Asian Night
Japanese udon or soba noodles are frequently eaten with a seaweed or mushroom flavored broth. Tonight I made a shiitaki broth after having tried to make a seaweed broth which I scrapped (the broth was too strong of seaweed and I knew the family would not enjoy it). A piece of kombu is the traditional way to flavor the broth, but I only had arame and apparently I used too much of it.
No matter; I started again and simmered some water with shiitaki stems, onion, garlic, tamari and mirin. After about 15 minutes I strained it and used this as the broth.
For toppings I steamed some kale, sauteed the shiitaki caps and diced celery root, and julienned some white turnips. I used the turnips raw since they were young and crunchy and delicious. Some slivers of raw onion and green pepper added some more dimension and dinner was complete.
It strayed a tad from tradition, but it was very flavorful and had a lot of umami (Japanese deliciousness).
Cost Breakdown:
shiitaki: $4
udon: $2
vegetables: $3
tamari, mirin: $1
Total to make 6 servings:
$10.00
oh, this looks lovely! Comforting and filling, for sure! Great job and beautiful photo :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ellen!
ReplyDeleteI always save my mushroom stems to make gorgeous stocks like this one -- your version with the udon looks delicious! Theresa
ReplyDeleteThis looks delicious! I like the earthy colors and contrast in textures! This is totally on my list to try!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE mushrooms. This looks divine! I think I need to introduce my kids to udon. They love noodles.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to try this...I always look for new interesting recipes!
ReplyDeleteTheresa, I do the same thing - in a bag in the freezer and save them all up.
ReplyDeleteThanks, tiffany, FamilySpice and Cubicle. Add some tamari (soy sauce) and mirin to your broth. A little sake if you have it wouldn't hurt, either. All to taste - around 1/4 c each.