender and slightly translucent, about 2 minutes. Test noodles for doneness by dipping 1 strand in cold water and sampling. If noodles are not tender, add 1 cup more water and return water to a boil. Drain noodles in a colander and rinse well under cold water. Return to saucepan filled with very cold water and rub noodles till all starch is removed. Drain again and keep noodles cold.

Dipping Sauce:

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup Mirin (or 2 Tbs. honey dissolved in 2 Tbs. sake)

1/4 cup Kikkoman soy sauce

1/4 cup water

Mix all ingredients and adjust to your taste. Sauce should taste sweet and sour.

Toppings:

Sliced cucumber

Sliced daikon radish

Cooked shrimps

Crab meat or imitation crab meat (processed Pollock)

Sliced Shiitake mushrooms braised in teriyaki sauce

To serve:

Place somen in chilled bowls, drizzle with 1/4 cup of dipping sauce and top with seafood and vegetables of your choice. For little bit of kick I add 1 tsp. of wasabi paste to my dipping sauce.

Veggie Garden Update June 8th

Now that we finally got some extended periods of warm days and nights the garden really came to life. Unfortunately, with hot humid days came storms and some plants got damaged. My largest tomato plant Mountain Magic lost a big branch that had about dozen tomatoes on it. Now I know that I should have staked it few days ago.

Left side was broken off by storm.

We should be eating our tomatoes soon.

Peppers are quite small but some have large fruits for their size. I have never grown this variety before (Green to Red from Johnny’s Seeds) so I have no idea what to expect.

Snow Peas are in flower and growing well.

This year I have planted 3 kinds of beans (clockwise from top):

Yard Long Chinese (excellent flavor and no strings)

French String-less Green (very sweet flavor)

Yellow Bush Beans (first year)

In center are 3 plants of Sweet Red Banana Peppers (thick flesh and excellent flavor)

My Hardneck Garlic is doing very well and Music and Irkutsk varieties started to have scapes and by next week it will look like a field of little piggy tails. I am amazed how long scapes alone or in pesto last in refrigerator. Last year even after 4 months later they were tasting just like freshly picked.

Tomatoes, Basil and in front of raised bed are radishes (Japanese White, not Daikon)



Mystery Heirloom Geranium

(Post for GardenWeb forum members)

At the last local Horticultural Society meeting everybody attending was given 4” pot with red geranium plant and with a task to identify it. The donor and speaker for the night was local nursery owner who said that this particular geranium was in his family for over 100 years but nobody knows the name.

Any help in identifying this plant is deeply appreciated.

Small flower of this specimen is very rose like in shape and deep red in color. Every individual bloom that forms head looks just like a mini rose.

Trailing Snapdragon Update – June 4th.

I have to say that this plant is more beautiful than I have expected. It does take long time to reach trailing and blooming stage but it is worth the wait. One thing I will change next year though is number of plants in hanging basket. This year I used only 6 seedlings but next year I will plant 8 close to edge and 3 in center. I might revise this as season progresses and the plant will grow.

Besides this basket with snapdragon mix only, I have planted few seedlings in mixed planter and they are doing fine as well.

This is what the basket looked like last February.

Yogurt Sauce for Ćevapčići

Ćevapčići revisited

Yesterday I bought 1 pound of frozen ground New Zealand spring lamb and a chunk of pork butt. I let the lamb de-frost in fridge overnight, ground 1 pound of pork and made bunch of Cevapcici sausages. I kept four for supper and rest I froze and vacuum packed for a quick after golf meal. I used ice cream scoop to make uniform size sausages for even grilling and ended up with 19. That is a lot of food!

Anyway, this time I grilled them on barbecue and served them with yogurt and cucumber dip with Napa cabbage, arugula and tomatoes on side. I found this version better then Czech version with mustard. It was so refreshing and light!

Next time I’ll serve Cevapcici I will chop one sausage together with lettuce or Napa cabbage, arugula and white onions and fill half pita bread with yogurt sauce on top. Excellent summer snack or light dinner.

Yogurt Sauce

1 cup finely chopped seeded and peeled cucumber

1 cup plain yogurt, preferably Balkan style

1 Tbs. lime juice

1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

1 clove garlic. finely minced

Pinch of sugar

Mix all ingredients till well combined. If you want a bit of heat add cyan pepper to taste.

Ready for grill or freezer.

Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

This was very first time that I have prepared this Thai classic and after tasting it I felt really sorry for people with nut allergies, they are deprived of such an incredible dish.

Few days ago I bought a bunch of lemon grass knowing that I will use it with a chicken. Then, I was asked to get some peanut butter for breakfast and suddenly I remember reading a recipe that used chicken, lemon grass and peanut butter: the famous Peanut Butter Chicken Satay. The marinade is quite easy to prepare if you have a mini chopper (one of the most useful tools in kitchen). The marinade can be made day or two ahead and stored in fridge.

I served this with cellophane noodles tossed with mixture of fish sauce, honey, lime juice and sesame oil.

Ingredients:

8-12 skinless and boneless chicken thighs

Bamboo skewers 8” long

Marinade:

1/4 cup minced lemongrass

2 shallots OR 1 small onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic

1-2 fresh red chilies, sliced, or 1 tsp. Sriracha sauce

1 thumb-size piece ginger, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp. dried turmeric

2 Tbsp. ground coriander

2 tsp. cumin

3 Tbsp. dark soy sauce

4 Tbsp. fish sauce

5-6 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Directions:

Soak bamboo skewers in water

Cut chicken into thin strips and place in a bowl.

Place all marinade ingredients in a food processor or chopper. Process well.

Taste-test the marinade - you will taste sweet, spicy, and salty. The strongest tastes should be sweet and salty in order for the finished satay to taste its best. Add more sugar or more fish sauce (in place of salt) to adjust the taste. You can also add more chili if you want it spicier.

Pour the marinade over the meat and stir well to combine. Allow at least 1 hour for marinating, or longer (up to 24 hours).

When ready to cook, thread meat onto the skewers, stopping about 3” from end.

Grill the satay on your BBQ, or on an indoor grill, basting the chicken each time you turn the skewers. Depending on how thin your meat is, the satay should cook in 5 to 10 minutes.  Do not over cook!

Serve with rice, rice noodles or cellophane noodles and a bowl of Satay Peanut Sauce for dipping.