Regrettably, I’ve never been to Japan. I hope to one day. It sounds like an amazing place and the little bits I hear about the culture fascinate me.

Of course, the cuisine captivated my attention as soon as I heard about it. Raw fish! How many other cultures will serve this up? Ok, there’s the cured salmon we have in Europe and things such as ceviche in Mexico, but not such a range as you’ll find in Japanese cuisine.

Having said that, I remember being unimpressed the first time I was introduced to sushi. Those little rice rolls from M&S in the mid nineties did nothing for me. But then, sometime during my student years, I was at a certian popular conveyor belt restaurant and discovered sashimi. My fellow mathmos raised their eyebrows slightly as I devoured several plates of raw salmon and tuna and then they indiscreetly pointed ot that I was now responsible for most of the bill.

Within the last week or two I visited a nice Japanese retaurant in Westminister, heard a friend wax lyrical about his amazing new life in Tokyo ad was told about a nice restaurant in Barcelona that I must visit if I ever got around to going there. I take this all to be a sign that I should learn more about Japanese food. So my starting point was to buy some Japanese ingredients I hadn’t used before.

In the dish below, which is an amalgamation of various ideas I found online, we have my new purchases of mirin and soba green tea noodles. I used these and some wasabi powder and pickled ginger to create something which is probably not much like a real Japanese meal but at least is a step in the right direction. I’m not confident enough in my knife skills to atempt tuna sashimi yet. I go for the next best thing- tuna just seared so it’s practically raw but the very outside is cooked.

Tuna ‘almost sashimi’ with Soba Noodles, Mirin dressing and Raw Vegetables with Wasabi Dip

• 350-400g fresh tuna steak in one piece. I find that it is best to let it come to room temperature before searing it.
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds( I think black would look good but I couldn’t get any) plus a bit extra to garnish 
• Sesame oil (2 tbsp should do)
• salt and pepper to season the steaks
• about 175g soba noodles
• half a cucumber, finely diced
• 4 small spring onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal
• 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander 

For the dressing

• 4 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp light soy
• 2 tsp ginger, finely grated/crushed
• 1 heaped tsp brown sugar
• a squeeze of lemon

Accompaniments

• 8 baby carrots, sliced into thin strips
• 2 stalks celery, sliced into thin strips
• wasabi and pickled ginger to serve, plus perhaps extra soy

1. Prepare the vegetables and coriander. 
2. Rub the tuna steaks all over lightly with sesame oil. Season and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Sear over a high heat until just cooked on all sides, Wrap in kitchen foil and leave to rest in a warm place.
3. Make up the mirin dressing. Combine the dressing ingredients as listed above. Taste and adjust to your liking.
4. Cook the soba noodles according to packet instructions, drain and refresh in cool water.
5. Toss the noodles with the spring onion, cucumber and coriander, then toss the mixture in the dressing. Place a portion of the noodle mixture on each serving plate.
6. Thinly slice the tuna steaks amd arrange over the noodles. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
7. Serve with the matchstick vegetables and the wasabi and ginger.

************

I did a bit of research on my two new ingredients. 

Mirin is an ingredient I haven’t knowingly encoutered before, although no doubt it was one of those flavours in plates of sushi unidentifiable to me. True mirin apparantly is about as alcoholic as sherry, although versions with less than 1% alchohol are produced now which have the same flavour. The flavour is unique and very strong, but dominated by a heavy sweetness. 

The word soba can refer to any noodle of medium thickness- i.e. not an udon noodle. Usually they’re eated cold with a dipping sauce or dressing  or hot in a broth. Mixing them with salad vegetables like this is a fairly modern idea. My soba noodles were flavoured with green tea but the flavour was barely discernible even before the dressing was added.

Also, Goon says the noodles don’t taste good raw. He should know, he ate a quarter of a pack. You probably guessed that yourselves without trying them.

A little while back I told you about my new job up in Highgate School. Time is certainly passing quickly and, with just a few weeks left before I start work, it’s time Goon and I found a new place to live.

Of course, the most important thing for me in a flat is a decent kitchen, not like the one we have now. I want worksurface space, a gas cooker and a freezer that’s big enough to hold more than just some ice cubes and a bag of peas. Goon just wants somewhere close to a tube station so he can minimise the time he spends on his feet. Sadly,even finding this combination has so far proved nearly impossible. 

It seems that a place to cook is a luxury in London now. With landlords rapidly converting every period building into 4 apartment blocks, we’ve seen many places with decent bedrooms but poor cooking and living space. We found several conversions which would have been fine but, all they had in the ‘open plan kitchen-lounge’ was one of those ghastly electric hobs and a sink. Not even a table to prep ingredients. How depressing. 

