Wakuriya-inspired Appetizer Trio

Recently, we went to Wakuriya in San Mateo, and had Kaiseki dinner. The appetizer course was a trio set. We were inspired by Wakuriya to do a similar set of assorted appetizers (Zensai).

We've combined a few dishes to re-create a version of this appetizer trio which will consist of a Chilled Pureed Corn Soup, Nigiri Sushi, and Battered Shrimp Tempura.

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PUREED CORN SOUP
(Tomorokoshi Surinagashi-jiru)

The freshly crushed corn lends an exotic flavor to this novel soup—a tasty meeting of East with West. Refreshing in summer served very cold, like vichyssoise, but serve it piping hot in winter.

4 servings;

1 cob fresh corn
5 cups dashi (or light chicken stock)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp light soy sauce
3 Tbsps white (or red) miso

¼ tsp mustard paste (see description below)
½ cake tofu (bean curd), cut in ½-inch cubes

To prepare: Cook the corn on the cob, covered, in lightly salted boiling water for 1 minute. Strip kernels from the cob and chop coarsely on a cutting board. Grind to a paste in a mortar or suribachi grinding bowl (or use a food processor), then press through a sieve with the back of a wooden spoon. Discard pulp in sieve.

To cook and assemble: Rapidly bring the dashi just to a boil, then simmer while seasoning to taste with the salt and light soy sauce. Soften the miso with a few Tbsps of dashi from the pot, then mix in and stir. Stir in the pureed corn and bring to a simmer. Add the mustard paste, stirring well. Add the bean curd cubes and cook just until tofu is heated (do not break cubes). Serve immediately.

Variations: Instead of using tofu, substitute either bite-sized pieces of grilled mocha or eggs. The chewy rice is a good combination with the corn. Dribble beaten egg into the simmering soup, or break eggs directly into the boiling soup and serve one such poached egg in each individual soup bowl, ladle the soup over, and serve immediately. To eat with poached egg, break the egg yolk (with your chopsticks), stir around vigorously in your bowl, then begin.

Mustard (karashi): The dry ground mustard used in Japan his very strong stuff, and a little goes a long way. It is prepared by mixing (Japanese) mustard powder with a bit of water to a very stiff paste and allowing it to ripen for about 10 minutes. A common practice is to mix the stiff paste in the bottom of a small bowl and invert it while the mustard flavor ripens. Mix only a small amount at a time, because the fullness of flavor fades quickly. Besides, you will not use very much at once.
Besides being sold in powdered form in 1-, 2-, and 5-ouince round spice tins, Japanese mustard paste is also available in tubes.
Karashi is used very sparingly as a condiment with Oden, and is a flavoring in some dressed salads. It may also be used to brighten soy-based dipping sauces—cautiously.
Japanese karashi is like some of the hotter European mustards, but without vinegar, and not as light or as mild as American mustard.

Primary Dashi (Ichiban Dashii)

Makes 1 quart (1 L);

Serves 6 as base for clear soup
1 quart (1 L) cold water
1 ounce (30 g) giant kelp (konbu)
1 ounce (30 g) dried bonito flakes (hana-katsuo)

To prepare: Fill a medium-sized soup pot with 1 quart cold water and put in the kelp. Heat, uncovered, so as to reach the boiling point in about 10 minutes.
IMPORTANT: Kelp emits a strong odor if it is boiled, so remove konbu just before water boils.
Insert your thumbnail into the fleshiest part of the kelp. If it is soft, sufficient flavor has been obtained. If tough, return it to the pot for 1 or 2 minutes. Keep from boiling by adding approximately ¼ cup cold water.
After removing the konbu bring the stock to a full boil. Add ¼ cup cold water to bring the temperature down quickly and immediately add the bonito flakes. No need to stir. Bring to a full boil and remove from the heat at once. If bonito flakes boil more than a few seconds, the stock becomes too strong, a bit bitter, and is not suitable for use in clear soups. If you make this mistake, all is not lost, use the stock as a base for thick soups, in simmered foods, and so on.
Allow the flakes to start to settle to the bottom of the pot (30 seconds to 1 minute). Remove foam, then filter through a cheesecloth-line sieve. Reserve the bonito flakes and kelp for secondary dashi.

