Food Librarian

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Yo Soy lover of Soy.

Come on, I'm Japanese American and grew up eating tofu by the square plastic tub-full. If my family laid those out cartons end to end, I'm sure we could reach the moon and back.

And I love the edamame. I just like saying the name. I like eating the whole edamame with sea salt and popping those beans out of their pod.

And I love hummus. Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans and me are friends. You remember Little House on the Prairie? Laura Ingalls' husband was Almanzo Wilder. My "English is my Second Language" mom always (I mean always) called him "Garbanzo." I can't look at hummus without thinking of Pa, Ma, Mary and Half-Pint.

So, when I saw this double soy delight by everyone's favorite Ellie Krieger, I was sold.

Edamame Hummus
From Ellie Krieger

2 cups shelled edamame, cooked according to package directions (for this recipe, I bought the shelled edamame, not the whole beans)

1 cup silken tofu, briefly drained of excess liquid
(I used Mori-Nu Silken Soft Tofu. 1 cup is about 1/2 a package.)

1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

3 cloves garlic (Holy smokes, I used too much garlic or my cloves were extra large. I would cut this in half and then add more if necessary)

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup lemon juice, plus more, to taste

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin, plus more, for garnish

I whirled it all in a food processor for 2-3 minutes. Added lots of black pepper and topped with extra edamame.

I sliced some cucumbers for a super low-fat "chip." Make this delicious double soy treat!
It's Soy Soy good. (ha ha ha)

Recipe:
Edamame Hummus From Ellie Krieger/FoodNetwork Website

Sunday, June 14, 2009

My farmer's market has an Asian veggie stand. You can find all sorts of greens, bitter melons, eggplants, herbs, lemon grass, daikon radish, and all different varieties of bok choy. Once, I picked up a pack of fresh red chilis and asked the farmer if they were really hot.

He looked at me and asked, "Chinese?"

I said, "No. Japanese."

He shook his head "No"...[you aren't allowed to buy these]

I totally understood. The Japanese can't take the heat!

Japanese cuisine isn't spicy like Korean, Szechuan Chinese and Thai food. Of course, we have wasabi horseradish that can clear out your sinuses, but Japanese food doesn't use much chili powder. There is a great seasoned chili pepper called Togarashi that is perfect on top of a hot bowl of udon noodles though. It's serious yum.

It always cracks me up that when I go to Curry House for Japanese curry I can order it "HOT" because it's for the weak Japanese palate!

So...if you aren't familiar with this pepper...I'd like to introduce the Japanese Shishito Pepper. According to Kitazawa seed company, these are "mini, sweet-hot, thin-walled green pepper is popular in Japan." They grow in the summer and are perfect appetizers. You might be able to find them at a sushi bar or izakaya place (izakaya is Japanese tapas/appetizers/bar food).

I think they are from the bell pepper family, but they don't taste like the green bell pepper (which I hate). However, sometimes you'll hit a hot one! They are really thin skinned and I can casually polish off a whole bunch. Luckily, my father grows a couple rows of them and my mom spends her summer delivering brown bags filled with shishito to relatives and church friends.

These peppers can also be grilled, toaster-oven broiled, pan or deep fried. In addition to this simple appetizer dish, shishito peppers are fantastic tempura items. Gourmet has a recipe for Flash-Fried Shishito Peppers with Sea Salt but this is deep fried.

I don't have a recipe...but here's what I do:

Shishito Peppers

Find shishito peppers in a Japanese store, farmer's market, or grow them yourself.
Wash. Don't need to seed or cut.
Heat a pan really hot.
Add olive oil.
Turn on your fan or your smoke alarm might go off.
Add peppers. Stand back because splatter action will occur.
Fry up until charred a bit.
Plate.
Add sea salt.
Eat immediately.
Don't eat the stems/ends.