yakisoba noodles with egg

Japanese street food, for 3.

2 tb worcestershire sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp ketchup
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 onion, thinly siced
1 carrot
4 cabbage leaves
2 spring onions
3 shiitake mushrooms
450 g yakisoba wheat noodles (precooked), loosened in hot water and drained
3 eggs, fried, sunny side up

Combine the first 5 ingredients to make the sauce, or buy pre-made. Generally cut vegetables into small bite-size pieces.

Stir-fry the vegetables quickly in oil, adding in the above order.

Add noodles then the sauce. Stir-fry briskly. Make sure the noodles don’t get soggy or stick. Serve into bowls and top with the fried egg.

Easy to add a little pork belly or fried tofu.

cold cucumber kim chee

A fantastic Japanese / Korean tsukemono (pickle) that is eaten together with the refreshing pickling fluid. Good on a hot day with barbecued or spicy dishes. The original recipes says it is a good remedy for hangovers, too. I was not able to verify that.

Shanghai style noodles with spring onion oil

True fast food from Shanghai, “kai yang cong you mian.” Very little work, few ingredients, lots of taste. Serves 4.

Kinpira

Another staple dish of Japanese izakaya “tapas” cuisine. Traditionally, this is made with gobo, a Japanese burdock root but works well with carrots, turnips and salsify. Easy and fast to make.

Nikumiso

Nikumiso is simple and satisfying Isakaya dish of ground meat and miso that I discovered in Kagoshima. It is fast to prepare and great as a dip for raw vegetables or on top of cold or hot noodles.

yakiniku pan-fry

For this dish, the meat is sliced very finely and briefly marinated, this works superbly well with lower grade cuts of pork and beef. A fast and satisfying dish.

marsala chicken

A classic Italian dish, fast, easy and very satisfying.

2 chicken breasts
a handful of mushrooms (optional)
150 ml marsala (sicilian desert wine)
100 ml full fat cream
butter for frying
salt & white pepper
a few sage leaves for garnishing

Butterfly the chicken, wrap in cling-film, flatten with a meat mallet or rolling pin. Salt and dust with flour. In a non-stick pan, heat a large knob of butter, fry the chicken breasts for 2-3 minutes on each side, set aside on a warm plate. (If using the mushrooms, slice them and fry with the chicken.) Tip most of the butter out of the pan, deglaze with the marsala and simmer until reduced to half of the original amount. Add cream, let thicken a little bit more and season with salt and white pepper. Fry sage leaves in a bit of olive oil, drain on kitchen paper. Serve with fettuccine, rice, new potatoes or mash, garnish with the fried sage leaves.

mung daal with spinach

Another mung daal variation. The black cardamom gives this  a great and very distinct aroma.

300 grs mung daal (shelled mung beans)

4 tbsp  ghee or butter

8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cms ginger, finely chopped
4 pods of black cardamom
1 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 green chili or cayenne pepper
a big bunch of fresh or frozen leaf spinach
a dash of cream
lemon & fresh coriander to serve

Thoroughly wash and soak the lentils for 30 minutes. Blend the garlic and ginger into a mush in a food processor. Gently fry this together with chopped green chili in ghee or butter for a minute, add the black cardamom, fry for another couple of minutes, add drained lentils and 400ml of water as well as tumeric, ginger powder and cayenne (if not using chili). Leave to simmer until daal is soft but not too mushy. Add fresh (wilted) or frozen spinach and a dash of cream, mix, cook for a few minutes more. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander and lemon.
 

 

pasta alla puttanesca

The anchovies really do the trick in this sauce. Without the olives and capers, this is a great base for other tomato-sauces.

1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
500 grs ripe tomatoes or tinned tomatoes
100 grs black olives, pitted
3 teaspoons small capers
4 anchovies in oil
1 red chili
tomato concentrate
olive oil

Finely chop the onion, garlic and chili, sweat with olive oil in a large pan until soft and translucent. Meanwhile, peel, de-seed and chop the tomatoes, roughly chop the olives, drain the capers. Buzz the anchovies into a pulp in a food processor, adding some tomatoes if necessary. Add tomatoes and anchovies to the onions, simmer for 15 minutes until thickened. Add tomato concentrate to adjust texture and colour, add olives and capers. Adjust seasoning. Garnish with plenty of fresh parsley or thyme.

Good with linguine or spaghetti.

beetroot gazpacho

A dish for a late summer day with an autumnal note provided by the beetroot, creating a beautifully red gazpacho. Fast and easy.

2 beetroots (about 500 grs)
8 tomatoes
1/2 onion
1/2 salad cucumber
1/2 red bell pepper
1 garlic
50ml red wine or sherry vinegar
100 ml olive oil
dash of Tabasco (optional)
salt, pepper

horseradish, freshly grated
Crème fraîche
Smoked trout or caviar

Boil the beets, unpeeled, in salted water until soft but firm, about 20-30 Minutes, depending on size. In the meantime, de-seed the tomatoes, peel the cucumber. Peel the boiled beet, roughly chop all vegetables and blend in a food processor. Reserve some beet cubes for the garnish. Add vinegar, olive oil, Tabasco, olive oil & pepper. Add some boiling water from the beets if the texture is too thick. Garnish with Crème fraîche, beet cubes, trout, fleur de sel and lots of freshly grated horseradish.

Serve slightly warm or cold.

The horseradish can be mixed with an equal amount of a grated sour apple.

Adapted from: Die ZEIT Magazin