Secondary Dashi (Niban Dashi)

While primary dashi is best suited for clear soups by virtue of its fragrance, subtle taste, and clarity, secondary dashi does noble service as a basic seasoning—for think soups, for noodle broths, as a cooking stock for vegetables, and in many other way.

Makes 3-4 cups;

Bonito flakes and giant kelp reserved from primary dashi
1 ½ quarts (1 ½ L) cold water
1/3-1/2 ounce (10-15 g) dried bonito flakes (hana-katsuo)

To prepare: Place the bonito flakes and giant kelp reserved from the primary dashi in 1 ½ quarts (1 ½ L) cold water in a medium-sized soup pot. Place over high heat just until the boiling point, then reduce heat and keep at a gentle simmer until the stock is reduced by 1/3 or ½, depending on the flavor desired. This reduction takes about 15-20 minutes.
Add the fresh hana-katsuo and immediately removed from heat. Allow the flakes to start to settle to the bottom of the pot (30 seconds to 1 minute), and remove foam from the surface. Filter liquid through a cheesecloth-lined sieve.
Discard the hana-katsu flakes and konba.


Tempura

The classic “Batter-fried” food in Japan is TEMPURA, which is no stranger to the West. What is not well known about this so-called typical Japanese dish is that in actual fact it was introduced, or at least devised, centuries ago by Europeans living in Japan—the Spanish and Portuguese who established missions in southern Japan in the late sixteenth century. The dish caught on with the Japanese, who added the thin, delicately seasoned dipping sauce with grated daikon mixed in. By now tempura has passed so thoroughly into native cooking that its origin is almost forgotten.
While tempura remains an exclusive domain of tempura specialty restaurants, it is also easy enough to make at home with very good results. In its higher forms it is a food reserved for special occasions, in its more pedestrian forms, simply a good meal. Whatever the purpose of the meal, to feast or to feed, in making tempura the cook should observe three points—fresh ingredients, oil at a constant temperature, and lumpy batter. The reasons behind using the freshest fish and vegetables available are self-evident. Keeping oil at a constant, proper temperature means even frying, and precise control, and light food, as discussed in detail above. But perhaps lumpy batter as a sine qua non for good tempura requires further explanation.
With tempura, the goal is to achieve a lacy, golden effect with the deep-fried coating, not a thick, armor-like pancake casing. To avoid a heavy, oily-tasting coating, do the opposite of all that you would do to make good pancakes. Make the tempura batter just before you are ready to begin deep-frying. Do not let the batter stand. In fine tempera restaurants, for instance, batter is made in small batches as orders come in. Tempura batter should never be mixed well. It should not be smooth and velvety. It should be only loosely folded together (with chopsticks, which are not an efficient tool for mixing and hence the perfect utensil for this job). The marks of good tempura batter are a powdery ring of flour at the sides of the mixing bowl and a mixture marked with lumps off dry flour.
Important. Make sure all foods to be coated are thoroughly dry (pat dry with toweling if necessary) and then dredge lightly in flour (except nori, shiso leaves, and knotted trefoil). This flour coat allows the batter to adhere well to the food.
Depending on how much lacy, golden coating you like on your tempura, you may adjust the coating technique and the consistency of the batter. If you like a thick coating, make a thick batter using slightly less ice water than in the recipe below. Much batter will adhere, and the coating will be thick. For the thinnest coating possible, make a thing batter by using more ice water than indicated below and gently shake dipped items over the batter bowl so excess batter returns to the batch.
Seasonal fish and vegetables are used in tempura. Chicken, beef, and pork, however, are not usually prepared as tempura because of their relatively heavier, identifiable taste.
Soup and pickles accompany tempura. Beverages should be sake, beer, or tea. Hot rice and more pickles conclude the repast.


