As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.
Recently, I saw some really nice looking watercress and decided to get it. It was very tender and super peppery-bitter. Good stuff, actually. Then I had to figure out what to do with it.
I saw a couple of recipes, like this one that utilized wasabi and thought it might be fun trying it out. I started out with less wasabi….I used paste, with just watercress, and slowly changed ratios and ended up adding cucumbers and tomatoes. Once I added onions….but heck no; it already more than pungent enough!
Also, I started with lemon juice, but settled for rice vinegar in the end. Also, things really came around when I added some dark brown sugar.
This version does a nice job of clearing those sinuses, but still have enough savory-sweet-sour flavors.
It’s been a nice side dish during the recent hot spell.
Watercress Salad with Wasabi Dressing
Salad: 3 ounces Watercress – Rinse and drain well. Trim long stems and cut into edible pieces if necessary 2 ounces Cucumbers cut into 1 – 1 1/2 inch sticks. 3 ounces Cherry Tomatoes (optional) – Sliced in halves/quarters
Dressing: 1 Tsp – 1 Tb Wasabi Paste – depending on your desire for pungent – sinus clearing heat. 2 Tb Neutral Oil – I used Avocado Oil 2 Tb Soy Sauce – I used Kikkoman for this 1 Tsp Dark Brown Sugar 1 Tb Rice Vinegar Dash of White Pepper (optional) Dash of Granulated Garlic (optional)
Combine vegetables and refrigerate.
Place dressing ingredients into a small jar.
Shake to mix well.
Place vegetables in a mixing bowl, add dressing, combine and coat the vegetables.
I saw this sign a few weeks back in the former location of Fujiyame:
A few days later; Tanje of the always informative guide Explore Clairemont mentioned the place in a post on IG. Unfortunately, I’m not able to find that post. Anyway, to sum up what I read; it’s the owners of PB’s Shawarma Shack that is behind this upcoming business.
4310 Genesee Avenue Suite 108A San Diego, CA 92117
Consumed by the Heat:
Right? Been hot and humid enough for you all lately? At least it seems to be cooling off for the moment. Anyway, I’ve noticed that a lot of what we’ve been eating looks like this:
Yep, tofu with okra and mizuna from the yard, with pidan. And of course, the Missus just “needed” to have some ohitashi…..this one I made with kale from the yard.
I picked one of my chilies which gave it a good kick!
I deviated from the published recipe a bit; but it turned out good. Quite refreshing.
And since yesterday was “Meat Day” at Nijiya and the weather had cooled down a bit; the Missus wanted some Soboro Don. So, I complied.
Of course, we just “needed” some fukusai…..so I made two side dishes.
The Missus enjoyed the meal and was satisfied…..for now….
What have you been eating during this recent heat wave?
And Finally……
I was sad to hear of Dolly Parton‘s passing last month. I’ve read that She really loved the islands and even had a short lived restaurant there.
I even saw her having dinner one night in Kapahulu. Yes, that’s right. Back in the late 80’s, I was having one of my “date night” dinners at one of my favorite restaurants at that time; Keo’s which was located at the corner of Kapahulu and Mo’oheau Avenue at the time. My date and I recognized the tiny woman with the big hair seated at one of the discreet tables in the place…it was Dolly Parton! Of course we couldn’t help but stare. Instead of giving us the “stink eye”, she gave us the warmest smile, which immediately made me feel guilty for staring. So, we tried not to keep staring over our “Evil Jungle Prince”. As she and her entourage left she turned to us and said “enjoy your dinner darlings!” You gotta love it!
That photo above is from Vaquero Bar in Solvang. I remember seeing the photo the first time I visited during Covid. I recall telling the bartender that story about running into Dolly back in my old neighborhood of Kapahulu. And of all the interesting coincidences; the other bartender told me that Dolly Parton had a house in Solvang! You can see more on that here! Funny thing; I also remember seeing Steve Perry and Journey having dinner at Keo’s as well.
Anyway, thanks for letting me share this! Hope you’re having a great week!
