Dining with the Chef!

Hi and welcome to Dining with the Chef.

I'm Rika Yukimasa.

Summer is in full swing here in Japan.

Look at all these colorful vegetables.

Today, I'm going to show you a couple of recipes

that make the most of vegetables that are in season in summer.

The first recipe uses eggplant and the second, "edamame."

Both incorporate useful ideas to help expand your repertoire.

So stay tuned.

Tokyo, an Asian city with the largest metropolitan population in the world,

the boundaries between old Japan and futuristic Japan are blurred in this metropolis.

The food here is a fusion of cuisine not just from around Asia, but around the globe.

Our program host is culinary expert Rika Yukimasa.

Our co-host is Patrick Harlan, aka Pakkun.

Rika's Tokyo Cuisine.

Today, we feature Japanese vegetables, that are in season during summer.

First, a dish that's a favorite with Rika's family.

Appling the golden ratio, using Japanese seasonings,

she creates a dish, boosting your appetite on a hot summer's day.

And for a side dish, some quick pickles to refresh your palate.

Let's start with the pickles.

Today we're going to cook a feast with summer vegetables.

So these are just a few of the summer vegetables available here in Japan.

They're just glowing with color and you know that they're really delicious summer veggies flavors.

Yes.

They're exposed to sunshine.

Not only they're beautiful, but they're nutritious.

Well, eating a lot of summer vegetables will help to ward off fatigue and heat stroke.

Right. We should all eat as many as possible and as deliciously as possible.

So what we are going to make?

We're going to use this red pepper and yellow pepper and okra.

I'm going to introduce very easy to make pickles.

Great, pickles.

- And red and yellow, they are reggae colors.
- Yes.

We're going to have a summer party.

First off, let's prep the vegetables.

Slice, then remove the seeds and fluff from the bell peppers and cut into strips.

For a crunchy texture, it's best to cut along the grain.

Sprinkle the okra with salt and rub against a cooking board to remove the fuzz for a more appetizing texture.

There's no need to remove the calyx; you don't want the okra to soak up too much pickling liquid.

Rinse the okra, and you're all set.

Now that we're done prepping the vegetables, let's get pickling.

For this recipe, we have sushi vinegar with grain vinegar and water.

Right.

Of course sushi vinegar, you know, it contains sugar and also salt.

- And a little "dashi."
- Right.

So that's why you don't need to mix in the salt and sugar.

Right.

It already has a complex flavor.

Yes. And I'm introducing this 1 to 1 to 1 recipe.

Some people don't like sourly taste of pickles.

But I want you to eat as much summer vegetables as possible.

Right.

To do so, I add some water to the portion.

Oh... to make it a little bit softer, milder, not too sour.

Okay.

- That's it. This is the pickling liquid.
- Okay.

1 to 1 to 1.

Great.

Now pack the vegetables.

You can't actually use any kinds of vegetables, cucumbers, onions.

But I think these are beautiful.

And when I want to give something to my friends,

I would give these pickles because some people don't eat vegetables at all.

It's the problem actually.

You can have a little pickles to make you feel better.

And then, what you do is just pour.

All right.

- Okay. That should do.
- All right.

And put the lid.

Nice one.

See, this is quite pretty.

That is beautiful. That would be nice.

That's super easy.

Not very expensive, but people would love to get that as a present.

- Yes.
- What a great idea.

Close the jar and refrigerate for about three hours, and your delicious pickles will be ready to eat.

Next, we're going to make a summer stir-fry.

Let's look at the ingredients.

We have eggplant, Japanese leek, fresh ginger, ground beef, "shiso" leaves,

rice, salt, pepper, sesame oil and "sansho."

Then for the sauce we're going to use, sake, soy sauce, sugar and "mirin."

Yes.

Why did you choose ground beef today?

Ground beef has really nice "umami" flavor.

So we wanna combine with summer, an eggplant.

Excellent. The eggplant will soak up that "umami" of beef flavor.

- It's wonderful.
- Yes.

- Okay. So let's prep the vegetables.
- Okay.

Let's first, cut the "naganegi" onion.

And this one you want to cut into small pieces.

In order to do so, you can cut it this way and then cut this way.

Before you make the incisions like three millimeters or five millimeters apart.

Then not all the way through.

Yes, not all the way through.

And turn around.

180 degrees and do the same thing.

- Once again. Not all the way through.
- No.

