Sunday, May 31, 2009

Konnyaku こんにゃく




Konnyaku is low in calories, rich in fiber and comes in a variety of forms. This one is like spaghetti noodles flavored with aosa, a type of nori. It comes with a ponzu sauce that you sprinkle over it and is eaten cold. I topped this with some nori to add crunch to the dish. A great vegetarian option if you are looking to expand your repertoire. Best of all, it is just open and eat.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Sanma Pacific Saury 秋刀魚




Sanma (Pacific Saury) is a skinny, long, silvery fish, almost like a sword. And, it's name in Japanese literally says "Fall, Sword, Fish" 秋刀魚.

Shinji brought this home the other day from the market. He was so impressed with the packaging, each individual sanma has a plastic wrap, just wide enough to fit the sanma into it. The fish is marked as 天日干し which means it has been dried naturally in the sun. This simple process, of laying the fish out to dry in the sun, rids the fish of water, brings out the natural umami in the fish, and changes the texture from tender and watery to a bit more richer and dense. As it is gutted before it is dried all we have to do when we eat it is grill it.

As you can see in the photo of our breakfast, it grills beautifully and was delicious. Our breakfast was rounded out with nukazuke (nuka pickled) cucumbers and turnips, miso soup, kimchi, miso soup, strawberries, and asari gohan (Japanese littleneck clams steamed with the rice).