Thai Inspired SaladBy MariThis is simple adoption of Thai Salad, ‘Yum Woon Sen’. If you have fish sauce and lime (or lemon), you can make this salad whenever you like by using any vegetables, seafood or meat. Simple but amazingly delicious.
MariSuper Easy (Cheat!) recipe #1 Konyaku MusselsBy MariThis is an easy cheat recipe for a quick meal for one. I often enjoy this as a shared appetizer for four of our family. Konyaku (konjac) absorbs the umami flavour of Mussels, really delicious and healthy!TonjiruBy MariAs it’s getting colder recently, I would like to introduce a warm soup recipe, Tonjiru (豚汁, This Chinese character simply means pork soup). This is one of the miso soup variations with sliced pork and lots of vegetables. All those ingredients, especially pork enhance its flavours and match really well with Konyaku. I think that the basic miso soup is a bit too lightly seasoned if you want to put Konyaku in it.
Tonjiru is also easier to make compared to normal miso soups. Dashi is the most important part for making miso soup but you don’t need it for Tonjiru as pork works as delicious dashi. We normally use thinly sliced pork in Japan but it is easier to get pork belly slices here which is absolutely perfect for Tonjiru. You can cut it thinly (no need of super thin!) against the fiber direction.
In the original recipe, it normally uses some exotic root vegetables such as burdock, mooli, and taro. If you could get them, it’s great but otherwise, you can put any other root vegetables like carrot, parsnip, turnip, celeriac, radish and potato along with some basic vegetables like onion and leak. When you put a lot of them, it can be a healthy lunch on its own. When you don’t have enough time, only leak, pork and konyaku will be also enjoyable as a side dish. I hope it will warm you up.
MariGreek Inspired SaladBy MariThis is a refreshing salad for the hot summer season. The basic is inspired by Greek Salad however I added coriander as I like it so much. Its aromatic flavour combines greatly with feta cheese and chick peas. If the coriander is too strong for you or your family, parsley works as well. There are lots of different nutrients and it is filling as there is Dried Konyaku Rice in it. Perfect as the healthy lunch or a side dish for dinner.
SachieKonyaku Mustard Miso CanapeBy MariThis recipe is inspired by “ika somen (squid pasta)” in Japan. The clear konyaku looks like thin squid sashimi however this dish doesn’t contain any fish and is suitable for a vegetarian diet.
This very original canape is full of flavour and has a stylish look. Why not try it with a glass of homemade lemonade or a glass of Saké?
For gluten free option, please ensure your miso is gluten free (Miso paste often contain cereals such as wheat or barley).
Tsuyoshi @ ex-Otabe KafePhotographed by Mike SlatteryLiangban Fensi – Chinese Style SaladBy MariWe served this food sample at Korea Foods in New Malden recently and it was extremely popular there. A lot of customers took the recipe card and said ‘I will cook this for today’s dinner!’. It was such a wonderful experience for us!
So I would like to introduce it in here as well. This sweet sour taste is simple but something addictive and perfect when you want to add one more small dish to your meal.Mackerel Konyaku RiceBy MariThis is one of the variations of 'TakikomiGohan(炊き込みご飯)' which means 'Rice cooked with the other ingredients'. We use many types of ingredients like shiitake mushrooms, carrots, burdock root, bamboo shoot, deep fried tofu, chicken etc but this time, I used smoked mackerel which one can get easily everywhere in the UK.
