Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

These are the final dishes of my  Vegan Japanese dinner . For those of you who missed some 'episodes', the antipasto was raw  avocado sashimi , and the main  Fried tofu puffs simmered in vegetable broth , and by clicking  here  you can find the side vegetables,  Broccoli and cauliflowers with easy miso sauce , and  Quick Japanese Cucumber and Radish Pickles . So, how do you finish a Japanese meal? Usually with soup and rice (dessert is optional really, a little seasonal fruit is preferred, like in  this Autumn meal , where the fruit was persimmon,  this fancy Japanese picnic basket , with mandarins - they are easy to carry, or  this Summer meal , where dessert was... berries).  But not fruit tonight, we just finished with rice and soup. Rice is served at the end to fill  the stomach, and diners eat what they need according to their body mass (this, I was told by a Ryokan chef in Kyoto,  Nami , is it true?). ...

These were the side vegetable dishes of my  Vegan Japanese dinner . For those of you who missed some 'episodes', the antipasto was raw  avocado sashimi , and the main  Fried tofu puffs simmered in vegetable broth . I wanted to have a cooked and warm side vegetable dish, and a raw one. Of course variety, colour and difference in texture were as important as taste. For the warm vegetables I used broccoli and cauliflowers with a very easy miso sauce: Broccoli and cauliflowers with easy miso sauce A few broccoli and cauliflower florets Hot vegetable stock  (I used the broth strained from cooking the  Fried tofu puffs simmered in vegetable stock  - recycling is everything in Japanese Vegetarian Cuisine!) Miso paste Steam the broccoli and cauliflowers for a few minutes (they should be cooked but not mushy, nor too crunchy). In a small ball thin down about a tbsp of miso paste with some hot vegetable broth to make a thin paste...

Peel a carrot and a piece of daikon as big as two carrots with a vegetable peeler. Discard the outer skin, and then continue 'peeling' to obtain long thin orange and white vegetable 'ribbons'. As you work drop the carrot and daikon strips into a bowl filled with water and lemon juice. Let the vegetables soak for about 30 minutes. In the meantime toast a tbsp or so of sesame seeds in a hot frying pan, and then mush them lightly with a mortar and pestle (I have a Japanese one for this, but any mortar and pestle will do). Set aside. In a small bowl thin one tbsp of miso (white or red) with a little hot water, or hot vegetable stock, into the consistency of a salad dressing (i.e.: not too runny, but not as thick as to be impossible to fold into a salad). Add 1 tbsp of soy sauce too, if you like (or gluten free tamari sauce). Drain the vegetables and add the miso dressing. Mix and divide between 4 bowls (if eating immediately, otherwise store in the fridge, covere...

I collected the last bok choy from the garden, they were just baby bock choy, but the snails weren't going to wait for them to grow up! Baby bok choy is perfect for ramen soup. Ingredients for 4 bowls of ramen: 8 dried shitake mushrooms, 1 small carrot, 4 baby bok choy, 1 pinch salt, 1 pack rice vermicelli, miso paste, 4 eggs. I cooked the shitake mushrooms first in 1 litre of water with a small pinch of salt, when they were soft I added the carrot, sliced, and the bok choy. I simmered everything for 5 more minuted and then I collected the vegetables and kept the stock in the pot. I added the miso to the stock and kept it hot but not boiling. In the meantime I cooked the rice vermicelli in hot water (they just take a couple of minutes) drained them and divided them between 4 bowls. I arranged the vegetables on top and then I added a raw egg for each bowl. I poured the hot miso over and served immediately. The egg white will cook with the hot stock, ...

This is easy even if it looks complex. I made a stock using some dried shitake mushrooms, some seaweed (kombu strips, a softer type that can be eaten in salad) and some carrots. But (check this out) I cooked the veggies in three separate pots with just a little water, then I kept the veggies and kombu aside, I mixed the three 'broths' and added some white miso paste. This was my soup. The carrots were cut like flowers, and then arranged with some seaweed 'leaves'. I mixed the remaining carrots and kombu with the mushrooms and pass them quickly in a frying pan with a little soy sauce, lemon juice, and sesame seeds. No oil. I used the same pan, but added a little sesame oil and a little vegetable oil, to quickly cook some broccolini and bok choy (both from my garden) and added more soy sauce and lemon juice. For the rest... the rice was just plain, to be served with umeboshi plums, plus I had some ready made Japanese pickles (takuan, pickled daikon) and so...

I don't plant much corn, but usually I get a beautiful photogenic crop... this year instead... just look at it! I laughed aloud thinking that I could have told you that this was a heirloom variety of some sort of ancient Maya corn, but I will be honest: this is dreadful! Still, I never get discouraged, and I hate wasting food. Not pretty? Never mind, it still tastes ok, and I could always match it with a good crop :-), like my broccolini! So I made this salad: I boiled the corn, cut off the kernels that were pretty, added some steamed broccolini and dressed the lot with a miso dressing (just white miso paste thinned down with a little hot water). It was super yummy! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

This is Vegan, gluten free, fat free, light, and yet fully balanced and filling (or at least, it is for me :-)). Best consumed with beer, or with a glass of chilled Cracroft Chase Pinot Gris (please scroll to the end of this post for another Christchurch earthquake update). Vegan Thai Salad Rolls On Saturday I went to the Oratia Farmers Market and bought some smoked salt and garlic. The smoked salt is really nice and mixed with a few spices and herbs, so I thought of using it to marinate some organic tofu to put inside my Thai salad rolls. I cut the tofu into thin strips and then I sprinkled the salt on. After 30 minutes I turned the tofu slices over and sprinkled the smoked salt on the other side too. After other 30 minutes I lightly fried the tofu slices with rice bran oil. I put it on some kitchen paper to remove the excess oil, and set aside. I used Thai rice paper wrap, which are gluten free. You need to soak the rice pape...

Japanese Vegetable Market, Kyoto. Photo by Alessandra Zecchini © Japanese Vegetables with Miso and Sesame Dressing Ingredients: For the dressing: 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds 1 tablespoon miso paste A little dashi (vegetable or kombu seaweed stock). For the vegetables: 1) Choose one vegetable among the ‘white Group’: Potato, Daikon (available in Asian stores), cauliflower… 2) One vegetable among the ‘orange/yellow group’: Carrot, pumpkin, kumara… 3) One vegetable among the ‘green group’: Broccoli, spinach, snow peas, asparagus… 4) Cherry tomatoes to decorate. To make the dressing grind the toasted sesame seeds with mortar and pestle, then add the miso paste and mix. Slowly add enough dashi (stock, hot or cold) to make a smooth and runny paste. Set aside. Choose your vegetables, one from each colour group (considering that Japanese food must also be beautiful to look at), and cut into pretty slices. Boil the potatoes, kumara and daikon, but just steam or blanch all other ve...