A bajillion posts ago, I mentioned seeing molokhia at Nijiya. Having never seen it offered in Japanese restaurants…at least as far as I can recall, I wondered what dishes it was used in. This year, upon seeing it again….well, I decided to buy a bunch and just go for it. Why were we so interested in this plant known as Jute Mallow? Well, it goes back to our visit to Tunisia. Where we came across a dish we loved:
“it was black and tarry looking and was in a container that looked like a flower pot. The flavor however was profound….rich, beefy with some heat, and a tongue coating texture that we found enjoyable. No one seemed to want to eat this stuff….in fact, the Chef de Cuisine came out to talk to us, just because he was happy to see folks enjoy this so much.”
It turned out to be molokhia. It had that thick, mucilaginous texture…like okra, tororo, or natto….the Japanese call the texture “neba-neba”, which we enjoy. After all, I grew up eating natto.
So, this year I just decided to finally buy some and figure out what to make after.
Molokhia originated in ancient Egypt according to what I’ve read. But how the heck did molokhia, known as moroheiya make it from there to Japan….oh-oh, looks like I was headed down that “rabbit hole”. So, after making Google my friend….I found a story about Japanese linguist Kaisuke Iimori, who was introduced to molokhia during a trip to Egypt and brought it to Japan in the 1980’s. Well, you know the Japanese and neba-neba, right? Plus, the leaves are packed with vitamins and health benefits, it is now put into the “superfood” category. Apparently, there’s even a Moroheiya Popularization Association in Japan!
After doing a bunch more Googling, I saw that molokhia seems to be mostly used in ohitashi. Basically, those side dishes where greens are blanched, then put into an cold water. After which excess water is squeezed out of the greens and a umami forward sauce is used to flavor it.
I went ahead and using one whole bunch of Molokhia made two different versions. One with my typical kurogomae sauce, which I’m now using with okra as well as kale. And my other recipe, which had evolved from using dashi and some other stuffs to using Kikkoman Kappou Sashimi Soy sauce which has both dashi and kombu in it.
The winner? Well, the version on the left. I’m guessing the Missus enjoys the super umami of the version with the Kappou Soy Sauce.
So, this has become a regular dish in the household…..for as long as Molokhia will be available at Nijiya!
A couple of notes – Kikkoman Kappou Soy Sauce can be found at Tokyo Central and Nijiya. I remove the molokhia leave from the stems. Blanching the leaves will start to make them “gooey”, so only blanch for 20 seconds or so. When squeezing out the water, you can stop when you start seeing all that lovely, slimy liquid start to be extruded.
Molokhia Ohitashi:
Ingredients:
2-3 ounces Molokhia leaves. Remove leaves from stems. 8 Cups water Ice water Katsuobushi
Sauce: 2-3 Tb Kikkoman Kappou Sashimi Soy Sauce 1 Tb Aloha or Yamasa Soy Sauce 1 Tb Rice Vinegar 1/2 Tsp Dark Brown Sugar 2 Tsp Ginger Juice – I grate ginger then press out the juice 1 Tsp Grated Garlic Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Rinse Greens
Add Kosher Salt to Water and bring to boil
Add greens and blanch for 20 seconds
Drain and place greens into ice water
Mix together 2Tb of Kappou Soy Sauce, Regular Soy Sauce, Dark Brown Sugar, and Rice Vinegar.
Add Ginger juice and garlic and combine well.
Taste and add more Kappou Soy Sauce and black pepper if needed.
Drain greens well and squeeze out excess water. Place Greens in a bowl.
Yes, prices are getting crazy these days. One thing the Missus has been enjoying with Her salads are smoked duck breasts. We’ve been getting them from the Cuisinery, but the prices for half a duck breast are like $18.95 now. We can get the same brand mail order from D’Artagnan, but it’s now crossing the $40 barrier for whole breasts…and then there’s the shipping. I’m sure we’ll order some when we make one of the $200+ orders, but for now, the Missus wanted me to find a solution.
Though these days, I basically follow “outlines” and techniques…like this one. The Missus wanted some smoked duck. I’ve made it now four times with adjustments for the Missus’s taste and preferences….so, I’ll basically list “steps”.