Okay.

So you make kind of like... snake.

"Jabara," we say in Japanese.

The snake's bellows. So cool.

Then you cut into 5 millimeter.

- Just like that?
- Yes.

- You have minced leek.
- Yes.

Easy to cut.

- That's a cool trick.
- Yeah.

Let's cut the eggplant.

Japanese eggplant is smaller.

- And shaped more like banana.
- Yes, banana.

So you just cut it lengthwise.

Okay.

You can cut into smaller pieces, but this way, it's kind of like, it looks nice.

For sure. If we're going to put on rice later on, it's nice too for it to maintain form, its shape.

Peel the ginger, and cut into about four thin slices, then mince.

The ginger will give the stir-fry, a nice, crunchy texture.

The "shiso" leaves are for garnish.

You can also use basil, Italian parsley or tarragon.

- So the eggplant will take longer time to cook.
- Okay.

- So I start cooking the eggplant.
- Excellent.

So I heated a frying pan.

Drizzle some sesame oil.

The sesame oil especially has a nutty flavor and special aroma.

It makes everything so much more "umamiful."

And adds a little bit of ethnic twist to your food.

It's great.

When you fry them on high heat, you're gonna burn it right away.

Instead of doing that, you want to cook with sort of medium heat.

Okay.

And just wait.

So what I think of eggplants, coming from America, I think of, you know,

pasta dishes for example, ratatouillea, lot of tomato based food.

Here in Japan, we use eggplants in a much wider variety of dishes.

Yes, sometimes we grill and peel off the surface, and we make into salad.

Put it in Miso soup, we marinade them, and we make wonderful tempura.

They're amazing because they really soak up any flavor you add to them.

Yeah.

That looks great.

Once the eggplant is tender and lightly browned, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Season evenly, turn off the heat, and remove the eggplant.

And then you don't have to wash the pan.

Nice.

So with the sesame oil, this time you cook this beef.

The ground beef cooked in the sesame oil is going to be so good.

You can of course cook with ground pork, ground chicken if you wanna go healthier.

- Oh, you can use any ground meat you like?
- Mm-hmm.

If you don't like meat, you can do with tuna.

Yes, that's also good.

- And here, you add this onion and ginger.
- Okay.

That smells nice.

- Smells so good.
- Yes.

And here comes 3-S&M.

- Ooh, the seasonings.
- Sake, soy sauce, sugar and "mirin."

It just makes everything Japanese.

3-plus S&M stands for the four seasonings that Rika makes full use of, in her cooking.

Use equal parts of each, to give a Japanese flavor to just about anything.

For example, to cook two servings of savory simmered fish,

add two tablespoons each of sugar, soy sauce, sake, and "mirin."

Then add four tablespoons of water.

Remember the 3-S&M rule, and you can make all-time favorites, such as sukiyaki or "gyudon" - beef on rice - at home.

If you follow this rule, it will be perfect... every time.

The standard. Most basic Japanese flavors.

So just remember this equal amount.

- Then you can cook any kind of Japanese food.
- Right.

Add the 3-S&M, return the eggplant to the pan, and mix.

Okay.

And you sprinkle a little of salt.

And pepper.

And also "sansho" pepper.

I'm gonna put a lot this time.

Nice. I love "sansho." It gives such a kick.

- Easy enough.
- Yes.

I am going to taste it.

Mmm!

Pretty good, huh?

Very good.

Okay, let's get the plate.

Okay.

And serve over the rice.

Ooh.

This is freshly cooked rice.

- Oh, looks so good.
- Yeah.

And for this, eggplant toppings.

So this is where it comes in handy to have those long strips of eggplant.

When you cook the eggplant, cut into small portion.

And then the eggplant likely disappears.

It's true.

And to add this some color.

I'm gonna place the pickles.

- I've almost forgotten the pickles.
- Yes.

- See, three hours later, it used to be big but now it's smaller.
- Right.

But they still retain the color.

Beautiful.

We will have enough vegetables.

So Rika san.

How long can we keep those pickles in the fridge?

If you didn't add water it will last two weeks, three weeks.

But if you add water, try to eat within a week.

Okay.

Garnish with "shiso," and you have a colorful dish that makes the most of summer vegetables.

Basic Japanese seasonings go very well with this stir-fried dish.

Rika also recommends making a noodle dish using these seasonings.

