Food & cooking

Well, as Sharon so kindly points out, my blog entries are by no means as informative (or picturesque) as Paul's.

We found a Japanese cookbook on the weekend - an English book by an English author who describes how to make Japanese food. It seems to be authentic - when I described making Soba dipping sauce from scratch, my colleagues 'oohed' and 'aahed' in amazement. Most of them (it turns out) buy instant dashi powder, which when mixed with water turns into the same sort of sauce that I cooked up.

Funnily enough, the jar that I put the sauce into to keep (glass jar with a metal lid) could not be opened last night when Sonia and I had soba for dinner. In the end after much struggling, I made two holes in the lid with a pair of scissors. Now I need a new jar for the next time I cook the sauce...

For anyone who's interested, the recipe goes something like:
100ml soy sauce
100ml mirin (go to a Japanese grocery store)
400ml water

Boil the mirin for a couple of minutes to cook out the alcohol.

Bring the soy and water to the boil, then turn down, add the mirin, and then add 75g of dried bonito flakes. Simmer for about 2 minutes, then leave to sit for 10 minutes. Then strain, and leave the liquid to cool - put in the fridge.

The make the soba (boil 100g per person) and wash thoroughly in cold water (the noodles need to be cold by the time you finish). Then serve with the sauce in a separate small bowl. Sprinkle chopped nori (seaweed, about 1 inch long) on top of the noodles.

Yummy. And much nicer than asparagus soup.