Our shiso, shishito, and mini tomatoes grew well this summer.
We did a lot of BBQ.
Summer also makes me want to do a lot of deep-frying...I don't know why! I made a lot of chicken kara-age (Japanese friend chicken) and vegetable tempura. Goya (bitter melon) tempura has become one of my favorite summer tempura items.
I made a lot of summer donabe dishes, too....so I can post some photos later.
And, summer is all about cold noodles! Here's somen noodles and toppings with cold dashi broth poured over.
When people come over, I make cold somen with dipping sauce and many different toppings to choose from. This photo was taken by Antonio from Life & Thyme, when they came over for shooting here in my patio. We had "crew lunch" after the shooting:-)
With deep miso-flavored pork topping I made in my soup & stew donabe, "Miso-shiru Nabe", I made Niku-miso Udon, cold udon with vegetables and soy-marinated soft boiled egg & miso pork topping.
Hiyashi Chuka is Jason's favorite cold noodle dish, so I made it multiple times with different kinds of sauces. You can also make the smoked toppings with donabe smoker, Ibushi Gin. Check out the smoked version recipe in toiro kitchen's website.
Happy donabe life.
