TRADITIONAL JAPANESE BREAKFAST

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Traditional Japanese Breakfast image

This dish might not be to everyone's (westernized) taste on a hungover morning, and it's also a breakfast with many components-rice, grilled fish, miso soup, pickles and a Japanese-style omelette-and some relatively obscure ingredients. Having said that, this is as clean, wholesome and nutritious as breakfast gets, so if anything is going to make you feel better it may well be this.

Provided by Milton Crawford

Categories     Potato     Breakfast     Salmon     Soy Sauce

Number Of Ingredients 20

3 1/2 oz short-grain rice
2 tbsp mixed Japanese pickles, such as cucumber, daikon, cabbage
For the “ leek and potato” miso soup:
1 tbsp instant dashi (Japanese stock) or vegetable
Stock powder
2 1/4 cups boiling water
2 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and chopped into small cubes
1 tbsp white miso paste
1 spring onion, very finely chopped
For the fish:
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 spring onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 5-oz fillets of salmon
For the omelette (tamagoyaki):
3 medium free-range eggs
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp bonito flakes or instant dashi powder (optional)
vegetable oil for cooking

Steps:

  • Milton's method
  • Cook the rice according to the instructions.
  • For the miso soup:
  • Put the instant dashi stock in a pan with the boiling water. Add the potato and simmer over medium heat for about six minutes, or until the potato is cooked.
  • Ladle some soup from the pan into a bowl and dissolve the miso in it. Gradually return the miso mixture to the soup. Stir the soup gently but don't let it come to the boil once you've added the miso. Turn off the heat and add the chopped spring onion.
  • Serve hot in small bowls.
  • For the fish:
  • Mix the ginger, spring onion and soy sauce together and pour over the salmon fillets. Leave them to stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.
  • Pour a little boiling water into the grill pan and place the fish on the grill rack above the water (this keeps it moist while it grills). Grill the fish under medium to high heat for about 5-6 minutes on each side, taking care not to overcook it.
  • For the omelette:
  • Combine the eggs, sugar, soy sauce and bonito flakes (or instant dashi), if using, and mix the ingredients thoroughly.
  • Heat a little vegetable oil in a small, non-stick frying pan over medium to high heat and add the egg mixture. Agitate the eggs, using a wooden spoon, so the texture of the omelette remains fluffy.
  • When the eggs are half-cooked, fold the omelette in half, to make a semi-circle, then fold the curving section inwards to form a rectangle, and then fold the ends inwards until you have what looks like a little square package. This creates the distinctive layered effect, called tamagoyaki, characteristic of a Japanese omelette.
  • Flip the "package" over and cook for a further two minutes. Cut into quarters.
  • To serve:
  • Japanese etiquette decrees that you place the bowl of rice on your left and the bowl of miso soup on your right. Serve the fish on a separate plate, the pickles in a small bowl, and the omelette on another small plate. Now test your hungover skills with chopsticks.

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