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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Japanese Vegetables with Miso and Sesame Dressing


Japanese Vegetable Market, Kyoto. Photo by Alessandra Zecchini ©


Japanese Vegetables with Miso and Sesame Dressing

Ingredients:
For the dressing:
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon miso paste
A little dashi (vegetable or kombu seaweed stock).

For the vegetables:
1) Choose one vegetable among the ‘white Group’:
Potato, Daikon (available in Asian stores), cauliflower…
2) One vegetable among the ‘orange/yellow group’:
Carrot, pumpkin, kumara…
3) One vegetable among the ‘green group’:
Broccoli, spinach, snow peas, asparagus…
4) Cherry tomatoes to decorate (optional)

To make the dressing grind the toasted sesame seeds with mortar and pestle, then add the miso paste and mix. Slowly add enough dashi (stock, hot or cold) to make a smooth and runny paste. Set aside.
Choose your vegetables, one from each colour group (considering that Japanese food must also be beautiful to look at), and cut into pretty slices. Boil the potatoes, kumara and daikon, but just steam or blanch all other vegetables, as they still need to be crunchy and colourful.
Arrange the vegetables in individual bowls as nicely as you can (for example, one small potato, two carrot slices, and 3 snow peas) and drizzle over the dressing. Decorate with a cherry tomato and serve, cold or at room temperature.

Suggestions
It is important to boil or steam the vegetables separately, or they will all taste the same. The leftover dressing can be stored in the fridge for a few days.
Make this salad into a main by adding a boiled egg or a square of Japanese soft tofu (the type that can be eaten row).

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

6 comments:

  1. Ho mangiato dei fagiolini con questo dressing e mi sono piaciuti da morire, adesso so come replicare. Grazie!!

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  2. Il miso è buonissimo con i fagiolini infatti! :-)

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  3. Non ho mai assaggiato questo miso,ma vorrei volentieri!
    Baci,carissima!

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    Replies
    1. Devi provare, ci vuole un po' ad abituarsi al miso per molta gente, ma è buono e fa bene :-)

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  4. What a lovely way to prepare vegetables, Alessandra. I'm receiving your posts via email now that the google reader has been retired. I don't want to lose touch. Have a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

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  5. Hi Mary, always nice to hear from you. Google reader retired? Did you do it for you, or has the service from Google stopped? I better go and check...

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