

I love myoga ginger (young ginger buds, 茗荷). They are very popular in summer in Japan. Pretty like a flower bud with its dusty peachy pink shade and a mild sweet crunch to its texture. I bought a piece of Hokke fish too from Hokkaido food fair in the supermarket. It comes marinated in shio (salt).

Wrapped Hotate Meshi Temari Sushi

Ingredients:

3/4 cup rice, 4 to 5 pieces of Hokkaido Hotate (or dried scallop), 1 piece of ginger, 6 to 8 dried anchovies, 1 prawn, 2 pieces of cabbage leaves, umeboshi paste.

Cook the rice with all the ingredients in the rice cooker. Butterfly cut the prawn and sear it with a little salt. Press it down with a spatula to prevent it from curling up. Steam the cabbage leaves on top of the cooking rice until its soft. Place the prawn flat on a cellophane wrap with half a piece of shiso leaf (optional). Top with some of the cooked rice. Wrap the ingredients up and twist the end of the wrap to form the rice into a ball. Use the same method for wrapping the rice in the cabbage with little of the umeboshi paste.

Myoga & Okra Pork Rolls

Ingredients:

Miso ginger paste -1 tablespoon white miso, 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger, 1 teaspoon miring, 1 teaspoon sake, a little rice malt syrup, thinly sliced pork belly , okra (lady fingers), Myoga, salt and pepper

Mix the ingredients for the paste. Marinate the pork belly in a little salt and pepper. Slice the myoga and okras into halves and sandwich some of the paste in between each of them. Gently roll and wrap the individual myoga and okras up with a piece of pork belly each. Sear them in a little oil in a pan until all sides of the pork is cooked for about 5 minutes. The okras should be soft too.

Yaki Hokke (焼きホッケ) & Tomago-yaki

Since the hokke fish came ship-marinated, I just grilled it over low-medium fire until its cooked, it took about 20-25 mins. The tomago-yaki mix are 2 eggs, 1/4 cup chicken stock, a little squeeze of rice malt, 1 teaspoon of mirin and sake each. Cook over low fire making thin layer each time for about 3 times. Roll up the each egg layer when its about to set before adding on another thin layer. Repeat this action until your desired tomago-yaki size.