Japanese feast for two

After discovering the awesomeness that is Maruyu Mart on Clarence Sreet in the city I have been itching to go crazy on some tasty Japanese delights. I made this medley of treats one Friday night a few weeks ago. Healthy delicious goodness.

Red miso with silken tofu and shallots

3 cups of dashi broth (I make my own and freeze it)
1-2 tablespoons of red miso paste
1/3 packet of silken tofu cut into 1/2 cm cubes
A few shallots finely sliced

Heat dashi broth until just under the boil. Mix a little miso paste in a ladel with some broth and stir in. Keep adding until happy with the flavour. Add in shallots and tofu and serve. You don’t want to bring this to the boil as it destroys the delicate flavours in the miso paste. You could also use any miso paste for this dish.

Kimuchi

I cheated a bought some kimuchi from Maruyu Mart. It came in what looked like a very authentic home made style tub and was very fresh and delicious.

Nori and mini nori rolls

1 cup of sushi rice
fresh salmon sashimi
1/2 lebanese cucumber with flesh part only cut into thin strips lengthways
1/2 carrot peeled and cut into thin strips lengthways
Kewpie mayonnaise
Seaweed sheets

This is the recipe for sushi rice that I used but I substituted sugar for mirin.

Once the rice is ready and cooled I lay down a single sheet of seaweed and spooned the rice over in a thin layer leaving about 1/3 of the sheet free of rice. Then near the edge that has the rice nearest the edge I lay down thin strips of carrot, cucumber and salmon. Top this with a thin strip of Kewpie mayo and use the rolling mat to roll tightly around until completely rolled. I then repeated this process with cucumber only and carrot only until I had two thin rolls and one thick roll. Wrap these in glad wrap and place in the fridge for about 20 minutes then slice about 1.5-2 cm thick with a wet sharp knife.

I then made dipping sauce out of a dash of rice vinegar, mirin, sake and light soy sauce to serve with tuna, salmon and hiramasa sashimi. Pop some pickled ginger and wasabi on the side.