Kansha: Celebrating Japan's Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions

With Halloween and holiday parties coming up, I'm trying to eat lighter meals at home. I'm also getting lots of inspiration from Elizabeth Andoh's new book, Kansha: Celebrating Japan's Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions. Based on Buddhist philosophy, the spirit of kansha (appreciation) is about giving thanks to nature's bountiful gifts, as well as acknowledging those who transform the abundance into delicious food.

Andoh is very precise. She gives specific instructions on how to wash and cook rice, which includes a technique on polishing the starch off each kernel. Nothing is wasted in this type of cuisine. Everything is used, even the skins, stems, leaves and seeds of each vegetable. There are great chapters on noodles and soups, which will become very useful on cold wintry nights. There's a neat recipe for home-stomped udon noodles. That's right, you actually use your feet to work the dough!

I really love eggplant, so I can't wait to try this Eggplant Two Ways recipe. Enjoy.

Eggplant Two Ways (Marugoto Nasu)
Serves 4 as an appetizer or 2 as a luncheon salad

Sour plum sauce
1 tablespoon mashed pitted umeboshi or plum paste
1 teaspoon Saikyō miso
1 to 2 teaspoons mizu ame or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vegetarian stock or cold water
3 or 4 firm Japanese eggplants, about 10 ounces total weight
to cook the flesh
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (reserve the spent fruit shell)
1 tablespoon sake
1 tablespoon vegetarian stock or cold water
1 piece kombu left from stock making (optional)
to cook the peels
1/2 teaspoon aromatic sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sake
Scant 1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon kona-zanshō

Make the plum sauce: There is tremendous variation in sweetness, sourness, and softness among umeboshi plums. For this sauce, soft, squishy plums will be easier to mash. In a small glass or ceramic cup, mix the mashed plum paste, the miso, and 1 teaspoon of the mizu ame. I find using a small, flexible spatula to be the most effective tool for blending. Taste and adjust with more mizu ame if too sour or salty. Drizzle in a bit of stock, stirring to thin the sauce to a pourable consistency. Cover the sauce and chill until ready to serve.

Trim away the very top of the stem end from each eggplant. As you do so, the sepals should fall away (if not, pull them off and discard). Peel the eggplants from stem to flower end with 4 or 5 wide strokes of your knife. The pieces of peel should be about 1/8 inch thick, 3/4 inch wide, and 4 or 5 inches long. Cut these into matchsticks 1 or 11/2 inches long and set aside.

Prepare the flesh: In a small skillet or shallow saucepan, combine the lemon juice and spent shell, sake, and stock. Cut the eggplant flesh into 1/2-inch chunks, add to the pan, and toss in the lemon liquid as you arrange the pieces in a single layer. If you have a piece of kombu left over from making stock, lay it over the eggplant pieces, using it as an inner lid and flavor enhancer. Or, place an otoshi-buta or a circle of parchment paper on the eggplant to keep it moist as it cooks.

Set the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the liquid begins to bubble. Reduce the heat, cover the pan with a regular lid, and steam the eggplant for 2 to 3 minutes. The chunks will become slightly translucent and turn a pale gold-celadon color. Remove the pan from the heat, lid intact, and let the eggplant cool naturally. Remove to a covered container and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Prepare the peels: Drizzle the sesame oil into a skillet and heat over medium heat. Add the peels and stir-fry vigorously for about 1 minute, or until slightly wilted and very aromatic. Sprinkle the sugar over the peels, toss to distribute, and then add the sake to deglaze the pan, stirring to dislodge any browned bits. Continue to stir-fry, jiggling the pan to keep the pieces moving, for about 1 minute, or until the sake has evaporated. Drizzle in the soy sauce and toss to distribute well. Remove the pan from the heat and let the peels cool in the pan.

Sprinkle half of the kona-zanshō over the peels and toss to distribute well. The peels can be served at room temperature, or chilled.

To serve, arrange small mounds of the flesh and the peels next to each other in a bowl or on a plate. Garnish the chunks with a spoonful of plum sauce and the peels with the remaining kona-zanshō.

Reprinted with permission from Kansha: Celebrating Japan’s Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions by Elizabeth Andoh, copyright © 2010. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc. Photo credit: Leigh Beisch © 2010

Available at Amazon.com, Borders.com and TenSpeed.com.

For editorial consideration, a review book copy was provided for this post.

Comments

[Serge Lescouarnec]

Tami
I interviewed Elizabeth last Monday before her presentation at Japan Society in NY.
It was published on Wednesday as A Kansha Kitchen Conversation with Elizabeth Andoh, Using Vegetables from Head to Toe on 'Serge the Concierge'.

Enjoy

Serge
'The French Guy from New Jersey'

[Tami]

Thanks Serge! Great interview. :)