And guess who gets to taste the difference?

And now it's time to eat.

Well, I've just noticed we have pasta as well. What happened?

Well, once you make the sauce, eggplant sauce, so you can also make it pasta.

Ah...

This is a fettuccine. The flat one.

So you can cook them, kind of do "yakisoba" style.

Sure.

You can do whatever, it's your dinner.

For my dinner, I'm going to start with the rice.

"Itadakimasu."

Ooh, look, it's so gorgeous.

Mmm.

3-S&M, you cannot go wrong.

Exactly.

It's just straight up great Japanese flavor.

But you can really tell how the sesame oil is soaked into the eggplant, this deep "umami" flavor on top of this.

And the kick of "sansho!" Wow! Love it!

And it's only been in the fridge a couple of hours,

it's already got nice pickle freshness,

on a hot day, maybe they were drinking cold beer, have pickles, perfect summer snack.

- Really good.
- Thank you.

- You mind if I try some of the pasta?
- Yes please.

Well, I like the red pepper on top too.

Really good.

Let's see if this makes a difference.

"Itadakimasu."

- Mmm... it's a different total complexion.
- Yes.

In the dish. Oh very nice.

Thank you.

This kind of sauce, I think you can go well with thick pasta, like fettuccine or two millimeters spaghetti.

Right. Are there any tips for making this?

Well, I think what you do is not to trust the package.

- Then you overcook the pasta.
- Right.

If it says eight minutes you set seven minutes.

If they say seven, then you go six.

So that you will, it will get you some kind of a time.

You can, well, you mix everything together,

and especially when you have this cooked sauce, you wanna put in to the sauce and then just mix together and heat it together.

- Which takes about 30 seconds.
- Okay.

Never overcook. That's one of your golden rules.

Don't overthink it. Just try. It's great.

Now for a salad that makes the most of a favorite summer vegetable -

"edamame," plus "daikon," with an all-purpose dressing, made with canned tuna.

What's the summery goodness we're using this time?

- "Edamame."
- "Edamame!"

Also you can eat them anywhere around the world these days.

You find them in frozen bags in the supermarkets, for example.

Like sushi or sake, "yakitori," "edamame" is one of those Japanese words,

which has become sort of a household name around the world now.

I've never thought that they were going to be a world of popular vegetables when I was small.

My father whenever he watches baseball game, It was a kind of like the ritual.

You have "edamame" on one hand and beer on the left hand.

"Edamame" is just young soybeans, right?

They're harvested before they ripen, but you can boil them and some salt on them,

eat them one at a time out of pods is amazing.

- But we are also using in different recipes?
- Yes.

Sometimes we can make that tempura or soup. Soup is wonderful.

- This time, I'm using for salad.
- Okay.

So can we take out the "edamame" out of the pod?

Sure. I love to.

So these are frozen "edamame," which we've thawed.

In the summer you can get them fresh, of course.

And this is my favorite part.

The beans are sort of pop out.

They're great.

Oh, you cheated.

Very nice.

Oh so good.

- You know, even if you eat this frozen "edamame," it's still wonderful.
- Right.

And even if you're sitting around snacking, you're eating beans, it's great.

It's good for you. It's protein.

Okay, it's done.

All right.

After shelling "edamame," you can start peeling the "daikon."

- Ooh, this is a trick.
- Yes.

And "daikon" radish in Japanese we have what we call "katsuramuki."

And cut in really thin slices like this, and keep on slicing like this.

It's amazing.

- And then, for example, you have thinly sliced "daikon" radish.
- Right.

And then we cut them into thin slices.

- Then you have thinly sliced "daikon" radish.
- Nice.

Yes, but it's too much to ask for ordinary people.

So you can just use...

- Use a peeler.
- Peeler.

Cut it like this.

And instead of cutting round, you can just slice them into thin slices.

Okay, so peel out with the peeler, and slices like any other vegetables.

But thin.

- Thinly.
- Okay.

When you cut along the grain, you will have kind of like a crunchy texture.

And when you cut against the grain, then you will have softer texture.

- Right. Because the knife breaks down the grain for.
- Right.

Exactly.

The grain, you can see that it's growing this way.

Cut along the grain, cut against the grain.

Right.

So we're actually cutting along the grain this time.

Yes.

From here, I'm going to do "shiomomi."

"Shiomomi" is salt massage.