TEMPURA SHRIMP

4 servings;

4-8 medium shrimp
Shiso leaves
Nori

Dipping sauce:
1 cup dashi
1/3 cup mirin
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1 cup grated giant white radish (daikon-oroshi)
Few tsps finely grated fresh ginger

Batter:
2 egg yolks
2 cups ice water
2 cups sifted flour

Oil for deep-frying

To prepare: Shell and devein shrimp, but leave tails attached. Chop off the tips of shrimp tails and gently press out moisture from the shrimp with the flat of knife tip. To prevent shrimp from curling as they are deep-fried, make a few deep incisions along the belly, as shown , and then lightly tap across each shrimp with the back of knife blade.
Prepare the dipping sauce by combining ingredients over heat and bringing just to a boil. Keep warm.
Grate radish and ginger.

To deep-fry: Make the batter in 2 batches, the first batch just before you are ready to begin deep-frying, as you are waiting for the oil to heat. In a mixing bowl, lightly beat 1 egg yolk, then pour in 1 cup of ice water and give this a few strokes. Add 1 cup sifted flour all at once. Stroke a few times with chopsticks or fork, just until ingredients are loosely combined. The batter should be very lumpy. If you over mix, the batter will be sticky and the coating will turn out oily and heavy. Mix the batter with the least amount of movement. Make the second batch of batter as the first is used up.
The oil should be fairly hot, about 340 F / 170 C. Test by dropping in a tiny bit of batter into the oil; it should descend slightly beneath the surface of the oil, then be buoyed up to the surface, the oil gently bubbling round its edges.
When you begin to deep-fry, set up the area around the heating unit like an assembly line: a tray or several trays of foods to be fried, a container of flour for dripping, and the batter bowl at your left; the hot oil pot at center; the rack for draining and skimmers and chopsticks and slotted spoons, at right. Try to arrange the physical layout and your timing to serve the tempura immediately after frying, but if you cannot, keep foods hot.
Each food item progresses through the assembly line in this way: use fingers to dip food in flour, shake off excess, then dip in batter; lay or slide coated material in hot oil and deep-fry until golden, around 3 minutes, turning in the oil for even cooking. Retrieve with slotted spoon or cooking chopsticks and briefly drain before transferring to serving plate. Skim the surface of the oil occasionally to keep it clean. Stir batter once or twice as you work, to keep it from separating.
[If you were doing other foods…] Begin with vegetables, then move on to shrimp and fish or other foods that need a higher oil temperature.
There are exceptions to this flour- and batter-coating process—shiso leaves, nori seaweed, and knotted trefoil are not dipped in flour and are batter-coated on the “back side” only. If these were completely covered with batter, their color or texture would be lost.

To serve: A bar-type arrangement that allows you to serve diners directly from the stove or from a deep-fryer at a sideboard is ideal for tempura. Diners should be provided with a plate or bamboo tray lined with absorbent paper on which tempura is placed as it is done. If, on the other hand, you have to bring the deep-fried food from kitchen to table, arrange 8 or 10 pieces of tempura on paper-lined plates or trays and serve that way.
At the table, pour hot dipping sauce into a small bowl, mix in grated daikon and a bit of gratted ginger, if desired. Dip tempura in this sauce and eat.


 
NIGIRI SUSHI

Although nigiri-zushi attempted at home cannot compare with that served in specialty sushi restaurants, it is a challenge, fun to make, and the results are rewarding. Sushi is good food, and there is a sense of accomplishment in making it, even if the professionals, obviously, will do better.
Nigiri-zushi make wonderful hors d’oeuvres or can be served as a first course. Sushi also makes an excellent one-course lunch. Until you have had practice making it a few times, it seems wisest to limit nigiri-zushi to one or two kinds of fish at one time or serve one type of fish-topped nigiri-zushi and a vegetable-filled rolled sushi (nor-maki) in combination. Nigiri-zushi cannot be prepared very much in advance; serve as soon as possible.

