Nira-Tama (Garlic Chive Omelette)

nira-tama5

Garlic chive is one of vegetables I started to grow due to a lack of organically grown supply at my local market. It is important for me to know where food comes from and how it is grown (or treated) before it comes to my kitchen, and ultimately ends up on my plate. That’s one of two reasons why I started my garden, beginning with a 12 x 15’ community garden plot and expanding to my current front and back yard spaces. The other reason? I LOVE growing plants, and I love talking to my plants. Besides, how can I go back to conventional produce after tasting freshly-picked tomatoes still warm from the sun’s energy or sweet, brightly coloured carrots that I have just dug from the ground myself and which possess the concentrated flavours of home?

Garlic chive is a staple ingredient in Japanese/ Chinese cuisine; toss it into miso soup with thinly cut abura-age (deep fried tofu), stir-fry with pork liver and mung sprouts, or combine with cabbage for gyoza or to create aromatic dumplings.

Nira-Tama was my childhood favourite when my grandma used to make it, and later became a before-pay-day meal when I was in a college. Now with home-grown garlic chives, it has become an easy, quick and nutritious dinner solution when I am in a hurry.

nira-tama-with-ankakegarlic_chiveseggold-notenira-tama-with-ankake2

Nira-Tama with Ankake (Sweet & Sour Sauce)

I used an ankake recipe that I had jotted down on a piece of paper so many years ago and that I recently rediscovered in my cooking journal. It is probably from my colleague in Tokyo who made amazing meatballs that were dunked in this sauce.

Serves 4

6 eggs, room temperature

Salt and pepper

1 bunch garlic chives, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Ankake

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon water

6 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce

4 tablespoons sugar

1/3 to 1 teaspoon sea salt

3 tablespoons good quality ketchup

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

3 teaspoons corn starch

Make ankake by placing all the ingredients, except the cornstarch, in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for a few minutes to dissolve the sugar and salt.

In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch well with 3 teaspoons of water. Add to the boiling sauce and stir constantly, cooking for a couple of minutes. Cover and remove from heat.

Place a well-seasoned or non-stick medium sized pan (mine’s a 9-inch skillet) over high heat and warm up the oil until smoky hot.

In the meantime, whisk the eggs in a medium bowl and add a hearty pinch of salt and pepper.

Sauté the garlic chives in the pan until wilted. It will only take a minute or two. Then spread the chives evenly on the pan.

Pour the eggs over top, swirling to cover the chives and ensuring that the mixture reaches to the edges of the pan. Turn the heat down to medium, cover and cook until the bottom of the eggs become golden.

Flip carefully with a heat-proof spatula, being careful not to break the eggs. Cover and cook until raw egg whites have just set. Don’t overcook because you want to keep the eggs nice and fluffy!

Serve hot with ankake on a large platter or cut into pieces for individual plates.

 

Caramelized Onion and Beet Soup

caramelized_onion_beet_soup

I don’t know where you live in the world, but as a West Coast resident, for me soup is by far the most essential culinary staple. I turn anything in my garden into soup, especially when I have bits of this and that on hand. Recently, I’ve found lonely beets stored in the root cellar (in my case, a container filled with peat moss) that already sprouted from the top. These are very reliable when we urban gardeners don’t have much else to turn to during garden transition times. I transform my beets into fresh juice in the morning and hearty soup later in the day. My mizuna is too tiny, radishes are too skinny, peas were dug up by birds—over time I have come to the realization that when everything is just starting to grow, it is good to have stored food.

beetscaramelized_onion_beet_soup2

Caramelized Onion and Beet Soup

I strongly recommend that you wear dark clothing, or at least wear an apron to prevent your clothes from being stained with all that brightly coloured juice! For the topping, I happened to have basil sprouts handy in my kitchen but if you can’t find them, almost any other type of sprout works. I prefer basil because it provides a special flavour punch when you first sip this soup, which is also topped with delicious almonds and sour cream.

