Home-made Miso

Recently, as I was turning the jars of home-canned goodies upside down as I periodically do, and was rearranging them bringing older ones forward and sending more recent ones to the back of the shelf, a wonderfully aged batch of home-made Miso presented itself. The label on it confirmed that it is over 2 years old. What a treat! We had forgotten about it.

The recipe is from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz, a book we treasure at home. Home-made Sauerkraut and Baechu Kimchi have become a staple, with D easily making a batch on and off, all thanks to this book.

Just a little bit of this home-made rich deep miso makes a wonderful bowl of miso soup, which along with a generous portion of roasted baby squash made a sumptuous weeknight meal.

Green Bean Salad with Marinated Feta and Roasted Red Bell Peppers

Crisply blanched green beans drizzled with my favorite Aka Miso and Blue Agave Nectar Dressing makes a wholesome side for a weeknight meal. When tossed with roasted red bell peppers and marinated feta, this becomes a meal in itself.

Feta can be used without marinating, but, I like to let it sit in a mixture of pomegranate red wine vinegar and olive oil for about 10 minutes while getting the green beans ready.

Store-bought roasted red bell peppers (packed in water) sautéed with some onions can be tossed in with the blanched green beans before drizzling the dressing.

Top with sliced almonds and serve at room temperature.

Broccoli Salad with Blue Agave Nectar & Aka Miso Vinaigrette

Salads are so unassuming and ubiquitous that it is hard to bring them front-and-center, right under the spotlight. To me, what makes a salad is not just the mix of greens and veggies, but the dressing or vinaigrette that brings out the flavors and sets the mood for the meal.

Of course, oftentimes, the salad is our meal at home - tossed or layered - with harmonious ingredients thrown in, and some odd ones just because they are handy and need to be used up...

Typical Broccoli Salad usually has some bacon, sliced almonds and raisins, with a sweetish mayonnaise-based dressing.

My recipe is not very different in concept - I omit the bacon here since none of us at home eat it. Also, rather than traditional mayonnaise, I went with a quick and light dressing.

Fusion cuisine being my signature, the dressing is where I usually like to get creative for salads. The combination of mildly sweet Blue Agave Nectar; bean-ish, tangy, robust, salty Aka Miso; hot Sambal Oelek; biting fresh grated ginger and garlic, all seem to come together in a red wine vinaigrette with bland Canola oil, not the rich Olive oil for this wonderful Broccoli Salad.

Miso is basically fermented soybeans with some grains and salt. It has a complex flavor that is hard to describe. Among the White, Red, and Yellow Misos available readily in the market, White Miso (Shiromiso) is fermented for the shortest time with sweet and mild flavor. The Red Miso (Akamiso) is full-bodied and saltier than white. The Yellow Miso falls in-between Red and White.

Usually, one part vinegar to 3 parts oil makes a good vinaigrette. Depending on the type of vinegar and oil, and personal preferences, can increase the oil or decrease the vinegar for a good balance.

With all the bold flavors, for the sweetness to show through, I add a bit of home-made plum jam in this recipe, but any other favorite low-sugar jam stirred in would add an interesting touch to the dressing.

Since I love to experiment, and vinaigrettes are easy to play with, I enjoy creating unique ones. Maybe someday it would be fun to bottle and market these exclusive creations... Of course, it probably won't help the business if I just share them here:) No matter.

Ingredients
Broccoli florets, bite-sized
Cauliflower florets, bite-sized (optional)
Red grapes, sliced in half (or quartered if they are too big)
Chopped Spring onions

Sliced Almonds or Toasted Sunflower Seeds (or both)
Dried Cranberries (preferably unsweetened)
Unsweetened shredded dried coconut (optional)
Fresh Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Blue Agave Nectar & Aka Miso Dressing
1 to 2 Tbsp Organic Blue Agave Syrup
1 Tbsp Aka Miso (red miso)
1 Tbsp Sambal Oelek
1 Tbsp home-made low-sugar Plum Jam (optional)
1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
2 cloves of garlic, finely grated
¼ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup canola oil, plus more if desired

Preparation

Stir the Vinaigrette ingredients vigorously till well-combined.

Toss the salad ingredients together, drizzle some vinaigrette - generously if preferred. Top with grated Parmesan or Unsweetened shredded coconut, sliced almonds and dried cranberries.

soba, tempeh and miso soup

It has been a while since I made Soba noodles. Somehow, Summer went by without much fuss. Not too many hot days. Fairly mild. We had salads and such simple meals for the most part.

Yesterday I came home with a nasty headache. D had many other things to do, so, I volunteered to cook something simple. Soba with Miso Soup sounded just like what the doctor ordered. To add some nutritional value so we can have a rounded meal, I threw in some Tempeh.

