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(Ochazuke with Yaki-Onigiri)
I'm going to tell you what you might be thinking as you read through this recipe anyway.... this is seemingly odd combination of mild, punchy, salty and sweet flavours. I agree. But, you know how people are always talking about balancing flavours? There's a lot of complimentary tastes happening here, and a predominently warm, soothing texture. It requires you to perhaps get one or two ingredients that you might not always have in your kitchen, but substitions are welcome. But before we get to that, and in case you're unfamiliar with it, let's say hello to onigiri.
Onigiri are balls of rice made with freshly cooked, starchy, sushi rice or other glutenous, short-grain rice, and they often hide a little treat in the middle. Tuna, seaweed and, as in the case here, omeboshi (pickled plum) paste, are common fillings, and onigiri are often triangular in shape. Here's how to make them and here's why mine are rectangular:
If you are running out to get seaweed, just the right tea or that onigiri mold (wow, you are hardcore) for this recipe, please do get omeboshi paste. I recently wrote about its sharp, deep, briny flavour which I love, and combined with that subtle, warming tea, salty seaweed and those caramalized shallots and scallions...well, you'll have highly pleasurable, balanced spoonfuls in your bowl.
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Childhood picture books, stories and TV shows that depicted food and dining made a real impression on me. Illustrations of steaming bowls of pasta or a piece of toast smothered in purple jam gave me my first taste of foods I'd yet to try, and are sometimes still the archetypes I hold food up to today. Instead of simply reminisce, I'm going to bring those dishes to life the way I imagined they'd be.
Once upon a time, there was
a crocodile named Lyle...
When I was little, I was drawn to Lyle. I may not have realized it then, but I related to him. He liked nice things, unapologetically, and appreciated a civilized meal, whether at a nice table, or in the park...or in the tub...
* Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile and The House on East 88th Street story and illustrations by Bernard Waber
He also got into trouble once in a while--but of course that wasn't it. I loved that he appreciated luxury and style. He wasn't picky, but he did have distinct tastes. And while he eventually grew to enjoy a wider variety of foods, such as Italian ices, Lyle really had a thing for Turkish caviar. You can see how Lyle particularly liked to enjoy this treat while soaking in a warm bath.
This caviar is a little different than what Lyle is used to but I did make it with him in mind. It's a seaweed caviar and consequently, it's super-healthy. It tastes of the ocean and despite being cooked it retains a little chew as seaweed does--plus there's an added little bite from the inclusion of garlic. And what crocodile doesn't like a little bite, right?
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if packaged ramen noodles weren't, possibly, the worst thing to consume, i would eat one every day for lunch FOREVER and be extremely happy. but they're equally irresistible and scary, so i'm always trying to come up with ways to imitate and curb my cravings for them. a broth of water flavoured with dried shiitake and seaweed is usually where i start, and miso soup has often followed. but this time i turned to a sesame paste in my freezer from a recipe i made months ago. this particular sesame paste was flavoured with tomatoes and herbs, which i think is why it worked so well to round out the broth. and the nutty sesame itself made the soup luscious and aromatic. it was never intended to be a soup base so i can't fault this paste for not being perfect in this, but it was enough to get me thinking about how to create a healthy, vegetarian, ramen (or soba noodle!) soup option. something to work on, and i can't wait to get started.
sometimes i stir an egg into my soup while it's simmering, but in my lunch pictured above, i decided to poach one whole in the soup. toasted sesame seeds and scallions are always nice but do you ever put seasoned nori on your soups? that's nice too. do you have favourite additions? if you want to share them, i'd be grateful, as well as any ideas for that soup base. maybe we can come up with the perfect recipe before there's snow on the ground and we want need this soup every day.
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adding seaweed to boiling water almost instantly creates a broth. it imparts so much flavour, and it deepens any vegetable or miso broth i already have going. but before i added seaweed to a pot the last time, i had to stop and admire how beautiful it looked. isn't it the craziest blue? ...or green? the colour seemed to change in the afternoon sun every time i turned around.
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i bought fresh ramen noodles so i'm experimenting with a couple of homemade ramen soups this week. tonight, a seaweed-steeped broth, with red, coarse miso added late, and pak choy, a few strips of the boiled seaweed, a mollet egg, toasted black sesame seeds and hot sauce. though the amount of hot sauce pictured is not even a quarter of what i end up using. my ramen broth, like my pho broth, ends up the colour of tomato water, i'm slightly embarrassed to say. can't help it, it's just the way i'm used to it. maybe i'll show you in part ii...
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"a random bite" is the other non-recipe addition to the blog that i mentioned i'd be making. it really will be a random (something i ate, read, saw or craved recently), and bite-sized post, but i'm excited about it because there are so many things i know i want to share here.
i bought the house i currently live in from a foodie-acquaintance (small world) and i inherited a small but reliable bunch of take-out flyers. one was for a place called sushi marche on queen st. east in toronto, and the flyer had pretty impressive reviews printed on it. hi! the chef, john lee, trained under masaharu morimoto--possibly my favourite iron chef!
first, look how gorgeous...with gooseberries, shiso leaves, lime and a pretty flower, instead of, you know, plastic grass. and it actually tasted even better than it looked. i once read that a sushi chef should be judged by how well their tamago (egg) sushi is because that would show skill in flavouring, cooking, and attention to all parts of the menu. we savoured the tamago sushi and every other well-prepared taste and texture too.
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(and my obsession with seaweed snacks!)
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(and other stories)
in farro, food, mushrooms, pie, recipes, seaweed | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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