Serves 4

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 large onion, sliced thinly

2 heaped cups beets, peeled and cut in chunks

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Salt and pepper

Topping

Sour cream

Sliced almonds, lightly toasted

Basil sprouts (or any sprouts available)

Place the oil and butter in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat.

Sauté the onion, constantly turning until it caramelizes and gives off a sweet aroma.

Add the beets and sauté until well coated with oil, for about 5 minutes.

Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium low, cover with a lid and cook until beets are tender. Skim off the foam that appears on the surface occasionally.

Let the soup cool a little bit and then transfer to a blender and proceed until pureed. Place the soup back in the pot and add the Parmesan cheese. This is also the time to adjust the consistency of the soup by adding more water if you like. Bring to a simmer and adjust with salt and pepper.

Serve hot and top with the sour cream, toasted almonds and basil sprouts.

caramelized_onion_beet_soup

Leek Barley Soup & Blueberry Cobbler

leek_barley_soup2

I enjoy the time when I lift remnants of the last year from the garden, in order to prepare the beds for a new cycle to come. Every year, I am reminded of some of the amazing and sometimes mysterious works of Mother Nature. Lots of hopes, failures, disappointments, frustrations, patience, joy, appreciation, peacefulness and simple happiness–I get these feelings through gardening. Yet all sensory experience really physically kicks chemicals in my brain when working with living plants. They are something so basic and organic yet fundamental in humans’ life in this ever changing world. It is indeed as if I am learning about life itself. This experience has become so much more than just gardening to me. And at the end of the day, I know that there is always a good meal to follow using what’s in season. In fact, it is most exciting to transform these bits and pieces into something hearty and tasty. I begin to feel a sense of triumphant satisfaction regardless of the type or amount of produce on hand, be it a huge bunch of leeks or a handful of cilantro leaves.

In this post, I’m excited to share this soup made with the leeks that just came from a few feet away as a result of my spring cleanup. It was such a reward to turn the last bits of the “onion family bed” into something easy, delicious and soothing. Plus, indoor cleanup created this cobbler dessert thanks to some of last year’s precious blueberries.

leek leek2blueberry_cobblerblueberriesblueberry_cobbler4

Leek Barley Soup

Serves 4

2 cups leek, sliced into ½ inch rounds

½ teaspoon ginger, finely minced

1 heaped tablespoon butter

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

4 cups water

½ cup pot barley, washed and drained

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Chopped scallions for garnishing

Melt the butter in a large pot and sauté the leek and ginger until softened.

Add the chicken stock, water and barley and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium low and simmer until the barley is soft, for about 40 minutes. Skim as necessary.

Adjust with salt and pepper and serve hot with scallions.

 

Blueberry Cobbler

Serves 6 to 8

Filling

1 ½ lbs frozen blueberries, thawed

Lemon juice from ½ lemon

1 teaspoon lemon zest

3 tablespoons cane sugar

1 tablespoon flour

Crust

1 cup all purpose flour plus extra for dusting

½ cup rolled oats

¼ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 tablespoons cane sugar

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1/3 cup cold butter, chopped into pea sized cubes plus more for greasing

1/3 cup 10% fat plain yogurt

1 tablespoon milk for brushing

Sour cream (optional)

Mix the blueberries, lemon juice, zest, sugar and flour in a large bowl. Transfer the blueberry mixture to a greased 9 inch round baking dish or shallow dish similar in size.

Preheat the oven to 375F with a rack in the centre.

Thoroughly combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and 3 tablespoons cane sugar in a bowl. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon cane sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.

In a food processor, pulse the rolled oats until coarsely ground. Add the flour mixture and pulse a few times to blend. Add the butter and pulse until the dough becomes flaky. Then, add the yogurt and pulse until the dough comes off from the side of the bowl of the food processor and becomes a mass.

Dust the work surface with flour and knead the dough a few times, forming into a ball. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin into a 2/3 inch thick disk. Cut the dough into squares.

Place the squares on top of the blueberries. Brush the squares with milk and sprinkle with the lemon zest sugar mixture. Bake until cobbles become golden and juice becomes bubbly, for about 40 minutes.

Serve warm with a dollop of sour cream.