For the miso soup: recipe is the same as my usual one posted here. I used red miso paste.

For the soba: cook per package directions and steep in favorite flavoring or dipping sauce. Combined ponzu and a hint of mirin and let the soba steep in it till ready to serve - say about 10-15 minutes, while tempeh is getting ready.

For the tempeh: it is basically fermented soyabeans and adapts well to many flavorings. I carried the theme of ponzu and mirin, plus some cayenne pepper sauce to flavor the tempeh. Sautéed some onions and tomatoes, added the tempeh and flavoring, cooked for about 15-20 minutes.

Ana seemed to enjoy this meal, especially the soba. She doesn't care much for miso soup. That's OK. Studies have shown that soy inhibits absorption of iron (and maybe zinc), but, it has other health benefits that I am convinced it is safe in reasonable amounts, provided there are no other health concerns - soy has been shown to interfere with thyroid function...

Anyway, clearly, one has to evaluate one's health and diet and do what seems best, so I'll refrain from further discourse on the subject.

Pepper Chicken

Boneless skinless chicken breasts marinated and cooked with spices, along with veggies, seems to be D's favorite meals. While I don't care much for chicken (or beef, or pork or seafood), I do try to cook just chicken breast for him on and off.

This pepper chicken recipe surprisingly came out pretty close to Chettinad flavor that D seems to enjoy a lot. A side of bok choy bites, inspired by the recipe in Emi Kazuko's book is an interesting accompaniment.

Instead of chicken, substitute chopped veggies and cook them in the black pepper sauce to keep the meal free of meat.
for the pepper sauce:
2 Tbsp whole black pepper
4-5 dry red chilies
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 bay leaf
1 1"-piece Indian cinnamon (dalchini)
---------------
2-3 Tbsp light soy sauce
2-3 Tbsp lime juice
2-3 garlic cloves, minced (optional)
1 medium shallot, diced finely
1 tsp brown sugar
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, thawed, diced


Preparation

1. Black pepper chicken: toast the dry ingredients for the pepper sauce, then, combine all the ingredients for black pepper sauce (except lime juice) in a blender and grind to a fine paste
2. marinate the chicken breast pieces in some of the black pepper sauce for about 10-15 minutes; reserve the remaining sauce for cooking
3. heat oil in a pan, drain the marinated chicken and throw them into the hot pan, toss them around till all sides brown a little; add the black pepper sauce, some water, cover and cook till chicken is done (about 170 °F or so in the middle of the thickest piece); adjust flavor if needed

Alternately, use veggies like eggplant, bell pepper, squash etc., - even the stalks left over from making bok choy bites can be cleaned and used here - cook as above in pepper sauce and serve hot with sticky rice.

Japanese-style cucumber, broccoli miso pickle

I use a lot of broccoli florets for my vegetable dishes and end up collecting a lot of unused stalk. I never throw them away. I just remove the outer woody skin, trim the stalks to remove any branches and throw them in a zipper lock bag and keep it handy to use in sambar, or sometimes just sauté them with the veggies, or sometimes, make this Japanese-style miso pickle.


This recipe is from Emi Kazuko's book, with slight modification.
Ingredients:
1 cup miso
1 Tbsp sake (or, plain white vinegar for its tang)
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
3-4 Serrano chilies, sliced or diced fine
3-4 broccoli stalk/stem (use florets in another recipe)
1 large cucumber
¼ tsp sesame oil (optional)
¼ tsp dry red chili flakes
1 tsp sushi vinegar (or, just plain rice vinegar and some sugar to desired sweetness) - optional

Preparation:

1. peel the cucumber every few centimeters or so to get a striped exterior; cut in half lengthwise and remove the inner pulp and seeds, cut into about 3-4" pieces; set aside
2. remove the outer skin of broccoli stem, trim the branches if any, and cut them into longish strips about 3"4" long; set aside
3. mix the miso, garlic, sake and chilies, keep handy
4. in a container, spread some of the miso mixture, lay the cucumber and broccoli stems in a single layer, add another layer of miso, and layer some more cucumber and broccoli stems; keep layering in this manner, top with miso mixture, cover and refrigerate for 5-7 days
5. remove from fridge, wash off the miso from the cucumber and broccoli stems thoroughly, pat dry
6. cut the cucumber into half-moon slices; arrange the pickled broccoli sticks and cucumber in a serving plate
7. whisk the dry red chili flakes, sesame oil and sushi vinegar, pour over the veggies and toss lightly; serve cold

Alternately, I sometimes skip step 7 above, sprinkle some dry red chili flakes and enjoy with some Indian style plain yogurt rice. The saltiness and tang and the bite from the chilies complement the plain yogurt rice really well.