Using the same vinaigrette as the one for Lamb Tataki, the flavorful rosemary vinaigrette works just as well with these seared mushrooms.

Chef’s tip:  Select large king trumpets, save the top for other uses such as a mushroom ragout.  Use a high heat oil like grapeseed oil searing the mushrooms.  Sear in batches so as not to crowd the mushromms, maintaining a high heat environment, otherwise, the mushrooms will start to sweat.

Vinaigrette:
1/3 cup grapeseed oil or other nuetral flavor oils
1/2 tespoon dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 oz King Trumpet mushrooms, stems only, sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
2 cloves garlic, skin on, lightly smashed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

To make the Vinaigrette:
1.  Combine all ingredients in a glass bowl and whisk to combine well.  Set aside.
To make the mushroom coins:
2.  Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat.   Add the grapeseed oil and garlic and saute for 30 seconds until garlic is fragrat.
3.  Add the mushroom coins and sear the mushrooms until a caramelized crust forms and the mushroom is tender.   Transfer to a plate.
To Assemble:
4.  Drizzle with the vinaigrette, give it a few turns of black pepper from a mill and serve immediately.

Serves: 4

Tags: Japanese, Mushrooms, salad, vegan, Vegetarian.

There are 2 popular ways to eat pickled ginger.  In Chinese tradition, at the first full moon celebration of the birth of a baby, or in Japanese, gari is eaten with sushi.  I just love it as an everyday condiment!  Do note that the pink in the pickled ginger is a natural color.

Chef’s tip: Buy the young ginger, which has very thin skin, succulent flesh with little fibers.  Peel the ginger by scraping it with a spoon.

1  1/4 lb young ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
2 Tablespoons kosher salt

1 1/2 cup white vinegar
6 Tablespoons sugar

1. Peel ginger and slice with a mandoline as thin as you can, preferably less than 1 mm thick
2. Spread sliced ginger on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt and let sit for 7 minutes.  Rinse and spin dry.  Pat dry with paper towels.
3. In a non reactive bowl, dissolve sugar with the vinegar.
4. Pack the ginger into a glass container, then pour in the vinegared syrup.  Refrigerate for at least two weeks before consuming.  The ginger will develop a rose pink hue over time.

Serves: Makes 6 cups

Tags: hot, Japanese, sour, sushi, sweet, vegan, Vegetarian.

This week, I got a big box of spices from my friend, Karina, from Singapore.  She sent me a kilogram of dried “bunga telang” – blue pea flower, a type of tropical morning glory. It’s an edible flower and we use its brilliant indigo blue pigment as a natural food dye.  See the pictures below for a view of the brilliant blue color!   You can’t imagine how excited I was.  Even when I lived in Malaysia, bunga telang is hard to come by.  If we see it on vines by the roadside, we would stop the car to pick some.

So what do you do with these blue flowers?  Nasi Ulam or in the East Coast of Malaysia, sometimes refered to as Nasi Kerabu.  “Ulam” means a medley of herbs.  The rice salad is tossed with, yes, a medley of Asian herbs, dried coconut and dried fish flakes.  If you want to keep it vegetarian or serving the rice to less adventurous palates, just skip the dried seafood part.  It tastes just as yummy.

Chef’s tip: Toasting coconut is just as easy on the stove top as in the oven.  Coconut burns really fast, so remove it from the heat source a tinge below your desired color, and it will continue cooking on its own.

3 Tablespoons dried bunga telang, soaked in 1½ cup water
1 cup Jasmine rice
1 cup Jasmine rice + 1½ cup water

2 oz salt cod, soaked 10 minutes, drained, optional
¼ cup dried shrimp, soaked, drained, optional

1 cup shredded, unsweetened desiccated coconut

Herb mix
½ cup mint leaves, chiffonade
½ cup Thai basil leaves, chiffonade
½ cup Rau Ram leaves, chiffonade
½ cup cilantro leaves, chiffonade
¼ cup perilla/shiso leaves. chiffonade
½ cup Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
¼ cup sorrel leaves, finely chiffonade
2 tablespoon kaffir lime leaves, chiffonade
½ cup shallots from 2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 inch fresh tumeric, thin juliennes
1 inch galangal, thin juliennes
1 lemon grass, white only, finely sliced
1 ginger flower, finely sliced
Note: You can use any fragrant herb, if you cannot find all the herbs listed, or try new ones

½ cup roasted peanuts, chopped
1 Tablespoon roasted belachan, optional

Preparing the 2 types of rice:
1. Rinse 1 cup of  rice until the water runs clear.  Then soak rice in 1½ cup water with the blue flowers (in a tea ball or wrapped with cheesecloth) for at least 1 hour.  Remove flowers just before cooking.
2. In a small pot, bring the soaked rice and blue soaking liquid to boil. When it comes to a boil, cover the pot, turn to low simmer, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and let it sit, still covered for 10 minutes.
3. Rinse the other 1 cup of rice till the water runs clear.  In another small pot, bring the white rice and 1½ cups of water to boil. When it comes to a boil, cover the pot, turn to low simmer, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and let it sit, still covered for 10 minutes.
4. Fluff the rice and toss together into a large bowl to cool.
Preparing the coconut and seafood, if using:
5. Toast the coconut till golden brown. Add to the big bowl of rice.
6. Soak and drain salt cod and dried shrimp.  Place salt cod in food processor and grind coarsely.  Set aside.  Repeat with dried shrimp.
7. Heat a sauté pan with 1 tablespoon of canola oil and fry the salt cod till fragrant.  Add to the rice.
8. Toast the dried shrimp till fragrant.  Add to the rice.
Preparing the herbs
9. Finely chiffonade all herbs.
Assembly:
10. Toss all ingredients – salt cod, dried shrimp, coconut, herbs – together with the cooled rice.
11. Sprinkle with chopped roasted peanuts and roasted belachan.  Serve at room temperature.

Serves: 8

Tags: Herbs, Malaysian, rice salad, salty, vegan, Vegetarian.