local bounty salad

Last time I was home, my mom made this potato salad. It had sweet potato, corn and other veggies. It was curry flavored, creamy and served cold.

She got the recipe from the newspaper and it was by Sam Choy.

His version showcases local veggies grown by a popular farm in Hawaii.

Of course, sweet potato and pumpkin are in season now in Japan, but the weather is a little too cold for cold potato salad, so I turned this into a warm version.

I'm calling my version "Local Bounty Salad" because I am only using veggies that grew in Japan.

I will list Sam Choy's recipe first then I will put what I did afterwards.

Sam Choy's Kitchen recipe: Bounty of Ewa Salad :6 portions
Ingredients:
1 cup Ewa Sweet Corn kernels
1 cup chopped Ewa Jade Beans
1 cup Ewa Sweet Onion, diced small
2 Tbsp. Butter
1 Tbsp. Curry Powder
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Pepper
1 cup Okinawan Sweet Potato, cooked, medium diced
1 cup Ewa Sweet Pumpkin, cooked, medium diced
1 cup Mayonnaise
Heat in a medium size sauté pan on medium and melt butter.
When the butter is melted, add in the corn, onions, and beans and sauté for a
minute and then add in the curry powder, salt, and pepper and sauté for a minute
and remove from the heat.
Refrigerate the mixture until cold.
Once the mixture is cold, place it in a bowl and combine with the cooked potato and cooked pumpkin.
Add in the mayonnaise and mix well making sure to not break up the cooked potato or pumpkin.
Serve cold as a new way to enjoy a potato salad.

My version makes about 2 cups : about 4 servings : 1/2 cup each

1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 onion diced
1/2 sweet potato, skin on, diced
1/8 pumpkin, skin on, diced
1 can of corn (190 grams), rinsed
1.5 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon mayo (Best Foods)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (Spice Hunters Salt-Free)
grind of pepper

In a heated pan, add oil and sautee sweet potato & pumpkin until cooked through.
Add onion & red bell pepper
When the onion gets transparent, add the corn.
Add curry powder and mayo.
Coat everything well.
When mayo disappears, add grinds of pepper and turn off heat.
Serve right away.

NOTES: This was good. I should have used S&B curry powder & Kewpie Mayo instead of Spice Hunters & Best Foods to make it 100% local, but Best Foods and this brand of curry tastes best (to me).

You can use whatever local veggies are in season where you are.

Not creamy like the version I tried in Hawaii, but still delicious and flavorful. I also added an over-easy egg for some protein. It was a nice way to eat a lot of veggies and eat local too.

things I'm liking (for breakfast)

What are you enjoying for breakfast?

I hope you do eat breakfast, did you know that until Satoshi and I started dating, he didn't?!

Now, he says, "he can't live without it" (breakfast).

Anyway, it has been awhile for a "things I'm liking post", so I thought I'd share with you some things that I'm liking for breakfast.

I first heard about Pon juice from Martin's blog.

This is one of the first "local" orange/citrus juices that is a juice made from 100% mikan (tangerine)grown in Japan.

Most others add grape juice or other fruits to come up with the 100%, leaving you with only a smidge of orange in there.

On the container they are called "pom" but the katakana reads "pon".

It is a little pricey, but worth every "penny", especially since they don't use a lot of preservatives or colorings. I think the label only lists 2 ingredients, the mikan juice and a preservative.

We'll be drinking this often.

It is strawberry season here.

The other day, while I was at the market, these caught my eye.

Hinoshizuku are grown in Kumamoto and are really sweet.

I debated whether to get them because they were quite expensive, 599 yen (about US$5.99) a container, but I'm glad I did. In the container there were 2 layers, total about 35 or so berries.

They are sweet and delicious, perfect for our mornings.

Nisshoku's quick oats. On their site it says that they are the first company to bring oatmeal and cereal to Japan in 1929.

Everything grown in Hokkaido and don't you just love the can?

I bought the quick oats at Seijo Ishii but noticed on their site that they have a rolled oats, which I'm interested in trying. I hope I can find them somewhere.

In the meantime, I have Bob's Red Mill Thick Oats in the container, which I brought back from one of my trips to Hawaii.

I recently found these kiwi, I've mostly seen the ones from New Zealand but these from Shikoku (Ehime) caught my eye...198 yen (about US$1.98) for 5.

They were a little tart and a bit on the unripened side but were great with plain yogurt and homemade granola made with pecans, pistachios and dried cherries.

Is there something you are enjoying for breakfast?

eating local (part 2)

Last month I wrote about eating local--(here). Remember that I also mis-ordered an item? Well, this time I got exactly what I ordered. (Yeah!...I even had Satoshi double check my order form...)

(In fact, I think they changed the order form because of me--now the two items which I made a mistake on are now separated!)

The little onions at the bottom of the photo are called rakkyo. They are pickled in umesu or pickled plum vinegar. They have a little kick to them with those little red chili peppers also soaking in the juices. These rakkyo are great with curry--kind of like eating chutney with your curry, only with a little more crunch and sourness.

The purple-ish package are rakkyo wrapped in shiso (perilla or beefsteak leaf). These are really good, sweet & sour. My mom & aunties love this one!

At the edge of the photo are two bottles of different types of ume, one is pickled with katsuo (bonito).

Can't wait to dig into these!!

eating local

I've read on a couple of blogs that this month is eat local month. Let me tell you, eating locally (radius 100 miles) in Osaka kind of limits you. Needless to say that it has been hard to find local veggies, seasonings, EVERYTHING. Most of the "good stuff" comes from a little further than the 100 miles. So, I've decided to eat local when possible....

Still, there is one place that I like to order from, OusunoSato. They are a cute little store in Gion, Kyoto. They specialize in making "umeboshi" (pickled plums). Some versions are sour, some salty, some sweet. They also make a dressing, which is great on a grated daikon (turnip) salad. Since I don't go to Kyoto too often, I usually order from their catalog or "otoriyose" as it is called in Japanese.

I recently placed an order with them and eagerly awaited for my delivery. It finally came today, but I was a bit disappointed because I ordered the wrong item! Instead of 2 packages of rakkyo (pickled onions), I ordered 2 packages of benishoga (red ginger). The 2 items are close together on the order slip and I mistakenly checked the benishoga! sigh.

One thing you should understand is that most food items in Japan cannot be returned (especially if you made the mistake of ordering it!), but the neat thing is they send the merchandise before payment! How trusting is that!

So, I guess I'll have to think of ways for us to eat the shoga (ginger)...