Vegan & Demanding

Here’s the last bit of the Japanese dinner. Look at the previous 3 posts for the entire menu.

Robata Yaki is grilled food, this time okra, asparagus and scallions. It could not be easier. Just brush veges with a little oil and grill on the BBQ or in the oven. You can baste the food with the yaki sauce or simply serve with a little sea salt.

I forgot to shoot of the asparagus, sorry!

Yaki sauce

• 125 ml (1/2 cup) sake
• 175 ml (3/4 cup) mirin
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) sugar
• 175 ml (3/4 cup) Japanese soy sauce

In a large pot, bring the sake and mirin to a boil. Add the sugar and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Reduce heat, add soy sauce and simmer for approximately 30 minutes until the sauce is thick and glossy.

Maitake, bunashimeji and shiitake mushrooms baked en papillote with sesame oil, sake and garlic.

Cultivated Japanese mushrooms are not quite as fragrant as wild mushrooms but they’re now easy to come by. Hokto Kinoko, a Japanese producer, opened a mushroom “farm” in the USA in 2009. Their organic mushrooms are cultivated on a substrate made of non-genetically-modified ground corn cobs and rice bran, packaging is kept to a minimum and they’re relatively cheap at $2-3 per 3.5 oz package.

Mushroom papillote before and after baking.

This dish is usually made with butter which I have replaced here with dark sesame oil.

Ingredients

• 100 gr (3.5 oz) bunapi shimeji (white beech mushrooms)
• 100 gr (3.5 oz) buna shimeji (brown beech mushrooms)
• 100 gr (3.5 oz) maitake mushrooms (hen of the woods)
• 100 gr (3.5 oz) shiitake mushrooms
• 2 cloves of cloves garlic, minced
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) dark sesame oil
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) saké
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp) smoked sea salt
• 1 lemon cut into wedges

Preparation

Separate shimeji and maitake into small clumps, slice the shiitake. Assemble the mushrooms on a large piece of parchment kitchen paper or foil, add garlic, sesame oil, sake and sea salt. Cover with an other piece of parchment paper or foil and seal well. Bake at 175C (350F) for 30 minutes. Open the papillote carefully, transfer its content to a serving plate and garnish with lemon wedges.

Now pour yourself an other glass of saké and enjoy!