- Rice with murasakimai purple sweet rice, topped with toasted sesame seeds
- Tofu to okura no aka dashi / miso soup with tofu and okra
- Akoudai to shantoreru masshuruumu no tsutsumiyaki / red rockfish and chanterelle mushrooms grill-steamed in paper packet, with soy sauce and lime
- Jabara kyuri no pirikarazuke / Japanese cucumber with tobanjan dressing
Red rockfish, chanterelles, green onions, sake and a sliver of butter are wrapped together in a parchment paper pack. All ingredients’ aromas and flavors blend together while grilling, and everything stays moist and tender as ingredients steam in the packets. Because there is another dish using sesame seeds in this meal, I use butter instead of sesame oil. We are out of lemon, and this dish is served with lime and soy sauce.
Japanese cucumbers in the greenhouse are finally reaching their size. Cucumbers are known to take away heat from your body, thus they are for summer. It's already September but still warm enough to enjoy cucumbers. Jabara [lit. snake belly] sliced cucumber becomes instant spicy pickles. Coarsely ground sesame seeds, sesame oil and tobanjan together give a deep nutty flavor and aroma.
To counter the spiciness of cucumber pickles, murasakimai sweet rice is added to regular rice for a subtle mellow taste. The different color is also nice. Appealing to your eye is part of a meal.
Even though mushrooms are popping up and leaves are changing colors, I also see that summer is still with us. There's some okra sitting on the kitchen counter, for example. So I play an association game with myself. Okra, summer, red miso, kinugoshi soft tofu ... Now we have a miso soup.
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