Tomato and Cabbage Kombu Miso Soup

From Nobu’s Vegetarian Cookbook, Nobu Matsuhisa, Pie Books, 2011.

Miso soups are delicate and delicious. I found six varieties in Nobu’s vegetarian book and decided to make one—but then I found that I didn’t have any of the ingredients for his so went ahead and made one of my one, though following his basic steps.

I put 4 cups water into a saucepan and when it had reached a boil I added a teaspoon kombu powder and let it simmer for a few minutes. I added a tomato cut into wedges and a few pieces of Chinese cabbage. I brought it back to the simmer and added a tablespoon miso dissolved in a little of the hot broth. The soup was made.

Tasty and refreshing. I must try the Nobu varieties when I have the ingredients.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔

Soy Milk Pudding with Tomato Sauce and Mushrooms

From Nobu’s Vegetarian Cookbook, Nobu Matsuhisa, Pie Books, 2011.

According to the introduction to this recipe the ingredients of soy milk, mushrooms and tomatoes were all high on the list of umami contenders. So this should clearly be a savoury pudding.

I began by making yuba which is the skin that forms over slowly heated soy milk. I placed some milk in a frying pan and turned up the stove top to its lowest heat and let the yuba gradually form on the surface of the milk. It was then gently lifted off and the milk left to form another layer of yuba. As they were taken off they were placed in the small containers I was using for the puddings.

I then fried a few pieces of mushroom and also placed them in the bottom of the containers.

Now I placed 400ml of soy milk in a saucepan. I was making two puddings. Into the milk I poured 2 tablespoons light soy sauce and 2 tablespoons mirin. The mixture was brought to just under simmer level and 3 teaspoons agar powder were added and dissolved. The liquid was now strained and poured over the yuba and mushrooms in the bowls.

Two tomatoes were now peeled and the seeds removed. They went into the blender to be pureed. Then they went into a saucepan with a little salt and a little sugar. It was simmered until it had thickened slightly and was then taken off the heat and left to cool.

When the puddings were ready to be served some tomato sauce was poured over the top and some sundried tomatoes, finely sliced, were added. The recipe called for some truffle slices but I did without them.

The puddings turned out to be much firmer than I had imagined. I had never used agar powder before so had carefully measured it out but it seemed to me to be too much. I found that the texture of the pudding was not totally appealing to me. The contrast of the rich sauce against the milder pudding worked well and there were the occasional bites of mushroom. The yuba, for me, did not do much to the overall taste. Oddly there was something about this blend and the texture that I found somewhat difficult to stomach. I definitely had difficulty getting the whole dish down. While I enjoyed the exercise of making this dish, it’s not one I would make again.

Taste: ✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Six-Mushroom Salad with Mushroom Dressing

From Nobu’s Vegetarian Cookbook, Nobu Matsuhisa, Pie Books, 2011.

When I first looked at this recipe I wondered about the use of a mushroom dressing to be served on mushrooms. It seemed a little bit much of overdoing the mushroom element. However it worked really well.

A small mix of mushrooms (about 150g) was cut up and fried without oil until they had become soft and wilted. They were then put in a food blender with salt, pepper, about 100ml of rice vinegar and 120ml of oil. They were pureed to make the dressing.

The salad itself was made from about 150g of different mushrooms, six in all including enokis. These were cut into large pieces (except for the enokis) and fried at high heat until their volume had reduced somewhat. They were seasoned and, still hot, placed into the bowl where the enokis were. The mushroom dressing was added and they were all tossed together.

Chives, cut into pieces, were placed on top.

This was a really satisfying salad. The mushrooms are such a comfort food and to have a salad purely composed of them is really delicious. More a full meal than just a salad, next time I can see me having this with toasted slices of crusty bread and perhaps some roasted tomatoes.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Baby Spinach Salad with Dry Miso and Lime Dressing

From Nobu’s Vegetarian Cookbook, Nobu Matsuhisa, Pie Books, 2011.

Nobu’s vegetarian cookbook is an interesting one for several reasons. Firstly, he is not vegetarian but has worked on vegetarian recipes to please those patrons who have requested them. Another reason is that he wants to bring more attention to vegetables that often get scant notice. Lastly, and the most interesting reason for me, is that he wants to introduce more umami—the fifth taste (savoury)—into cooking that does not use meat products. I am not usually attracted to Japanese cooking but this book gained my attention and had me wanting to try some of the recipes.

My first attempt at a Nobu recipe was to make this salad, a very simple one.

First I had to make dry miso. This was done by spreading some miso very thinly on a sheet of baking paper and leaving it to dry. I used a very low oven to do this. When the miso was dry it was crumbled to a grainy texture.

Next a leek had to be cut into rings and fried at a low temperature. When it began to brown it was lifted from the oil and left to drain. It needed a few hours to dried and crisp up.

The salad was put together by gently mixing together baby spinach leaves, some grated Parmesan cheese, the leek, the dried miso, some lime juice (yuzu was called for), truffle oil and some virgin olive oil. A red capsicum was chopped into small pieces and added as a topping when the salad was plated.

This was an amazingly tasty salad. The flavours of each of the ingredients seemed to ring out in the salad. The dry miso had a tang all its own and the capsicum pieces were sweet against the lime and the bitter leaves. A great mix.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