My daughter loves miso soup. You know, the kind they give you at the Japanese restaurant that usually has cubes of tofu and slivers of seaweed? Well my daughter who swears to hate anything seafood loves miso soup. She tolerates the seaweed or just picks them out when she sees them. But I haven't told her that the stock base for miso soup is made of fish stock. Or rather, flavored with dried bonito flakes. Did you know that?

Did you also know that the main ingredient of the soup, MISO, is made of fermented soy beans? My daughter does not mind this so much. She loves edamame! Salt and koji fungus are also added to fascilitate the fermentation process along.

The final product that I buy is a tub like the one pictured below at the Asian market. It's usually in the refrigerated section.



It is a thick paste, golden in color, has a slightly sour, fermented smell and very salty. I have been buying it mainly to make my daughter's miso soup. Then a few weeks ago, I ran across this recipe for Miso Dip, and I just fell in love with it!

MISO DIP

It's so simple, I don't know why I never thought of doing it before. The dip, which is really more of a condiment that you can use to accompany a variety of dishes, is simply miso paste sauteed with garlic, onions and tomatoes. Nothing could be simpler! But oh the possibilities of using this condiment is endless!

So far, we've used it as a flavor enhancer for soups, a dip for fried fish and pork chops, added it to curried dishes, and my favorite, as a pasta sauce!

I'll post more photos and recipes of miso dip inspired dishes as I get to them.
Now if you would like to learn more specific and detailed information about Miso, check out this page about Hatcho Miso for some very interesting facts.

Here's another great treat from Japan. My cousin brought everyone a box of these delicious mochis during here visit to the U.S. last month.

Mochi are delectable little treats made from glutinous rice that are first ground or pounded into powder and then formed into these little morsels. They can be flavored different ways as were the mochi in this box. My favorite ones were the ones wrapped in the yellow wrapper, they were lemon flavored. The pink wrapped ones were strawberry flavored.

Then you have the ones rolled in toasted sesame, macha and some other flavoring we couldn't quite guess.

If you get a chance to try these beautiful treats, make sure you do. You won't regret it.


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We just had sushi for dinner. Yumm! It seems we've been consuming a lot of Japanese food products lately. Not too long ago, the girls and I found these Harvest Cookies at the Japanese grocery store in Raleigh. They are very thin wafer like sugar cookies, in vanilla and chocolate flavors. They were thin, light and delicious. Not overly sweet but sweet enough to satisfy a sweet tooth.

One of the things that the girls liked about these is that they are individually wrapped so that every batch you opened is just as fresh and crisp as the first one. They were also very convenient for packing in their lunch bags and sharing with their friends.


Visit our new blogs:
Amoores.com
Cooked from the Heart - our new food blog
Our New Backyard - garden & photo blog
Found Not Lost - about all the things we 'find' worth talking about

I was really hoping I would have the new site set up by now, but I just haven't found the right template or header design yet. I do like the three column design though. Anyway, since I'm still here, I thought I would post the girls' new obsession, their own maki sushi!

If you'd like to try your hand at rolling your own sushi, the California Roll is one of the easiest to make and also pleasing to most palates. For one, it doesn't have any raw fish for those who are still squemish about eating raw fish. My girls don't have that problem though, they love sashimi! I just haven't found any sashimi grade fish around our area. So California rolls and Shrimp sushi it is.

SUSHI RICE: start by cooking your desired amount of rice for sushi. While the rice is cooking, mix in a small bowl: rice vinegar, salt and caster (fine) sugar. If you noticed that I didn't give any proportions, that's because the amount of the seasonings will depend on how much rice you are using. As a starting point, for two cups of cooked rice I will probably use about three tablespoons of vinegar, a pinch of salt and maybe a half a teaspoon of sugar.

When the rice is cooked, transfer it to a bowl or large plate and stir to fluff it up. Drizzle the vinegar mixture over the rice and fold it in gently so as not to mash the rice. You can use a fan while your are mixing so that the rice will cool off faster and it will develop a slight sheen to it. When it is cool enough to handle, you can start making your sushi rolls.

The basic ingredients for these California Rolls are:
Nori(seaweed)
Crab Sticks
Carrots, cut into matchsticks
Cucumber
Wasabi (Japanese horseradish)

Here's a good place to learn how to roll your maki sushi, with step-by-step photos. Visit Sushi Day for a daily dose of sushi.

This is a very simple soup, similar to the packaged ramen noodles the clone likes, but is a lot healthier and has less sodium. You just have to start with a hearty homemade chicken stock, which is also a great way of sneaking in needed vitamins and minerals. If you don't have a vegetable infused stock, you can always add any vegetable you want to this dish. You will need:

6 cups Chicken Stock
1 Bundle of Somen Noodles
1 egg, scrambled
1 to 2 tablespoons of Miso (fermented soybeans), depending on how salty your stock is

Bring the chicken stock to a boil and add the miso to flavor, then the noodles. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the noodles are cooked. Lower the heat and slowly add the beaten egg while gently stirring the soup. Remove from heat and serve.