what I'm eating

ichiju-sansai: brunch but not as you know it

20/09/2017 by Chris

When a brunch day comes around and you find yourself longing for a healthier option than bacon and/or pancakes, why not go Japanese? The traditional Japanese breakfast is a balanced but infinitely variable feast, normally including healthy proteins, vegetables, pickles, rice and soup. That’s 2-3 of your five-a-day and potentially some oily fish too. If, like me, you can happily eat most things for breakfast but baulk at the sight of processed pork or desserts before midday, you’ll be very happy with a spread like this. The only downside is that I can’t manage to cook it on weekdays! My example menu contains:

grilled mackerel and braised baby chicory
rolled omelette / tamagoyaki (卵焼き)
tomato salad
rice, miso soup with wakame, radish misozuke (味噌漬け）

Read on for methods and tips!

5 things I loved eating in Japan in 2017

24/08/2017 by Chris

When I go to Japan, I don’t just eat all day long. But could you blame me if I did? Not only is Japanese food delicious, but at every price point, the variety on offer is so different to what we get in the UK. From convenience store snacks to fancy restaurants, there’s novelty for me everywhere I look. My philosophy is: we came all this way, let’s try it!

Here are my 5 top experiences from this summer…

ichiju-sansai / 1 soup 3 sides : birthday spread

19/08/2017 by Chris

It’s been a crazy summer here – we’ve had lots going on, including a fantastic trip to Japan (more on that story later)! My kitchen experiments have continued unabated, so I’m going to catch up now for lost blogging with a big spread of fun and satisfying dishes. As the title suggests, this meal was actually to celebrate my wife’s birthday, so it’s mostly her requests! (Try to spot the weird extra I couldn’t resist sneaking in, courtesy of Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art.)

miso soup with aubergine and chives
butaniku shōgayaki / ginger fried pork (with mushrooms)
kimpira ninjin / sticky simmered carrot
horenso no ohitashi / spinach in flavoured stock
budō no karashi-ae /grapes with miso-mustard dressing
kyūri no o-tsukemono / cucumber pickle
mikan / satsuma

Read on for my notes…

one soup three sides: take two

22/05/2017 by Chris

Right after my post, ‘one soup three sides take one’, I went straight back to the kitchen to refine my first ichiju-sansai menu with a couple of new ideas. With this, I’m inching closer to a Japanese meal that demonstrates the traditional range of techniques. Simmering and frying/grilling were just about represented today but I think sashimi is unlikely to make an appearance any time soon! Without a meat or fish dish, nothing quite took centre stage on this occasion. But don’t worry – I’m planning something special for next time.

Today we ate:

miso soup
mange-tout in yuzu dressing
jagaimo no miso-ni / potato simmered in miso, this time with okra
grilled asparagus (I really bought a lot!)

Read on to find out more!

one soup three sides: take one

13/05/2017 by Chris

Inspired by my new-but-old copy of Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art (Shizuo Tsuji) I’ve started experimenting with a bunch of classic techniques. Right now I’m concentrating on small dishes to accompany meals based around rice, after the formula ichiju-sansai or ‘one soup, three sides’. Today I made:

egg soup with fresh vegetables
ninjin no gomazu-ae / carrot with sesame-vinegar (goma-zu) dressing
asuparagasu no karashi-ae / asparagus with mustard (karashi) dressing
jagaimo no miso-ni / potato simmered in miso

Now, I may not have nailed this on the first attempt. As I quickly realised, it’s hard to think of three balanced, complementary and technically contrasting dishes when you’re also thinking about the washing up. However, it was fun having a few things on the go at once, and the results were pretty interesting to eat.

Below are today’s notes!