It was after seeing one of these conversions that we encountered what must be the most stupid bunch of letting agents in London. In desperation we had popped into a slightly dodgy looking agency in the vague hope of discovering a suitable flat. We were prepared for some scare tactics and a little bit of bending the truth in a place like this, but we weren’t quite ready for this level of idiocy.

“Oh, yes, this place is going to go VERY quickly,” said the young lady showing us around a particularly expensive one bed dump, “In fact we had a couple in today who wanted it right away.”

 Now, despite the impression he gives during his kitchen misadventures, Goon isn’t stupid.”So why didn’t they put down a deposit?” he asked. She paused for quite a while.

“Uh…….because…….. they left their cashcard at home. They’ll be coming in specially tomorrow all the way from….uh… Wimbledon….so they’re very keen. If you want it, you’d need to put down the cash before they came back.” I rolled my eyes. As if anyone in their right mind would want that place for that price. I took over the debate, somewhat sarcastically.

 ”Well, if we want this place, I’ll be sure to run over with the cash first thing tomorrow.” The agent looked worried.

Back at their offices, Goon was having fun winding another agent up.”So, that couple from Greenwich, they really like the place, huh?”
The agent looked confused for a second.”Couple from…oh.. RIGHT the couple from Greenwich, yes they were…”

“Wimbledon!”  The other agent interjected in a hurry. ”Remember? They were from Wimbledon?” She nodded encouragingly at him. I, frankly, couldn’t believe how bad this woman was at lying.

“Ah, yes, Greenwich, Clapham… these places South of the river are all the same to me.” He laughed nervously. His colleague gave him a look that could kill.

And, as if they hadn’t made big enough fools out of themselves already, the estate agents called back the next morning with this little gem.

AGENT:The couple interested in the flat have come back. Do you want the flat,because we’ll need the money today if you do.
GOON: What, they’re in the office now?
AGENT Yes.
GOON: Ready to put the money down?
AGENT: That’s right.
GOON:  And you’re asking me if we want the flat?
AGENT: Ummm…. yes? 
GOON: How could we possibly put the money down before them if they’re already there?
AGENT Umm… right.

(long pause)

AGENT: If they don’t put the money down now, shall I call you back?

Goon hung up.

So we spent Saturday tramping around again and by the evening we were tired and hungry and in need of some comforting and invigorating food. It was still very  hot  so it needed to be reasonably light and refreshing too. Plus I was knackered. So I didn’t want anything to keep me on my feet for more than an hour.

I was thinking a warm salad with some spicy, citrusy flavours would be good, perhaps with a South East Asian Influence. So I started improvising and out came this.

 

Vietnamese Style Noodle Salad with Seared Marinated Beef

For The Beef  (we used around 425g beef fillet for two of us)

• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground nut oil
• 1 heaped teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 inch ginger root, grated
• a spring onion, thinly sliced
• 3 small green chillies,chopped (don’t mention this to Goon!)

Mix all the marinade ingredients together well in a bowl. 

Cut the beef fillet into thin strips, about  a centimetre wide. Toss them in the marinade and leave them to marinate for about 90 minutes, tossing them every half hour to make sure the marinade stays well distributed. While the beef is marinating, make the salad (below), then have a sit down.

Once the beef has finished marinating, get a frying pan very hot and sear the beef strips for around 40s per side (or until the outside is cooked). You may need to do this in batches. Place the beef strips on a warm plate and cover with foil. Leave to rest for about 5 minutes.

Arrange the beef over or around the noodle salad, squeeze over some more lime and garnish with chopped coriander if you like.

 

For the salad (intended for 2 but enough for 3)

• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into little 3 inch long, narrow batons.
• 4 inches of cucumber, cut like the carrot or maybe a bit thicker.
• 1 small pointed red pepper, deseeded cut the same as the carrot
• 3 spring onions, sliced 
• 250g of fine rice noodles,
• handful of peanuts, roasted
• handful coriander leaves roughly chopped
• 10-15 mint leaves, finely chopped
• juice from 1 1/2 limes and grated zest to taste
• A little salt
• enough groundnut oil to lightly coat the rice noodles.

cook the rice noodles according the the pack instructions, then drain andrefresh in cold water immediately. i find that this stops them overcooking and disintegrating. Then drain the noodles and toss them in the oil and lime juice to stop them sticking. 

Then just throw in the rest of the ingredients and toss everything together until its thoroughly mixed. Gently warm the salad through, then taste and  adjust seasoning.

***

This was quick, tasty and filling without being heavy. Goon loved the marinated beef but he seems to be less keen on the fresh chopped mint in this form. personally i think its great. I find the combination of lime, coriander and mint to be really refreshing.

That meal  was exactly what we needed after a hard day of flat hunting. I just keep hoping that eventually we’ll find our perfect kitchen flat, preferably BEFORE my new job starts.