I’ll basically get the “Kamo” from Nijiya, usually runing from about 1/2 to 2/3 of a pound.
Then it’s all about “steps” for me.
Step 1 – The Cure:
I rinse then pat the duck breast dry. I then score and rub the breast with 1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt and 1/4 Tsp Dark Brown Sugar. I then let rest for 2-3 hours.
Step 2 – Seasoning:
Here’s where it gets interesting as their are quite a few choices. After making this a couple of times, I’ve hit upon the Missus’s preferences. I rinse off the duck. Pat dry, I’ve found that because of the curing, the Missus doesn’t want any more salt or sweet flavors….I did a light rub of Agave Syrup, but the Missus said it was too sweet. I do add fresh ground black pepper, a touch of dried thyme, a dash of granulated garlic.
Step 3 – Hot Smoking:
Currently, the Missus wants a more smokey flavor, so I’m using oak or hickory Cameron smoking “chips” (it’s really kinda like sawdust).
I use the standard technique. Leave the smoker 2/3 open over high heat until the whisps of smoke start appearing. I then close the cover and weight it down to shut it even more. Remember, this smoker is over 20 years old now. Once I really see smoke whisps leaking out and can even hear some sizzling of liquid coming out of the duck hitting the bottom liner, I turn the flame down to low.
After several tried, the Missus preferred the version where the duck is smoked for just 15 minutes. After which, I remove the smoker from the burner and let rest for 5 minutes.
Step 4 (optional) – Sear:
This is an optional step, but I’ve found that it does create a nice texture with regards to the skin and such. Once I remove the duck and put into a sauté pan with some duck fat and EVOO and sear/crisp for a few minutes until all the surface fat of the duck is rendered.
And then it’s ready for prime time….or at least for salads and charcuterie boards.
I’m still working on getting even more smoked flavor without compromising the texture that the Missus enjoys….but for now this is what works.
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend…..though it seems that “May Gray” has really settled in here….at least JJ is enjoying it!
Just a couple of odds and ends…..
So, right now we’ve got Shiso (and lettuce) growing crazy in the backyard.
Well, I was wondering why it was growing so crazily and came to find out that Shiso is considered as an invasive species in several areas of the US! Yikes! And yet, Nijiya charges like $2.99 for a couple of leaves?
Anyway, I’ve had to come up with some new ways to use the leaves (other than what we usually do) and had also made some Bulgogi with some Wagyu I got from H Mart.
So, we had some Shiso-Bulgogi Bossam kinda thingy….
Still, I had half of the bulgogi still marinating…… I’ve been missing “home” and wondered how a Bulgogi version of Teri Beef Sandwiches….a real comfort food of mine would be? So, we did a version…..with some Shiso (of course), lettuce from the yard, kimchi, tomatoes, red onion…..
This was really good! This really seems like “food truck” fare…..wonder if any of them serves this?
And then there was the really strange request I got from the Missus. Along with all the lettuce and stuffs we got growing; there’s a couple of small Genovese Basil plants growing….well, of course it would be Genovese Basil, right? For some strange reason, I enjoy pesto on my avocado toast. On one morning, the Missus asked me if I could add grilled eggplants to the pesto avocado toast! I really didn’t want to get the grill going for just some eggplant nor the oven. I really didn’t think eggplant would come out well in the air fryer. But then I had an idea……What about the panini press??? So, I went and sliced the eggplant, mixed it with EVOO, Maldon Salt, fresh ground black pepper, granulated garlic, and a light sprinkle of dried oregano. Mix well, make sure the eggplant is nicely coated….then…well….
The eggplant was quite good in the sandwich. It attains a crust, but the flesh is still creamy. And along with the pesto…which is made like we learned in Liguria, this was really good.
I know…..kinda weird hacks, right?
There’s one thing I’m still working on. In the past we’ve ordered Smoked Duck from D’Artagnan and have bought it from the Cuisinery….but man, it’s pricy for a small piece of half a duck breast ($18.95). So, I’m currently working on making it using my Stovetop Smoker. Yes, I still use my Camerons Stovetop Smoker.
