Restaurants in Tokyo

I have had the chance to spend 7 days in Tokyo last week to visit my sister. It has been such a long time I didn't go there, but now it's done. It was so nice, great and lovely to go back there. Nothing has really changed, and that was exactly like in my memories.

During this stay, I went to different restaurants, all very nice from the smaller and traditional one to the best of them, sushi-bar, café, kaiseki, and contemporary Japanese... The menus are completely different but always very good, with a so nice presentation. I choose a few of them for this post.

Radish soup and miso grilled sea-bass

This litlle radish (little compared to giant Japanese daikon), or this big turnip, was so beautiful that I couldn't help buying it at th coop shop.

I didn't how to prepare it and what to do with it at first, but suddenly the idea of using it for a soup was obvious. So I peeled it and boiled it in consome and with a little piece of leek. Once soft enough I blended i into a creamy soup. I served the soup with a piece of local wild sea-bass that I grilled after rolling it in a mixture made with miso, oil and soya  sauce. Simply delicious!

For a 100％ vegan experience you can replace the fish by a piece of mochi (rice cake)

New onion vegetable sauté and seeds

Spring is in the air!!! Sunny days are getting a little warmer, in a week daffodils have sprouted everywhere in the garden and new vegetables start slowly to appear. It starts first with onions. They are so sweet and with a taste that is so much the annunciation of warmer days that I love them!!!

This morning there were plenty of new onions at the coop and I bought several and decided to prepare some vegetables sauté with some seeds.

In a wok I put a little of olive oil, peeled and cut in big chucks one new onion, add one carrot cut in sticks, later I added brocoli, small tomatoes cut in halves, sunflower seeds, salt and pepper. Separately I boiled a mix made of some lentils, barley etc...

Once cooked I mix everything in the wok with a little more olive oil, just before serving.

Waiting for Hanami

During my stay in Tokyo, at the end of February, I could enjoy plum blossoms as a premise for sakura blossom later in March, in all the streets and park, and also in every shop for candy, dessert, kimono even for Daruma...

Hazelnut cake for weekday's breakfast

Cakes are great for weekday's breakfast because they last 2 or 3 days, are much more delicious than industrial breads and you can make any variation that pleases you depending on ingredients and season!
I bake a hazelnut simple cake this week. It's a simple recipe base on yogurt cake but without yogurt. I use almond milk instead.
I mixed some flour, a little brown caster sugar, baking powder, salt, hazelnut powder, 2 eggs, a little of almond milk and a little of oil (sunflower).I mix the whole thing and put in a cake pan for 30minutes at 160deg in the oven. Can't wait for tomorrow morning!!!

Homemade gyoza

Japanese meal for Parisians today! I've decided to make gyoza, it's quite simple and much better than the one you can buy in Paris. 

You just need chopped pork  meat (or veal) about 200g for 40 gyoza, add 3 leafs of Chinese cabbage thinly cut, a piece of ginger grated, 3 black mushrooms (dried shiitake) cut in thin slices, soya sauce and one spoon of potato flour. Make balls and put them in the round dough (bought in a Japanese grocery, but you can also make your own). I used a shape to close the gyoza, but there is also a technique to close them without.

A drop of oil in a fry-pan, when the gyoza are golden on each sides, add some water and wait a couple of minutes. 

Eat with soya sauce, spicy oil and pepper. 

Spinach and tomato tart with chick pea dough

Chick pea flour is really easy to use. Mixed with some water and fried, you make soca, a little bit thicker you can make panisse. I love pies because they can prepared in advance and are handy when work is really busy. Today I wanted to try a pie dough with chick pea flour. I mixed chick pea flour, water, olive oil, salt and pepper to obtain a soft dough. I roughly shape it to my pie dish with ghe fingers. Then I've cut tomatoes and lined them on the bottom, cover with finely cut spinach, snd a batter of tofu and eggs season with cumin, and finish with a few tomato slices. Bake for 30 minutes and it smells so good... can't wait to try it!!!