Then you will see the excess moisture coming out of from the vegetables.

Right.

Which means that it's, there are space in the vegetables to absorb whatever flavor you add later.

Yes.

- So let's wait.
- All right.

After mixing with salt, set aside for about 10 minutes.

So "edamame" and "daikon" are ready.

- Let's make the dressing.
- Yes.

Here's the ingredients.

We have canned tuna, sushi vinegar, mayonnaise and "yuzukosho,"

which is like the rind of the yuzu, citrus fruit and salt.

It's really salty. Wonderful.

If you don't have "yuzukosho," you can substitute with wasabi.

It's good, too.

But the base is sushi vinegar and mayonnaise, and the magic ratio is...

1 to 1.

So easy to remember.

Just go equal portions of sushi vinegar and mayonnaise.

And let's mix the dressings.

All right.

I'll add the tuna.

And then "yuzukosho" for a kick, and mayonnaise.

- You can substitute mayonnaise with the olive oil or sesame oil.
- Okay.

- And then, sushi vinegar.
- Okay.

Which already has salt and sugar and "umami" flavor.

It's very easy to make.

All you have to do now is mix the vegetables with the dressing.

Make sure to squeeze out any excess moisture from the "daikon."

- You see the water comes out?
- Oh, wow. Yeah.

It's amazing, right?

- That's a lot.
- Yeah.

What we do is we even want to squeeze out the salt.

So a lot of people worry about the amount of salt, but all the salt goes away if we squeeze.

Okay.

We actually didn't use that much salt to do the salt massage anyway.

It was a little than a teaspoon probably.

We use a lot for like cucumbers and onion and also eggplant to use this technique,

because if you feel like your vegetables, they're not tasty, you do "shiomomi," just tastes better.

It really concentrates on flavor. And especially "umami."

Right.

And we have "edamame," put in here.

And simply mix them.

It's just nice colors, too.

Gorgeous.

- Okay. So this is done.
- All right.

And I'm going to plate.

Nice.

It seems random but it turned out so beautiful at the end.

So this is the kind of thing...

you make salad and if it's only oil and vinegar with green vegetables, it's kind of boring.

But if you just place this on the small plate, it's a little surprise.

Right.

How much fun is that?

So this is the "Edamame" and "Daikon" salad.

Just like that. We're done.

- And now for the "Daikon" and "Edamame" Salad.
- Yes.

"Itadakimasu."

Oh it's amazing.

Thank you.

The "daikon," crunch, crunch, crunch.

Well, it kind of soaked it for a little bit, and it's still crunchy.

That's the "shiomomi" working out right.

And I love "sushizu."

You can tell the "sushizu" has been absorbed into the "daikon" because the "daikon" is so flavorful.

And what's really amazing is when you mix the "sushizu" with the tuna, mayonnaise or whatever,

you don't even feel it's "sushizu."

- Right.
- It's just a wonderful dressing.

- It's just "umami."
- Yes.

This dressing actually works really well.

Not only for salad, but you feel like you have grilled chicken or grilled salmon, grilled whatever, you can just pour over.

- Just tastes wonderful.
- Sure.

And I'd like to try this actually with the, you know, fall vegetables and the winter vegetable, the principles are the same.

You can make this dish any times using whatever is in season.

Yes.

Today we've used simple rules to prepare summer vegetables.

Seasonal ingredients are in peak condition,

and using them is an easy way to improve your cooking - even if you're a beginner in the kitchen.

And by memorizing a few rules, you can season them to perfection.

So go ahead and try today's recipes.

The summer vegetables will give you the energy you need to make it through the hot months.

Thanks for watching, and see you next time!

See you soon!

Now for a recap of today's main points.

Prep the colorful summer vegetables and pickle in equal parts sushi vinegar, grain vinegar, and water.

Then, set aside in the fridge for about three hours.

Slice and stir-fry the eggplant, which takes more time to cook, remove, then stir-fry the other ingredients,

cook through, and add equal parts of each seasoning.

Return the eggplant, mix, and pour over the rice.

Garnish with "shiso," and place the pickles on the side.

For the salad, shell the "edamame," and massage the "daikon" with salt to remove excess moisture.

Mix equal parts sushi vinegar and mayonnaise with canned tuna for the dressing.

Add the "daikon" and "edamame," and it's done.

Cool down and beat the heat with these delicious summer vegetable recipes!