It’s a quick “cure”.
And then a hot smoke on the stove.
It’s quite tasty, but am still working on cooking times and best type of wood chips….
Nijiya is probably a twice weekly stop…along with Tokyo Central (see below) for me/us. And I’ll often see some newer items in the deli case. Like this…..
Though there are maybe one or two sushi items I might get at Nijiya, I’m not the biggest fan of most of their fish based sushi items. But this one was interesting.
Especially based on the name and yes, the price as well!
I know…..all you ex-pat Kama’aina’s are thinking “Ohana“! And one that I showed this to, went, “what, baka ohana” (i.e. “stupid family” in pidgin). Well, nooooo….. I think that Ohana Batake means something along the lines of “field of flowers“, probably based on how the bowl looks? I’m sure “FOY” Junichi will correct me if I’m mistaken. Actually, this was not bad….I enjoyed the ikura which added some nice, briny “character” to the dish. And I think the price was quite reasonable for these days.
If you recall, I used to enjoy the karaage from Nijiya. Until they changed their recipe a couple of years ago. Well, last week, I noticed that the karaage looked a bit different.
Much better than what I’d had previously, but still not as good as what Tokyo Central now has….so long you get the “correct” karaage. Still, with more shoyu flavor, better texture, this was an improvement.
Nijiya Market 3860 Convoy St Ste 109 San Diego, CA 92111
Speaking of Tokyo Central……
I was doing some shopping at Tokyo Central last Sunday morning and walked over to the deli case. I must not pay enough attention because I never really noticed that they sell Yakitori. Not that I would really get some….but on this morning it was 20% off. I’m guessing that it was leftover from the day before? A no-no with regards to most items….but since we have the air fryer…..
So priced at $6.39, I thought it might be worth a try.
It looked fairly mediocre, and I had a taste of the tare, which was ok….truly bottled stuff, but decently salty-sweet.
What I did was microwave the skewers for a minute…then rub in whatever sauce had dripped off and what was left in the container…then went full blast in the air fryer. The result of which was definitely worth the six dollar price.
I thought the “momo” and negima…both the chicken thigh skewers were pretty good. The Missus actually enjoyed the very chicken-y tsukune.
Well, with prices these days, I’m going to be on the lookout for those 20% off specials.
Tokyo Central 8125 Balboa Ave. San Diego, CA 92111
Like I said, current prices have had an affect on our shopping and eating. Have they had the same effect with all of you?
I had to smile when “FOY” Dereck just commented on my revisit to Taste of Hunan which I did almost a month ago. We have already revisited yet again! But, since I’d recently done a post, I didn’t take any photos of that visit. There was one item on the menu that we noticed for the first time. ToH actually sells La Rou, the Hunan cured and smoked pork by weight! The Missus asked the always friendly Server about that and She was told that it is shipped to ToH from Hunan Province! They don’t always have it for sale, but she went to check and said they had one piece. So, here’s where it gets interesting…..you have to purchase the entire piece, they will not portion it for you. The price is $25.95 per pound. Not cheap, but you really don’t use a lot of La Rou per dish. We really like the La Rou ToH uses, so we decided to get it. The piece came in at 2 pounds! The woman was so nice, instructing us to freeze what we don’t use.
In case you’re wondering what 2 pounds of La Rou looks like.
And that my friends is a full sized cleaver!
What I did is divide up the LA Rou into four, almost equal sized portions, let’s just say a half pound or so.
I kept one portion for current use and the other three went into the freezer. There’s a hard “rind” at the bottom of the piece. When first using the piece, I’ll remove the rind, which also had a good fat layer. This comes in handy later….. We found that one piece can make about 4 dishes…so let’s say about a quarter pound of la rou….and that’s a generous amount!
So, of course first up was what we’ve been making a lot of recently, Clay Pot Rice. Instead of using duck fat or drippings to coat the nabe, we use the pork rind and melt the fat off the piece to lube the baby up!
