Whatevahs

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Alohabc’s Natto & Furikake Spaghetti

(1 serving) Recipe © 2007

Furikake is a dry condiment sprinkled on hot rice, usually Nori (seawead)-based, but may contain Goma (sesame seed) and other flavor ingredients and seasonings.

Cook & place in deep soup bowl: 1 single serving of boiled Spaghetti Noodles, hot out of the pan, do not rinse.

Toss with: 1 teaspoon of Butter, or Olive Oil (butter adds best flavor)

Layer over hot Spaghetti:

1 single serving container (about 50 grams) of Natto, pre-stirred to foamy consistency
1 heaping teaspoon, Nori & Goma Furikake

Optional garnish: a bit of fine sliced Negi, both white and green part, and/or a few shreds of Beni Shoga.

Only the Brave: one raw Chicken Egg Yolk. Serve immediately.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Alohabc’s Natto & Curry Plate

Photo courtesy toyohara on Flickr/Creative Commons Licensing

1 single serving pouch S&B brand Vegetable Curry Sauce, heated as instructed on pouch.
1 single serving container (about 50 grams) of Natto, pre-stirred to foamy consistency
1 heaping teaspoon, Tsukemono
1.5 cups hot Steamed Rice

Mound Rice in center of plate, surround with Curry Sauce on one side, Natto on the other. Place Tsukemono on edge of plate or separate small dish. Optional garnish: a bit of fine sliced Negi, both white and green part, and/or a few shreds of Beni Shoga. Serve immediately.

Substitute pre-made curry sauce with your own Japanese-style curry.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Alohabc’s Natto Soba (Buckwheat) Noodles

(1 serving) Recipe © 2007

1 bundle (single serving) boiled Soba Noodles, rinsed cold with ice water & drained. Heap cold Soba in deep serving bowl.

Top cold Soba with:

1 single serving container (about 50 grams) of Natto, pre-stirred to foamy consistency
2 heaping tablespoons fresh grated Daikon Oroshi
1 heaping teaspoon, Shredded Ajitsuke Nori
Optional garnish: a bit of fine sliced Negi, both white and green part, and/or a few shreds of Beni Shoga.

¼ cup purchased Soba Tsuyu* Serve sauce on the side to pour over and mix just before eating.

*Not same as Natto Tsuyu, which is thick and sweet. Some products are ready-to-serve, others are concentrated, marked suitable for many style of noodle dishes and/or cooking base (udon, somen, sukiyaki). See label for dilution rates.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Alohabc’s Maguro Natto Izakaya Appetizer

(2 appetizer servings, or 1 meal serving) Recipe © 2007

1 cup of ½-inch cubed fresh, raw tuna - Maguro (also known as "Ahi"... ask for sushi-quality at your seafood counter, if they don’t have it, don’t make this dish!)
1 single serving container (about 50 grams) of Natto, pre-stirred to foamy consistency
2 tablespoons fresh grated white radish - Daikon Oroshi
¼ to ½ teaspoon fresh grated ginger root - Shoga Oroshi

Toss Maguro cubes gently with Natto, place in appetizer bowls or make it a meal over hot rice. Top with Daikon Oroshi formed into a mound with fingers, add Shoga Oroshi to top of the Daikon mound. Optional garnish: slivers of green Shiso Leaf, or a bit of fine sliced Negi, both white and green part sprinkled over all. Only the Brave: one raw Quail Egg Yolk for each appetizer serving. Offer Shoyu or Natto Tsuyu at the table. Serve immediately with your favorite beverage. Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A Very Special Offer, For the Love of Natto!

A couple years back, after discovering my friends' mutual interest in Natto, I had decided to have a "Natto tasting" at our annual New Year's party. Shopping for an assortment of packages (having no clue what all the writing on the labels meant) I stumbled upon an amazing instrument. Since I couldn't read the outer package, I'm calling it a "Magic" Natto Wand here. (Great for scrambling eggs, too!)

