Boiled peanuts

We ate a lot of dumplings in honour of Chinese New Year. I was thinking about potential side dishes, in case only dumplings wouldn't be a proper meal, and suddenly remembered super tasty boiled peanuts we'd eaten with dumplings from a food stall at Vippa (food stall place in shipping building by the ferry port) in Oslo. I couldn't quite remember how they'd been, other than that they were brown and tasted like soy sauce... We had some peanuts, so I followed this recipe. We also ate some miso aubergine with our dumplings.

1 cup raw shelled peanuts with skins (only had roasted salted ones so rinsed them and used them)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin (or white wine)
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp corn syrup (used maple syrup)
1 cup water 
1/4 tsp sesame seeds

Put the peanuts in a small pan with 2 cups water, bring to the boil, and boil for about 5 min. Drain. Put the peanuts back in the pan with the soy sauce, mirin, sugar, syrup and water. Bring to the boil. Simmer over a medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated, approx 20-25 min, stirring occasionally (I found it took a little longer, but then also thought maybe I went too far - they were a little bit too sticky). Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and maybe some chopped coriander, and serve.

Japanese chestnut rice (kurigohan)

We had one bag of chestnuts already. I cut crosses in them and roasted them. They were good, but also injurious. Bravely / foolishly S bought a second bag of chestnuts, and I prepared them.

I was at D+K's place right before prepping the first bag, and they also had some chestnuts. K was soaking them, which I'd never seen before. She's Japanese, so I wondered if it might have to do with some Japanese preparation... I stumbled across Kurigohan (Japanese chestnut rice) - basically just Japanese rice cooked with chestnuts - and figured since it was so simple it had to be amazing. Also, the soaking might help alleviate injury risk since the shells would be softened and perhaps easier to cut into? I used this recipe.

~20 medium chestnuts*
2 1/4 cups sushi rice
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sake (a gift from KC after my aerial performance - s+i drank the rest and it was truly delicious)
1 tsp salt
1 piece konbu (used half a sheet of sushi seaweed as that's what we had)
2 2/3 cups water

black sesame seeds
chopped spring onion greens

Soak the whole chestnuts in boiling water for about 30 min.

Meanwhile, rinse the rice and then soak it (separately) in cold water for 30 min.

When the chestnuts have soaked, remove them from the hot water one by one, score the shells and remove them. Take care to remove the whole of the inner shell layer even though it is tricky - it is bitter. If it doesn't come off easily put the chestnut (minus outer shell) back in the hot water for a few more minutes. When they are peeled put back in the hot water for a few minutes. Don't expect to complete this step quickly - it is slow and fiddly.

When the chestnuts are all peeled, rinse them and rinse the soaked rice and put the rice in a large saucepan. Add the water, soy sauce, mirin, sake and salt and mix. Put the chestnuts on top, then lay the seaweed on top of them, cover and simmer gently for 20-30 min, until the liquid is all absorbed and the rice is tender. Turn off the heat and leave, covered, to steam for ~10 min. To serve, sprinkle individual servings with black sesame seeds and chopped spring onion greens (if you want).

Note: We have figured out a more weeknight-ready version. For this, roast the chestnuts whenever you have the oven on, peel and keep in the fridge til you want to make the rice. Dispense with all the soaking. When ready to make, put rice, soy, mirin, sake (or more mirin), salt and water in a pan and mix; crumble chestnuts on top and lay seaweed on top of that. Cook as above (perhaps a little longer).


This is amazing. The rice acts as a vehicle to extend the wonderful sweet/nutty chestnut flavour, and the textures of the two together are really comforting and more-ish. The recipe made quite a lot but S loved it so that is not a problem... Note, the chestnuts tended to break up when I mixed it all together in the end, which I think is good as means better distribution of chestnut pieces - so it really doesn't matter if they break when peeling.

*I suspect the original uses Asian chestnuts, due to its origin... Apparently there are Asian, European and American chestnut varieties, and although all quite similar they are different. And the American chestnut is almost extinct due to a disease it caught from the Asian one (in Brookline?!). So these were probably 0European, possibly Asian. I need to corroborate all of this!

Brown rice with sweet potato, spinach and miso-tahini sauce

This is yet another variation on something I make really often - some grain, some steamed veg (most often something green (e.g. broccoli, spinach, leeks, edamame) and something orange (e.g. carrots)), some tofu, some sauce, some herb and some seeds. It really hits the spot; I especially crave it after an aerial evening; it's quick, super simple, flexible and good.

