Ingredients
200g broccoli or nabana(rape flower)
3 tablespoons white sesame seeds (lightly toasted)
Miso paste as needed
Mirin as needed (sherry or port can be substituted)
In a Japanese mortar (suribachi, coy-paste a pic) grind the lightly toasted sesame seeds with a wooden pestle (surikogi, coy-paste a pic) then add miso paste and mirin to your taste and mix well. The mixture should have a creamy texture. Add more mirin or cherry to your taste, if needed.
Boil the broccoli in salted boiling water. Drain the broccoli well in a strainer and toss with the miso sesame dressing sauce to mix well.
Chef’s Tip
Genuine mirin normally contains about 12% alcohol. When you make this dish for children, remove the alcohol from the mirin by boiling it and flambé before adding it to the miso and sesame to make the sauce.
Walnuts, peanuts, pine nuts, and macadamia nuts can also be used instead of sesame seeds. Nabana, green beans, spinach, green asparagus, and broad beans can also be used for this dish.
The Japanese love to eat nabana buds in long-awaited early spring after a long winter.
Nabana buds are rich in vitamin C, iron, and calcium. Its bitterness beefs up the immunity.
handpicked nabana buds
Shuji's cooking videos: www.youtube.com/user/shujiozeki
Edited by Wendy Gough, May 2020