前菜/先付け Zensai/Sakizuke (Appetizers)

百合根の梅和え,里芋柚子味噌掛け,千草焼き,味噌漬け豆腐 大根の明太子はさみ,枝豆,竹輪明太子 Yurine with Ume dressing, Taro with Yuzu-miso, Chigusayaki (Fried Egg with hijiki, ground chicken and vegetables), Misozuke tofu, Daikon with mentaiko, Green soybeans, Mentaiko on Chikuwa (Grilled Fishcake) Boat Yurine with Ume dressing: My favorite. I usually blanch yurine （lilly bulb) very briefly so that it is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The seeded umeboshi (Japanese salty plum pickle) was sweetened with sugar and mirin. Taro with Yuzu miso: Yuzu miso was a great success, but I had to use peeled and vacuum- packed taro potatoes, which were no good at all. What a disappointment. Chigusa yaki: This is basically tamagoyaki with minced vegs and ground meat mixed in. The hijiki seaweed (the black bits in the square-shaped fried egg in the photo), ground chicken, minced carrot and black mushroom were seasoned with sake, mirin, sugar, soy sauce and dashi. This time I didn’t make the tamagoyaki very sweet. This was heated in a frying pan first till the egg was half set, then poured into a square baking pan and baked in the oven. When the surface was set, I brushed it with egg yolk. Green laver flakes were sprinkled on top at the end. Misozuke Tofu: Tofu pickled in miso-sugar-mirin mixture for a few days. This appetizer is said to have cheese-like flavor and texture, but mine turned out too salty. I used the home-made moromi-miso that my colleague had given to me long time ago, which was very salty, so I shouldn’t have left the tofu in the miso mixture for that long. Next time I’ll try this with regular miso.