I love ramen. I spent many mealtimes at the counter of my local ramen joints while I was living in Tokyo, enjoying their various specialities.
One place down the road from my apartment did a mean plate of fried rice. When I first arrived, I was able to shovel it down with a bowl of tonkotsu (pork broth) ramen and a plate of gyōza (dumplings). After my appetite had adjusted to Japanese portions, just the fried rice was enough.
This is a recipe I derived from watching the chef at work. It is quick and easy. After all, ramen shops are in the fast food business. It is also an excellent way to make use of leftover rice.
Here’s an easy recipe for tonjiru (豚汁, miso soup with pork) I learnt from the fabulous Princess Fugu.
Tonjiru is perfect with boiled Japanese rice and fresh, simply flavoured, grilled fish. The deep, salty flavours of this hearty soup make a wonderful contrast with the simple pleasures of rice and fish. The soup is also great as a healthy snack on its own.
Two years without a meat pie can do funny things to a man.
He begins to have dreams and visions. He fantasises. He forgets when he thinks he remembers. And then, as the juices flow in his mouth once more… then, the pie is legend.
Not some English seaside resort variety act from the early fifties,but my dinner.
I sit at a table in the George & Dragon, a splendid English country pub, opposite my friend Cthulhu. We drink Weston’s cider. It’s scrumptious, redolent of umeshu & soda.The floor is covered with pale, undulating stone. Dark, gnarled beams span the ceiling.
Aspergillus Oryzae: the Mifune Toshiro of microbes.The quintessential Japanese mould.
This prince amongst microbes is also the star of Ishikawa Masayuki’s (石川雅之) manga and anime Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture (making my Toshiro Mifune analogy a little less tenuous).
Seikō