It was a big hit at the party, and everyone went home with one as a party favor. Now I keep a few on hand at all times for when I run into another Natto nut! I've made a special purchase to offer a wand, stir cup with lid, and one of my favorite recipes, as "Alohabc's Deluxe Natto Starter Kit." This is definitely one set that's not sold in stores, or on TV!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Alohabc’s Natto Mentaiko Spaghetti

1 single serving package Mentaiko flavor Spaghetti Seasoning*
1 single serving of boiled Spaghetti Noodles, hot out of the pan, do not rinse.
Toss Seasoning with hot Spaghetti.

Layer in a deep soup bowl over seasoned Spaghetti:
1 single serving container (about 50 grams) of Natto, pre-stirred to foamy consistency
1 heaping teaspoon, Shredded Ajitsuke Nori
Optional garnish: a bit of fine sliced Negi, both white and green part.

Serve immediately.

*Some products are wet, others freeze dried. Bulldog, S&B, Kewpie brands among others, most come in 2-pack single servings. Buy what’s on sale until you find a favorite.

Substitute 1 teaspoon Mentaiko to 1 teaspoon cooled melted butter, olive or salad oil, for Mentaiko flavor Spaghetti Seasoning.

Natto: is a fermented product made of whole or chopped soybeans. It has an "unusual" odor and texture for those palates unaccustomed to exotic cuisine, but for those who enjoy cooked okra, it may seem vaguely familiar and not such a leap of faith to try. The taste is rather "nutty" and perhaps a tad bitter, but it is usually eaten with "add-ins" to greatly enhance flavoring. It is a "biologicially active" food, as is yogurt, and reportedly beneficial for health and digestion. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, for more detailed info on Natto.

Izakaya: part Japanese-style bar & grill, part clubhouse. Regular patrons have their own premium bottles of sake or liquor held at the counter for them. Even in the US, some will not have an English menu. When there is an English menu, they’ll still have other things written on the wall only in Japanese. Many seafood and seasonal items may be “market price.” Going with a lot of money and a trusted friend who speaks Japanese is highly recommended, or stay home and make Alohabc’s Izakaya Natto Appetizer.

Mugi Cha: roasted barley tea, no caffeine. One bag per teapot of hot water will brew a strong hot tea, or a large pitcher of water will cold brew in refrigerator overnight. Served hot or iced, very refreshing on a hot day or with spicy foods.

Natto Tsuyu: a sweet/salty soy-based sauce. May come with the Natto packaging, or purchase separately. Substitute a few drops of soy sauce/temari mixed with a bit of sugar/honey.

Karashi: spicy/hot sauce, usually mustard-based, is included in some Natto packaging. Substitute very small amount of Chinese-style hot mustard (Coleman’s, S&B brands).

Ajitsuke Nori: seaweed; sea laver; roasted and seasoned. Sold in sheets, shredded or crumbled. Shred with kitchen shears or clean scissors. Store in refrigerator to keep dry.

Goma: sesame seed; to toast raw seeds, stir in dry frying pan until a few seeds go “pop” and color is golden.

Maguro: Tuna; Ahi. Must be sushi-quality fresh, to be eaten raw or seared rare with hot rice.

Mentaiko: spicy/hot chili flavored cod roe. Sold in its natural casing frozen or thawed (perishable, freeze what you don’t use immediately). A small amount of loose roe is used as a condiment over hot rice, or as a seasoning.

Negi: scallion, Welsh onion, green or Spring onion. Tokyo Negi is a larger, milder variety.

Oroshi: means “grated.” Daikon oroshi; long white Japanese radish, use a generous scoop over hot rice. Shoga oroshi; fresh ginger root has strong flavor, serve sparingly. Both good with fish. Choose firm pieces, peel and use Japanese grater or fine cheese grater over a bowl to catch liquid. Squeeze out excess liquid until firm, but not dry.

Beni Shoga: bright red pickled ginger, which is saltier than the sweet pink version served with sushi. Sold whole, sliced or shredded in jars or refrigerated.

