Japanese-ish vegetable dish to serve alongside noodles?

[darklyglimmer]

Later this week I've got a Japanese-ish noodle dish on the menu: soba noodles and pan-fried tofu in a sauce made from shoyu, ginger, rice vinegar, and sesame oil with a little honey, cayenne, and cilantro. I've never made it before, so I don't know how the whole thing will come together, but it certainly sounds appealing, in an I-like-all-those-things-anyway kind of way.

Aside from some cucumber and green onion, though, there's not much in the way of vegetables going on. Anyone have any idea for a vegetable dish that might go? I could always do salad with a sesame dressing but was kind of hoping for something more interesting.

[darklyglimmer]

Thanks again for your suggestions, everyone. I ended up going with not-particularly-Japanese-but-definitely-a-vegetable broccolini, roasted with sesame oil and a little bit of Tabasco; also tried my hand at this miso-glazed eggplant recipe (using a small globe eggplant instead of the Japanese variety) but bungled it mightly. My mom called and distracted me and the end result was very, very sad.

But the beginning miso glaze was very, very tasty, and I'm determined to try again. The miso I found isn't labeled "shiso miso," but "sweet white miso;" it sounds like the same thing, though. And it's amazing. I was sort of tempted to grab a spoon and dig in.

Here's the recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

[BigSal]

I think "shiso" should be "shiro." Shiro means white in Japanese. I love miso glazes too on both fish and veg.

[darklyglimmer]

Quite right. My mistake!

[forgottenexpat]

I have a Japanese cookbook from about 10 years ago that has a great recipe for sauteed celery with a bit of soy. It tends to go extremely well with fish dishes!

[darklyglimmer]

That sounds really interesting. I'd love a paraphrase if you have the time . . .

[Aravisea]

I'm surprised no one has suggested vegetable tempura.

[darklyglimmer]

Actually, I guess I am, too, but I'm sort of glad. I don't really do much deep-frying - which is to say, I don't do any at all. One of those things that I know I'd be tempted to do all the time if I learned to do it well, so I'm staying willfully ignorant.

[yumyumyumyum]

nimono (simmered veg) sounds good.
here is the recipe for Vegetable Tofu Nimono.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O9kWD...

there are many ingredients that are not available so just use what you can find:)

[BigSal]

You can also try horenso no goma ae or ingen no goma ae (spinach or green beans in a light sesame seed/soy dressing). Both are good at room temp. Another favorite of mine is kinpira gobo. This is stir-fried gobo (burdock root), carrots cooked with soy, sake and mirin. We like it with a touch of crushed pepper

[themags]

Yum and more yum - paulj and BigSal are your descriptions as easy as they sound or do you have a recipe??? I'm not the OP but am always on the look out for vegan room temp ideas - just started catering one day a week for the husband's office and that is the brief - thanks!

[paulj]

Here's a recipe for the daikon and carrot
http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/...

I don't always put as much effort into removing the excess liquid.

If you make this often a Benriner (Japanese mandolin) is worth buying. These pickles also work well on Vietnamese style sandwiches.

[themags]

Thanks! This cracked me up :-) "Leave the room, if you must"
"How to deal with stinky pickled daikon
If the daikon develops a strong/stinky odor in the jar, it has not gone bad. Before serving, open the jar and let it sit for 15 minutes to allow the smell to dissipate. Leave the room, if you must."

[BigSal]

Both are really easy to make in advance and keep a while.
Here's the classic recipe for kinpira gobo from Shizuo Tsuji. http://tinyurl.com/2atsmrw
We like it with a combination of gobo and carrots. This treatment (kinpira) can be done with celery, konnyaku and other foods, but my favorite is gobo. I love the earthy, woodsy taste.

Here's Tsuji's version of horenso no goma ae. http://tinyurl.com/2czdkg5 You can substitute blanched green beans for the spinach. You can adjust the dressing to suit your tastes (i.e. omit the dashi, more/less sugar/sesame seed/soy).

[themags]

Hey you're saying a salad with sesame dressing is boring but oshitashi is fantastic - lightly steamed spinach, toasted sesame seeds, mirin, soy - lightly steam spinach - when cool enough to handle put in sushi rolling mat - squeeze all the water out, roll like a maki roll and cut into discs, toast sesame seeds and make a light mirin soy mix - put spinach discs in fridge till a bit cool (not cold) and then dress with mirin/soy and sprinkle sesame. Don't know how authentic that is but that's how I make it

[paulj]

daikon and carrots, finely julienned, in seasoned vinegar (the usual vinegar, salt and sugar), is one of my favorite Japanese/Vietnamese sides.

[darklyglimmer]

Sounds fabulous. I'll keep my eye out for a sushi rolling mat and keep it in mind for the next time around. (And I never said salad with sesame dressing was boring! We just eat a lot of salad during the summer, that's all. I'm trying to shake things up before I turn into a head of lettuce.)

[thew]

search for nimono on the web.. simmered veg

[Chemicalkinetics]

A very light and summer dish.

[weezycom]

baby bok choi (Taiwan bok choi) sauteed with onion. Or if you want something crisper to contrast the soda noodles, steamed or sauteed snow peas

[cheesecake17]

The recipe sounds delicious! I would love to know how it turns out.

If you can get Japanese eggplant (the long purple skinny type) stir fry them with ginger and garlic to go alongside the noodles. The eggplant can even be mixed into the noodles for another texture. Or slice into thin rounds and roast with olive oil, salt, and pepper. One of my favorite Japanese eggplant preparations.

You could also stir fry some broccoli or string beans with shiitake mushrooms. Either would be a nice texture contrast to the soft noodles.

[lilaki]

speaking of japanese eggplant, my mom slices them on the diagonal, pan fries them (dry) and then smears them with bit of miso. i can gobble up multiple eggplants when prepared this way.

[cheesecake17]

sounds delicious.. but they don't burn without oil?

[lilaki]

I never thought of that! But no, they don't burn. I've done this in non-stick, SS, and cast iron skillets ... never had an issue.

[cheesecake17]

I'll try it in a nonstick skillet.. thanks

[darklyglimmer]

Eggplant sounds awesome, but no Japanese eggplant to be had - can I fake it with the big purple guys, or are they too different?

[paulj]

For most purposes the different types of eggplant are interchangeable (except for the little green Thai ones). I prefer to get the long skinny Japanese/Chinese ones, because they are less likely to be bitter than the big 'Italian' ones.

[Chemicalkinetics]

What about the tiny Indian ones. They are very short round and very adorable.

http://www.exportdome.com/images/prod...

Do you like them? I should add that I them very useful for stuffing eggplant.

[paulj]

I've only tried the small Indian ones once or twice. I just quartered them and cooked them in an Indian style sauce. For stuffing they probably hold their shape better than bigger ones.

[cheesecake17]

The tiny Indian eggplants are great stuffed- so pretty to look at and there's no mushy stuffing in the middle.

[Chemicalkinetics]

They are great stuffed or great stuffs? (Pun intended?)

:)

[cheesecake17]

great stuffed.. but they're also great stuff to eat!