The Missus loves La Rou with Celtuce (i.e. Chinese Lettuce – Wōsǔn/Wōjù).
So, I cut some fairly thin slices along with the Celtuce.
Adding some dried chilies, garlic, etc….. A very simple dish. No photo of the final product, because as soon as it hit the table, the Missus set out to devour it!
I’ve made a couple of other dishes since then, the Missus loves La Rou with Chinese Celery. Here’s a photo of the La Rou stir fried with Chinese Cauliflower (which I mentioned in the post).
I used Fresno Chilies, dried chili de arbol, and fermented chilies for this. I did a low heat stir fry of the cauliflower first, removing it from the wok, then going for it with the other ingredients and adding the cauliflower back in later.
Anyway….it’s been fun, since the frozen La Rou you get at 99 Ranch Market is horrible!
Some other stuffs……
I needed to use up the last of my beans from Rancho Gordo and only had those huge Royal Corona Beans left. So, I made up a pot of it.
I took half of the beans and made a dish with Merguez, Harissa, and chard from the yard! The Missus took most of it with Cous Cous for lunch and we also had some on toast, which was quite good!
When the weather recently warmed up, I went and made marinated beans with the remainder.
The beans mainly with lemon juice/zest, EVOO, sun dried tomatoes, red onion, garlic, and Italian Parsley. Nice and refreshing!
And just for the fun of it, I recently made this as well.
You know what it is, right? Took me back to small kid time!
Just some odd and ends from the last couple of weeks.
After having the “special” hot pot rice at Eastern Dynasty; the Missus became certain that we could do better at home. So guess what we’ve been having weekly these days?
Along with the usual; lup cheong and stuff, we’ve been using left over roast duck from our visits to Eastern Dynasty, Hong Kong Kitchen, and other places, along with more importantly the duck drippings. Duck fat is used to coat the nabe to help build a nice crust. And a 3:1 soy sauce to dark soy sauce mixture to help flavor.
The Missus has been into gardening this year. I’m waiting until warmer weather to start growing peppers again and maybe evening making some hot sauce again! Meanwhile, as you might have noticed, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with some of the items the Missus is growing, like the Keru Kurogomae. We’ve had a good amount of chard, which is great for my Pesto Chard dish. But the stems were huge and even though I use stems in that recipe….I developed it to actually use stems, there was just too much. So, I decided to do some pickling; which turned out quite well.
The Missus also enjoys the onions I have in the pickle as well.
And then I decided to pickled some okra….which was quite good as well.
This one uses dried dill, which was a first for me.
These come in handy when the Missus says She wants something, ahem, “easy and light” for dinner on one of our warmer evenings….
The Missus always seems to get “sucked in” when She goes shopping with me at Nijiya or Tokyo Central. For instance; She saw this Hokkaido Mushroom Curry and just had to try it.
So, of course I had to go ahead and make Chicken Katsu, etc…..
Sadly; it was really bland, and quite thin, almost watery……
Well nothing ventured, nothing gained….or something like that!
Hope everyone has a great weekend now that the rain has passed!
As you get older, do you find yourself eating more and more like your parents/grandparents? It came to me as I made us lunch the other day…..and no…sigh, the Missus cannot just eat Niku Doufu…She needs all those side dishes.
And while the takana (mustard greens) and kyuri (cucumber) asazuke are from the market. The one other item was not.
My grandparents loved bitter melon, at the age I was exposed to it….well, I hated it. When we lived in Kaimuki, our neighbors, the wife was Okinawan loved goya, and would give us goya and my mom, and later me; would make goya champuru…basically bitter melon and eggs. Being raised on a low income, it was a treat to have some Spam in it. They also gave us pickled bitter melon as well. Eventually, as I got older, I enjoyed it more, but still never really developed a taste for it until I was in my 30’s. Still, it wasn’t something I craved. And then we had our last trip “home”. My friends recommended a restaurant located on the second floor of McCully Shopping Center named Bozu. Yes, I know…waaaay behind on those posts!
Anyway, one of the dishes we ordered was the Pickled Bitter Melon.
And the Missus was smitten! We ended up have three orders of this!
