Ok,,, quick refresher about the book and now I remember why I liked it so much. Of course the information. That was the biggest part. But also the few recipes that are there are so doable. Some seem authentic Okinawan but many others meld Mediterranean tastes together with Okinawan. I'm psyched to try a few.
Here are a few simple recipes you might want to try. From your posts it appears as if you don't have an aversion to seaweed.. so I'll send you some of my true blue favorites.
seaweed soup. There are many many many variations of this; some spicy some mild.. some have white miso some have dwaenjang (dwaenjang.. the brownish Korean soybean paste I told you about.. apparently that is the same as the red miso mentioned in the book.)
Oh.. clarification.. I am going to include Korean names of things (for my sanity and also in case you are going to a more Korean type Asian market.) But I will also include the Japanese term (if I know it) as this will be useful too.
Ok.. the seaweed soup (called miyok guk.. 미역국 ... I make a big pot of it but you can cut the ingredients to just try it out. I also don't measure stuff... so I'll do my best to be specific..
ingredients:
dried miyok (wakame seaweed) About the size of a fist if you could ball it up.
about4 tablespoons chopped lean beef (the beef should be fairly tiny pieces) chopped garlic... maybe 3 cloves
1/2 to 1 tsp sesame salt (roasted sesame seeds freshly ground with a sea salt)
a teaspoon or so of sesame oil or olive oil be generous but don't overdo it
black pepper to taste
6 cups of water or weak beef broth...(homemade broth...if you don't have it water is fine)
1. Soak the miyok (wakame seaweed) in water for about an hour. It will poof up ten times it's volume so be conservative when you decide how much to soak. Discard the water.. rinse once then cut up into 2 inches pieces.. (I usually cut them into bigger pieces but most people prefer them small.)
2. In a small bowl (or directly in a large pan) mix the beef with garlic, sesame salt, oil, and black pepper. Sear it in the bottom of the pan you will use to make the soup. You just want to brown the meat not cook it through.. careful not to overdo it or the garlic will become bitter.
3. Add the seaweed cook it for a minute or two stirring the whole time. Then add the 6 cups of stock or water. Boil on medium heat for at least 30 minutes. The seaweed should be tender. Sometimes I cook it a lot longer than this. Just be sure too much of the broth doesn't evaporate.. you can't just add water at the end like you can other soups as the broth will take on a sort of creamy color and taste from the seaweed.
Check for taste. If it needs more salt add sea salt but bring back to a boil.
We eat this with steamed rice and kimchi.
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Beef soup
So easy.. but it takes a lot of time...
You'll need:
beef bones with a trace of meat on it (traditionally oxtails are used but any beef bone will do).. if not using oxtails have your butcher cut the bones up to expose the marrow and little pockets of holes)
sea salt
garlic (several cloves cut in half) I use lots of it; maybe a whole bulb or more
water (loooooooooooooooooooooots of it)
green onions
1. Soak the bones in cold water to remove the "juices"; discard water.
2. Cover the bones in a pan with fresh water and bring to a boil. Cook through till the meat is just done.
3. Remove everything from the pan. Rinse the "scum" out of the pan. Rinse the "scum" off the bones.
4. Return to the pan with fresh water.. lots and lots of it. Also add the garlic. And some sea salt.
5. Boil and boil and boil and boil and boil and boil and boil adding more water as necessary. Obviously you don't want a roaring boil; after awhile a decent simmer should keep it going.
So.. how long do you boil.. At least 4 hours. I cook it a lot longer than this. Sometimes 2 days (several hours each day).. this is one of those kinds of soups that really needs to rest.. then be cooked again. it should be milky white by the time you are done. In between boils I skim off the fat (essential). Add salt if necessary. Boil one more time.
Serve in wide mouth bowls garnished with fresh chopped green onions. Serve with kimchi and white rice. Also this is really really good served with crisp kim (nori seaweed).
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crisp kim (nori seaweed)
You can buy this ready made but it is easy to make (of course I make it myself)
sheets of kim (nori seaweed)
sea salt
oil.. sesame or olive
Brush one side of uncooked kim (nori) with oil sprinkle with sea salt. If you are fairly generous with the oil and stack the sheets on each other the salt from one sheet will stick to the bottom of the other.
Freeze the sheets you are not planning to cook. Then prepare the rest.
Place a sheet over hot flame..a heavy cast iron skillet or some type of open flame (gas burner). Too hot and you'll burn it in a second.. too cool and it will not be crisp.. It should only take a few seconds to be finished.
Remove from flame.. cool and cut into 2 inch by 2 inch strips (or whatever size you like) to serve.
Eat this with lots of dishes. One way is just to wrap rice in it. Another way is to put the soup in seving bowls. At the table diners can put rice in the soup, add more salt or green onion if they want, float a piece of seaweed on top and then fill the spoon with rice catching the seaweed on top of the ricewhich is on the spoon
. If eaten this way kimchi is essential essential essential as a side dish.
Trip to Asian Supermarket...
Let's see what am I making...well I don't know for *sure* but there were a couple of soup recipes that looked good to me...a chicken in miso gravy recipe. Really I just wanted to get some of the basics so I could try recipes as they caught my attention. 