Lindsey's photo

I have discovered ornamental sweet potatoes (thanks to M from LUrC). They were planted all around where I work and now the frost has killed the plants and they have been removed, but some tubers are still there (+some are crazy spiral shapes). I tried a few and they are tender and sweet. But I am not sure whether I should eat more - perhaps they use bad pesticides on them. Anyway, interesting - I'd never noticed them before but they are everywhere.

1 cup brown rice (used TJs brown rice, black barley and radish seed mix)
2 medium sweet potatoes, trimmed and chopped into chunks
1/8 of a large kabocha squash, chopped into chunks
generous handful of spinach, washed and torn into pieces if leaves are large
2 tbsp white miso
1 tbsp tahini
1/2 clove garlic, crushed to paste
2 in piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1-2 tbsp mirin
1-2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1/3 block firm tofu, diced fairly small
fresh coriander, chopped
sesame seeds (black or white)

Put the rice on to cook with 2 cups of water - should take 20-30 min. Meanwhile, prep the sweet potatoes and squash and put on to steam - should take 10-15 min. When the squash is done take it out of the steamer and put the spinach in - will steam in 2-3 min - take out and refresh in cold water to stop cooking before squeezing all liquid out. While you're waiting for stuff to cook you can make the sauce: mix miso, tahini, garlic, ginger, mirin and vinegar in a small bowl, taste for balance. Also prep the tofu and coriander and toast the seeds (if you like). To eat, dump your chosen proportions of everything in a bowl, mix and enjoy.


Everything I love at the moment seems to involve some combination of miso, sesame and ginger. This is no exception.

Pumpkin and tofu roasted with miso and thyme

At last I decided to butcher the squash (I think it was a red kabocha) I got from Drumlin the day I volunteered there way back in September. It was one of the first ones they harvested, and I was excited to eat it, but of course squashes keep well, so it had been sitting patiently in the pantry ever since. It was still in great condition when I finally got to it over the weekend. Some of it became soda bread - I had an old Delia recipe on my mind I wanted to veganise. Some I roasted with miso, tofu and thyme like this. I toasted the seeds with spices, and they came to L's birthday party with me and one of two soda bread rounds. And I still have half the squash left in the fridge!

1/4 of a large kabocha squash (about 9 oz, prepared weight)
2/3 of a pack of firm tofu, drained
2 tbsp white miso
~2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tbsp mirin
1-2 tsp sesame oil
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp maple syrup
black pepper

Heat the oven to 400F. Wash and deseed the squash or pumpkin and cut into large chunks (don't bother peeling). Cut the drained tofu into similar sized chunks. Put both into a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients to make a smooth, viscous liquid. Pour the liquid over the chunks and mix well to coat all the chunks, with your hands or a big spoon. Transfer the mixture to a roasting tin (in a single layer), put in the oven and roast for ~45 min, until the squash is tender and all is nicely browned.


This was really delicious - the squash is tender, deep red, and very sweet and flavourful; I am really into baked / grilled tofu with sauces right now (had some good stuff at the LUrC potluck last night too).

Green leaves and beans, pomegranate molasses, sesame

half a bag of salad leaves (mostly baby kale and spinach)
~1 cup green beans, topped and tailed and chopped into pieces
1-2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tsp white miso
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp olive oil
water

Boil the green beans for ~4-6 min, until just tender. Refresh under cold water and then drain. Put leaves and beans in a salad bowl. Add the toasted sesame seeds. In a small bowl beat the tahini, pomegranate molasses, miso, mirin and olive oil together with a fork, then beat in water until it is thinned to a good dressing consistency. When ready to serve, pour the dressing over the greens and mix well together.

Morels!

Morels (Morchella esculenta)

Morels were starting to seem like a mythical beast. I had heard tell of their wondrous beauty and tastiness, but had spoken to no one who had actually seen them in New England: even the author of our mushroom book writes that he has never found them round here.

With no idea where to look, it seemed like there was slim chance of finding any. The book suggested old apple orchards, so last weekend we hiked up to an old orchard in Concord, NH to look for morels. We found soooooo many dog ticks (or rather they found us), and thus failed to really do much of a hunt, let alone score any shrooms.

This weekend we were not even thinking of looking for morels. We'd had an epic weekend adventure, with lady's slipper orchids and snakes and a surfer on a standing wave and dinosaur footprints and alpacas and so so much. Seb and I just took a little walk at the place we were hanging out by a lake with our friends' family, and all of a sudden we spotted morels! Big, beautiful, yellow-light brown ones: about 6 inches tall. The first few we saw were a little decrepit, but we found a couple more in good condition.

I was excited to get them home! The three morels were not much, just enough for a snack. I decided just to saute them with a tiny bit of garlic, some parsley and mirin, and eat them on little toasts.

