Friday, June 24, 2011

Shio-koji recipe...Donabe-steamed cauliflower and chick pea salad


You can make wonderful vinaigrette with shio-koji. Because shio-koji is filled with umami flavor (koji culture breaks the starch into amino acid), it adds the extra layer of flavor to the salad.

One small head of cauliflower was cut into smaller pieces and quickly steamed in my donabe-steamer, "Mushi Nabe" until tender. Other ingredients were a can of chick peas (drained and rinsed), a few small radishes (thinly-sliced), and some chopped cilantro. They were tossed in the shio-koji vinaigrette...the recipe is below.

Shio-koji Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon shio-koji paste
1 tablespoon lemon jjice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
a pinch of each salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
Whisk together all the ingredients. Add more salt and pepper if necessary.