Anyway, recently I’d been doing a bunch of pickling…mainly of stuff from the garden and I decided to try my hand at making Goya Tsukemono. I looked online and thru several of my cookbooks and after several tries found one that interested me in Machiki Tateno’s Japanese Pickled Vegetables. In the end, I used the recipe as an outline ingredient wise totally changing proportion and quantity. Not wanting to waste excess pickling liquid I fill the excess space with slices of daikon, which does well in this pickling solution as well as a few cloves of garlic.
Anyway, it’s a current favorite of the Missus. And now it seems to be getting a bit of play since it’s considered an important ingredient of “Blue Zone” diets. I dunno about that….we just think this tastes mighty good!
A couple of notes – I use the daikon and garlic to fill space after adding the bitter melon. I’ve cut down on the amount of dark brown sugar since the Missus enjoys more salty/bitter to sweet.
Goya Tsukemono (With daikon and garlic too) 1 – 7-8 oz Bitter Melon Boiling Water Slices of daikon (optional) 5-6 Cloves peeled garlic (optional)
2 dried chilies 1/2 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar 1/2 Cup Light Soy Sauce – I used Aloha Shoyu 1/3 Cup Dark Brown Sugar 2 Slices of Ginger
Heat a pot of water to a boil
Slice bitter melon in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and scrape off as much white fibers and matter as possible. Slice into 1/3 inch slices cross wise.
Use boiling water to sterilize pickle jar and also pour over bitter melon and drain.
Add pickling ingredients to a small pot and bring to a boil.
Add bitter melon slices to pickle jar. Fill excess with slices of daikon and garlic.
Add boiling pickling liquid to jar, let cool until warm. Then cover and refrigerate.
Wait 2-3 days before serving
If you try this recipe; let me know how it turns out!
Recently, the Missus has been wanting all those “comfort” type dishes. Like Niku Dofu.
Of course, it can’t be “JUST” xxxx dish. There has to be some “side dishes” as well. Which ends up looking like this.
And yes, the Okra Kurogamae are still in the game so to speak. But recently, the Missus who has been on a gardening thing got some kale seeds from the library and they’ve been growing like crazy. It’s surprisngly tender…thing is; we’re not quite sure what type of kale it is…maybe Brazilian or perhaps Portuguese Kale?
Not sure; but it’s quite tender. So, at one point I wondered how it would do using at Kurogomae type sauce and served like a fukusai? It’s a bit of a pain, but after a couple of tries, I got the ratio down.
Of course, you need to squeeze out all that liquid from the kale.
Though 5-6 ounces of kale will make only that serving you see above. And so; this ain’t no cheapie dish…but the Missus really enjoys it…for now… You can do this with spinach as well.
The main difference between this and the okra version is it does well with some acidic and pungent notes. Anyway, here goes….
Keru Kurogomae 5-6 ounces Tender Kale or Spinach 1 Tb Kosher Salt 8 Cups water Ice water
Sauce 4-5 Tb Black Sesame Powder 2 Tsp Sugar 2-3 Tsp Soy Sauce 2 Tsp Apple Cider or Rice Vinegar 1 Tb Sesame Oil 1-2 Tb Avocado or other neutral oil (optional) 1 clove garlic grated Fresh Ground Black Pepper to taste
Rinse Greens
Add Kosher Salt to Water and bring to boil
Add greens and blanch quickly
Drain and place greens into ice water – Mix together sesame powder and sugar – combine well.
Add soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil. – Check consistency. Add neutral flavored oil as needed to create an acceptable texture.
Add garlic
Taste and add fresh ground black pepper as desired.
Drain greens well and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
Chop kale into three pieces, then squeeze out excess liquid.
Separate kale leaves and mix into sauce. Coat well.
Refrigerate at least an hour before serving. And mix again before plating.
Top with sesame seeds (optional)
Funny thing. Just as this is kind of a mash-up; so is another dish that I’ve been making as well, using my base recipe for Niku Dofu and another traditional “old school” recipe I grew up eating. I’ll get that one done soon!
