Misaki-gazami Yoro-mushi, Steamed with Grated Mountain Yam
COOKING INGREDIENTS
FREE
Ingredients
- Serves 1
- Cost: ¥350
- Cooking time: 1 hr
- Cooks: 1
- Misaki swimming crab steamed with mochi topping
Misaki gazami crab
1 (500g)
Mountain yam
100 g
Eggplant
1 piece
Shungiku
1 stalk
Shimeji mushroom
3 pieces
Yellow chrysanthemum
10 g
Ginger
a pinch
Kuzu starch
1/2 tsp
- Seasoning, 150cc
Water
120 ml
Light soy sauce
10 ml
Mirin
10 ml
Sake
10 ml
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COMMENT
Building on autumn ingredients, this is a nimono-gawari, a dish that stands in for the simmered course, featuring Misaki-gazami. For Misaki-gazami Yoro-mushi, since misaki-gazami in its shun season has plenty of both umami and texture in the meat, I pressed butsusho-imo, a round variety of mountain yam, through a fine sieve, combined it with the picked crab meat, and steamed it as a yoro-mushi, then wrapped it further in the fragrant aroma of grilled eggplant. Since this is served in the September-to-October window, I finished it with a kiku-an sauce made by adding rehydrated yellow chrysanthemum petals to a silver kuzu-thickened dashi sauce.
This time, I used Misaki-gazami, a treasure of the sea from Oita Prefecture, where my workplace is located, to devise a set of dishes that change through the season, from the hashiri, shun, and nagori stages.
Misaki-gazami is a crab commonly known as swimming crab, but in Oita Prefecture it is called misaki-gazami, and it is caught in places such as the sandy flats of the Kunisaki region in the prefecture's northeast. In recent years it has also come to be farmed, and it is known for its refined, delicate umami.
Method
Method
●For the misaki-gazami yōrō-mushi: remove the shell from the misaki gazami crab, place chopsticks in a tray, set a rack on top to float the crab, sprinkle with sake, and steam for 20 minutes. Remove the shell and flake all the meat.
Clean the mountain yam and drop it into vinegar water, then grate about 20 g of it. Steam about 80 g of it, press it through a sieve, and let it cool. Add the 20 g of raw grated yam as a binder to the sieved mountain yam, season with sugar and salt, and combine it with the flaked crab meat. Line a bamboo mat with plastic wrap, shape the mountain yam mixture into a rod, steam it in a steamer, and let it cool.
Grill the eggplant to make grilled eggplant. Pat it dry, cut it open with a knife, scrape out the seed portion, and spread it on the bamboo mat. Remove the mountain yam mixture from the plastic wrap, roll the grilled eggplant around it as a core, and cut it to fit the dish. Steam it again just before serving.
Pluck the leaves of the shungiku, blanch to bring out its color, and let it soak to absorb the flavor. Let the shimeji mushroom soak the same way.
For the chrysanthemum sauce: make it by adding rehydrated yellow chrysanthemum to a silver sauce (12 parts dashi, 1 part light soy sauce, 1 part mirin).
Arrange the above in the dish and steam it, add the shungiku and shimeji mushroom, wrap grated ginger in gauze and squeeze 2 to 3 drops over it as ginger dew, and serve.
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