All recipes are for 2 servings unless noted. Oil is canola oil and salt is kosher salt.

2018-01-27

Ninjin no shirishiri / stir-fried shredded carrot with eggs

A tasty everyday dish from Okinawa that has been gaining popularity across Japan in recent years. Slowly sauteing carrots with a small amount of oil enhances the sweetness of the vegetable, and eggs add a gentle, rich taste. Among a number of variations, canned tuna is often mentioned as an addition. The recipe below features okara-konnyaku (soybean pulp yam cakes) to make the dish more filling as well as snow peas for color.


1/2 recipe:
115 calories; 6.1 g protein; 5.4 g fat; 11.2 g carbohydrate; 5.1 g net carbs; 128 mg sodium (with 50% reduced-soy sauce and shoyukoji made with 50% reduced-sodium soy sauce; 106 mg cholesterol; 6.1 g fiber


<Ingredients>
1 medium carrot (88 g in photo)
1 egg
Approx. 70 g okara-konnyaku soybean pulp yam cakes (69 g ground and excess water squeezed out)
6 snow peas (16 g in photo)
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp shoyukoji soy sauce rice malt
1/4 tsp kurozu brown rice vinegar
2-3 tsp katsuobushi bonito flakes (1.1 g in photo)

1/2 tsp oil (equal parts canola and sesame oil used below)


<Directions>
1.

Using a slicer, shred carrot.
Remove "string" along outer edge of snow peas, and slice lengthwise into the same or narrower width as carrot.
Lightly beat egg.

2.

In a frying pan, heat oil, and saute carrot on medium low or lower heat until somewhat soft.

3.

Add okara-konnyaku, and mix to coat with oil.

Add kurozu, and stir. 
Mix soy sauce and shoukukoji well, add to carrot and okara-konnyaku, and quickly stir.


4.

Add snow peas, and stir.
Add katsuobushi, and stir.
Pour egg, turn off heat, and gently turn.
Ready to serve. 

<Notes>
  • Shoyukoji tends to burn when added to hot items in frying pan. For this reason, mixing it with another liquid (soy sauce in this case) prevents it from imparting a burned taste while ensuring even flavoring.
  • Vinegar is added to mimic salty taste in this recipe. It also prevents other ingredients from sticking (or burning) to frying pan to some degree.
  • If canned tuna is used, katsuobushi can be skipped. 
  • Cooking eggs with heat retrained by other ingredients (by turning off heat) ensures soft texture of eggs.
  • "Shirishiri" is an onomatopoeic word for slicing in Okinawan dialect. 

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