8 servings (about 4 dozen pieces);

4 cups sushi rice
2 pounds (1kg) fillet(s) of tuna, squid, or sea bream (one or all), without skin – SASHIMI grade
1Tbsp finely grated wasabi horseradish
Tezu (“hand-vinegar”)”
2 tsps rice vinegar
6 Tbsps water
Soy sauce
Thin-sliced vinegared ginger

To prepare: Make the sushi rice according to the recipe below.
With a sharp knife, cut fillets crosswise at a slight angle into slices about 1/8 inch thick (with tuna, ¼ inch thick is best). The sushi cut is very similar to cutting sashimi. Wrap in a kitchen towel, but do not refrigerate. Assemble with rice “fingers” as soon as possible.

To assemble: Mix the “hand-vinegar” in a cup or small bowl and use to moisten your hands to keep rice from sticking while you work. Dip fingers into “hand-vinegar” and rub palms together. Pick up about 1 ½ Tbsps vinegared rice and shape into a roughly rectangular from (or “finger”) about 1 ½ x ¾ inches.
Place rice across the first joint of the fingers of one hand (the right hand for right-handed people) and form roughly by clenching that hand. With index and middle fingers of right hand, press and form rice into a more defined and firm shape, as \shown, turning rice over so that all sides receive equal pressure. Do not squash or mash the rice; the pressure should be firm but gentle. Smear a dab of grated wasabi horseradish in the center of a slice of fish and press fish and rice “finger” together, as shown. The fish should cover the top of the “finger.” (No wasabi is used for egg sushi.)

Sushi Rice

(Sushi-meshi)

The flavor of sushi rice varies somewhat with the season. In summer a little more finegar is used. Adjust the flavor of the rice as you like.

3 1/3 cups short-grain rice, washed

4 cups water

3-inch (8-cm) square giant kelp (konbu)

Dressing:

5 Tbsps plus 1 tsp rice vinegar

5 Tbsps sugar

4 tsps sea salt

To prepare: Put rice in heavy-bottomed medium-sized pot or rice cooker and add the 4 cup water.

Wipe kelp (konbu) clean with a damp cloth. You may slash kelp with a knife in a few places to enable flavors to be released more completely. Place kelp on top of rice in water.

Cover and heat over medium heat just until the boiling point. When just boiling, remove kelp and discard. Cover tightly, boil over high heat for 2 minutes, then turn heat down to medium and boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to very low and cook for 15 minutes or until all water has been absorbed. Turn off heat and let stand (on burner), with pot lid wrapped in a kitchen towel, 10 to 15 minutes.

Have the vinegar dressing prepared. Dissolve the sugar and salt in vinegar over low heat. Force-cool to room temperature by placing hot vinegar mixture in a metal bowl and twirling the bowl in a bath of water and ice.

To toss rice: Using a flat wooden spoon or proper rice paddle, spread the hot rice in a thin layer in a wide and shallow wooden or plastic bowl--some convenient substitute for a hangiri tub. To keep the grains separate, toss rice with horizontal, cutting strokes. This lateral motion will also keep grains from being bruised or mashed. While tossing, sprinkle vinegar dressing generously over rice. You may not have to use all the vinegar dressing. Be careful not to add so much liquid that the rice becomes mushy.

At the same time that you are tossing the rice, cool it quickly and thoroughly with a hand-fan (or a folded newspaper). Get someone else to stand by and do this. A helper is more sensible than juggling the spoon and fan by yourself. The tossing and fanning takes about 10 minutes. Taste to test whether the rice is room temperature.

To keep vinegared rice from drying out, when it has cooled to room temperature, place in a container and cover with a damp cloth. Vinegared rice should be eaten the same day it is prepared; it does not keep more than 1 day. It should not be refrigerated.

(Source: Japanese Cooking - A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuju)