Asparagus time!

Asparagus aka Spargel in German is probably every German person's favorite dish and definitely marks spring time here. More than the weather sometimes... In Japan we only eat the green ones and they are a lot thinner. I miss those but I have come to also love the thick and white ones you can get here :)

When I first saw the white ones I wondered why are they actually white? Well, I looked at up and the white ones are white because they were deprived of light ("etiolated"). The asparagus couldn't produce the chlorophyll, which make the plants green.



Today's asparagus dish (not white but green!):
Green asparagus with fried ham and carrot risotto (without alcohol)

Asparagus was fried (peels on, only cut off the really hard bit at the end, fry until soft)
Fry the ham according to the way you like it (crispy?)

Carrot risotto
2 cups of rice
2 small carrots
1 small onion
About 4 cups of broth (made of fresh parsley)
Some butter and oil
Some hard cheese (parmesan)

Prepare the broth in a small pot: hot water (doesn't have to be boiling) with fresh parsley (you could just add instant broth but I don't really like the taste of it)

On a deep enough pan or a pot fry diced onions and carrots and risotto rice (sushi rice or milchreis could also be a substitute) until translucent.with a bit of oil. You can add white wine here if you want but don't have to. In a lower temperature, start adding the broth one ladle at a time to the rice mixture and continue steering. Do this until the rice looks cooked (c.a. 30 minutes). The amount of broth should be enough but adjust according to taste.
Add S&P and a bit of butter (1 spoon) for a bit of taste.
Sprinkle some cheese at the very end!

冷やし中華 Hiyashi Chuka

A typical summer dish in Japan is Hiyashi Chuka, which literally means Cold Chinese (noodles). Basically it is a cold noodle dish with lots of colorful topping. The most traditional combination is tomatos, cucumber, eggs and ham. It comes with yummy sauce too.

During the last days Munich had summery weather and I decided to make Hiyashi Chuka for dinner. In Japan we would use special Chinese noodles for this dish but since I am living in Munich it's not easy to get a hold of them. I use normal spaghetti pasta with a bit of a twist.

Here is my quick way of making Hiyashi Chuka


Noodles:
Overcook the spaghetti (1-2 minutes more than the usual) in the way you usually cook, but add a tbs of "Natron" to make the pasta a bit more like Chinese noodles. After the noodles are boiled, make sure to rinse them with cold water. It gives the nice texture to the pasta.


Topping:
Basically you can have any topping you like. The more color the merrier. I put ham this time but of course it could be a vegeterian version as well :) I like sprinkling some sesame seeds on the very top.

Sauce:
Lemon juice
Sesami oil (can also add a bit of sesami or even Tahin)
Soysauce
Vinegar (sour ones are better than something like Balsamico)
You can adjust the ratio according to your liking.

I am sure I would be making this dish quote often during summer months ;)

Teriyaki Okara Pate

Okara is residue of soy beans after making tofu. It's been one of my new challenges to make tofu from scratch and thus every now and then i have okara at hand. This is one of my favorite dishes --Teriyaki Okara Pate. I mixed the okara with eggs and some flour and fry it. It's a quick and easy and nutritious dish :) (It's quick but getting Okara is a bit of a pain)

For this evening, I treated myself with some nice wholesome Japanese food... good sticky rice and miso soup!
The orange dish in the top corner is "Kinpira" The typical dish of Kinpira is using carrots and gobo (Burdock or Schwarzwurzel) but this time I substitute it with the root of celery. It went quite well and I think I would use this recipe to eat up the "giant" root :)