Shiso: perilla; herb in the mint family, color determined by plant variety. Green leaves often used fresh with seafood; red leaves and seed buds usually pickled (or used to enhance other pickles with flavor and purplish red coloring), or dried and used in furikake mixes and other seasonings. Possibly another “acquired taste” item.

Shoyu: Soy Sauce. Substitute Temari.

Tamago: Egg; fresh chicken or quail, raw, whole or yolk only. All FDA warnings of potential risks regarding handling and consumption of raw product apply. When in doubt, poach or soft-boil a 2-minute egg at home, but go without in a restaurant. They wouldn’t understand.

Tsukemono: vegetable and fruit pickle condiments, eaten with hot rice. There are hundreds of varieties and brands, in natural and neon colors. Some shops will allow tasting from their crocks, others stock only a few different types or many, in jars or refrigerated. Most common are brown or red Narazuke made of melon or cucumber, salty/sweet and go well with curry. Takuan, daikon radish may come whole or sliced, colored yellow in brine and flavored with shiso, chili pepper flakes or bonito fish and have a pungent salty taste. Umeboshi, red pickled plums are highly salted, or brown toned with honey or shiso flavors. Any of these are good with Natto. Use sparingly. More “acquired tastes” to experiment with!

“Fresh” Natto: An oxymoron, since Natto is a fermented product. There is a marked quality difference between well-kept Natto and packages that have gone bad. How do you know, when it’s supposed to be rotten?!? It cannot be determined by smell, that’s for sure. Unfortunately, there’s no telling until it is opened and maybe even tasted. Beware of shriveled, dark brown or hard beans, white dots and a dry sandy texture, lack of foam when stirred, gray, green or black mold, extreme bitterness or sour taste. A light white powdery look is okay, as long as these other conditions are not present and it stirs up nice and foamy. Stringiness is desirable. The photos I’ve posted show color and quality of Natto as it should appear. Frozen from Japan can be “fresher” than locally made Natto that has been sitting in a refrigerator case for weeks, but properly made and stored local product can be high quality and inexpensive. Odds are, if you have access to fresh-made tofu, you may be able to find locally produced Natto. Grocers who stock imported Japanese items, may have access to frozen Natto. Ask them to talk to their wholesale representative or tofu supplier about Natto!

Pre-stir Natto (with or without its packaged condiments) before consuming or adding to recipes. Incorporation of air creates a creamy foam consistency that is highly desirable.

Natto Packaging: usually available in styrofoam or paper cup single serving containers from Japan, with or without condiment packets inside. Approximately 40 to 50 grams seems to be a standard serving. They may be bundled three to five in a package. American made Natto comes in styrofoam holding at least two servings, but sold individually without seasoning.

Hot Rice 24/7: The ancient “knuckle method” of measuring water to rice ratio has been lost to this generation in my family. The new 21st century models of rice cookers do a fine job of preparing and holding hot rice with an electronic timer system. Some even filter the cooking water. You can set off the cooker to the max…soak, cook and hold hot rice from morning ‘til night, or even the next day. On the other hand, there are those that provide a one-button “quick cook” option for people like me. Once you have a full pot of rice cooked, scoop it into single-serving size microwaveable containers and toss them in the freezer. Nuke the frozen rice on demand, in 2-3 minutes flat. One step beyond are the aseptic pouches of precooked rice you may find at a well-stocked Japanese grocery store in major metropolitan areas. For stovetop instructions, ask someone of Japanese ancestry about it, preferably over the age of 60. Ask them about Natto, while you’re at it!

Beverages to go with Natto: beer, sake, hot green tea, or mugi cha.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Alohabc’s Natto & Furikake Spaghetti

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Alohabc’s Natto & Curry Plate

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Alohabc’s Natto Soba (Buckwheat) Noodles

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Alohabc’s Maguro Natto Izakaya Appetizer

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A Very Special Offer, For the Love of Natto!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Alohabc’s Natto Mentaiko Spaghetti

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