Cucumber and Dried Radish Salad きゅうりと切り干し大根のサラダ

最後の方に、日本語の　レシピが　書いてあります。 

The tomatoes, the eggplansts, the corns, the Edamame/ green soy beans...

Those are all so called "Natsu Yasai", summer vegetables, and now they are in the midst of their season.

Most of the people who enjoy farming grow those vegetables in their gardens in Japan.

Do you know what vegetables grow out of these flowers ?

What about this ?

I guess this is the easy one to guess.

Those are the flowers of the vegetables growing in my garden.

The answers are here in a sequence of questions.

The tomatoes though they are still green.

Yellow pepper

Eggplant named Mizunasu/ water eggplant


The growth of my vegetables are much slower than the others as I do not give any forms of fertilizer, and let the nature take its course.

Among those summer vegetables, the cucumbers are especially now at their peak of their production.

My cucumbers  are growing almost as  same speed as others though they do not look neat like the ones you may see in the shops,  very curled and the top half is thinner and the bottom half is thicker.  

I love such cucumbers.

To me, they look much cuter and more adorable.

The other day my neighbour gave me some big cucumbers saying he should have pluck them the day before, and are now over grown.  

Most of the people who grow vegetables experience this and I often end up having too many cucumbers in my fridge. 

But it is the Yin vegetable and cool down our bodies excessively if we consume too much of them.

What I do with them is to try to cook in ways that turn them into more Yang state.

Today I am going to share one of the cucumber recipes which is not too Yin and make you feel better even on cool days.

All my friends, my students love this salad whenever I introduce it.

I bet you'll also love it !

Cucumber Salad with Kiriboshidaikon/dried Japanese radish

Ingredients

1 midium size Japanese cucumber

1/4 sea salt

1/2 cup Kiriboshidaikon (dried radish)

Kiriboshidaikon

10 pcs Shiso leaves (optional)

for dressing

1 Tbsp rice vinegar      1/2 tesp sea salt      1tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp Shiokoji (optional)     1 Tbsp extra virgin oil

1/8 tsp grated garlic (optional)

Procedure

1. Wash Kiriboshidaikon/dried daikon radish in a bowl quikly, drain and put aside for 10 minutes.  Cut into an inch length.
2. Cut the cucumber jullienne, rub salt and put aside for a few minutes.  Squeeze with your hand to drain excess water.

This is the way to cut jullienne

     3.  Cut shiso leaves into thin strips. 

     4.  Mix prepared Kiriboshidaikon, Shiso leaves and cucumber in a mixing bowl, pour dressing and mix.

You can eat straight away or keep it in the fridge for later meal. 

Tips

• Get the fresh Kiriboshidaikon which look not too pale.  I sometimes see too brownish ones which were either made too long ago or kept in an inadequate environment.   

• Sun dried Kiriboshidaikon taste nicer than the machine dried, and the nutritional value is much higher. 

• If the Kiriboshidaikon is thick type, you need to soak them in water for a while before mixing with cucubmer.  Otherwise you might find they are too fibrous when you eat.    But do not soak too long as the essense of dried radish would run into water and it would be tastless.
  
  

切り干し大根ときゅうりのサラダ

材料

きゅうり　中1本　    　塩　　小さじ1/4      切り干し大根　1/2カップ  

青シソの葉　10枚

ドレッシング用

米酢　大さじ1、　　塩　小さじ1/2、　　粒マスタード　小さじ1、　　

1番絞りの油　大さじ1、　　

（お好みで）にんにくすりおろし　小さじ1/4、　（あれば）塩麹　小さじ2

作り方

1. 切り干し大根は　水で　さっと洗い、ざるにあげて、そのまま10分くらい　おく。　その後、食べやすい長さに切っておく。
2. きゅうりを　千切りにして、塩をもみこむ。　5分くらいしてから、手で水分を絞り出す。
3. 青シソは、細い千切りにしておく。
4. 切り干し大根ときゅうと青シソを　混ぜあわせ、ドレッシングソースで和える。
   

そのまま、すぐ食べてもいいですし、冷蔵庫に入れておいて、味がしみこんでから食べても　おいしいです。

ポイント

• 切り干し大根は、保存食とは言え、古いと　このサラダにはおいしくありません。　新鮮なものを　そして　天日干しのものを　求めて作って下さい。　　味もさることながら、栄養価が、雲泥の差です！　（と　私は思っています。）

• 太めの切り干し大根を使う時は、しばらく水につけておいた方がいいかもしれません。　ただ、長くつけ過ぎると、切り干し大根の旨みと甘みが　水に　逃げ出してしまうので、気をつけて下さい。

• ドレッシングは、一番搾りの　質のいい油で、作ることを　お勧めします。
  
  

Happy Cooking !

タグ：macrobiotics Japanse cooking 切り干し大根 きゅうり Daikon SHISO cucumber フレンチドレッシング 夏野菜 マクロビオティック ビーガン 青シソ