(serves two, as snack or starter sized portions)

1 tbsp olive oil (plus a little more for drizzling)
3 morels, carefully washed, cleaned and chopped
1/4 of a small clove of garlic, finely chopped (optional)
1/4 tbsp curly parsley, chopped (plus a pinch more to finish)
1/2 tsp mirin
1/2 tsp fake butter
salt+pepper
2 slices of baguette

Make sure the morels are well cleaned: I washed them under the tap and then patted them dry with paper towels, then chopped off any substandard looking bits and checked them carefully / removed any dirt.

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add garlic (make sure to use just a smidge: the morel taste is quite subtle), and fry for a minute or so, until just starting to brown. Add the chopped morels and fry for a few minutes more, until they have released their juices and reabsorbed them. Meanwhile, heat a dry frying pan and toast the baguette slices, a couple of minutes on each side, until crisp and slightly browned. When the morels start to look lightly browned around the edges add the mirin and fake butter and fry for a minute more. Finally, add the parsley and salt and pepper to taste. To serve, drizzle the toasts with a little olive oil, spoon the mushrooms over and sprinkle with a little more chopped parsley.


Gentle washing seemed to be fine: these guys are not very porous and were quite tricky to clean so the washing helped. This was a tasty little plate, although I wondered if the garlic, small amount though it was, might have been too much: the morel taste was quite subtle. They had a good, firm texture, and tasted slightly sweet and gently mushroomy. They were good. Wish we had more now, my how greedy I am.

Mushrooms and sesame tofu

We tried sesame tofu for the first time at Journeyman (our new favourite fancy Greater Boston restaurant). I am not sure if their sesame tofu is quite the same stuff, but I found three different types of gomadofu (Japanese sesame 'tofu') at Ebisuya. The Japanese sesame tofu turns out to be tofu in name and consistency only: it is not made by coagulation of 'milk'; rather by making sesame paste set into a tofu-like block using kudzu starch. So it is basically jellified tahini. I really like it: it has that earthy, tahini taste in a smooth, refreshing, tofu-like texture. We tried black and beige versions.

First we ate some simply: in small cubes with a smear of wasabi on top / in a puddle of good-quality soy sauce, as a side with sushi. And it was good.

Last night I was making spätzle (with the last two wonderful eggs from S's chickens in Roslindale), and decided it would go well with mushrooms and sesame tofu. It did, it went great.

(serves two, in combination with one quantity of spätzle)

1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
~12 mushrooms, cleaned and chopped into ~7mm dice
1 tbsp chanterelle powder
1 tsp mediterranean herb mix (mostly thyme+oregano)
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp mushroom soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
salt+pepper
1 small block of beige sesame tofu, coarsely grated
toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add garlic and fry for a few minutes until softened. Add the diced mushrooms, chanterelle powder, nutmeg and herb mix and fry until the mushrooms have released their liquid and then reabsorbed most of it. Add the soy sauce and mirin and fry for a minute or so longer until everything melds. Taste for seasoning and add salt+pepper to taste. To serve, put some spätzle into an individual bowl, add mushrooms, and then sprinkle with grated sesame tofu and sesame seeds (if using).


This would also work with fresh pasta or gnocchi (although I do like the egginess of spätzle with the mushrooms and sesame tofu).

Okara

Okara is the other solids left behind when soymilk (and/or tofu) is made from soybeans. In Japanese grocery stores that make their own tofu, apparently it is traditional to give away balls of okara. We visited an awesome Japanese grocery store in Medford yesterday (recommended by a Japanese friend): Ebisuya. They make their own tofu, and there was one, unlabelled, cling-wrapped ball of white stuff in the fridge above the tray of fresh tofu. I was pretty sure it would be okara. More so when I checked the receipt and saw they didn't charge us for it. I was excited to have tracked it down!

I wasn't sure what to do with the okara, having gotten my hands on it. I tasted it, and it is subtle, similar in taste to tofu but totally different in texture: firm but kinda dry, quite fibrous - some heft to it. I decided to fry it up with some sesame and veggies, much like my current favourite tempeh prep or a tofu scramble.

1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 in piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
1/2 an onion, peeled and sliced
1-2 tbsp sesame seeds
4-5 mushrooms,cleaned and sliced
1 small courgette, sliced
1 ball of okara
~2 tbsp mirin
~2 tbsp chickpea tamari

Heat the oils and add the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook for a few minutes. Add the sesame seeds and cook a minute or so more until just starting to brown. Add the mushrooms and courgette and stir-fry for a few minutes more, until they soften. Add the okara and stir-fry for a few more minutes. Finally add the mirin and tamari (add more if you prefer) and mix it all up. Eat as it is, or with a little brown rice.


It's good. Interesting. All about the texture; I kind of like it.