Sakura Boshi Recipes

SAKURA BOSHI RECIPE

Steps:

• To a medium mixing bowl add sugar, shoyu, sesame seeds, garlic, miso paste, and ginger. Whisk until well combined and set aside.
• Slice ahi into 1/8 to 1/4 inch side strips trying to keep the fish the same thickness as possible.
• Lay the ahi in a single layer in a shallow baking dish. Pour shoyu mixture over the fish and marinate overnight.
• After the overnight marinade, remove the fish from the pan and place on the trays of a food dehydrator. Dehydrate for 5-10 hours depending on the thickness of the fish. The fish will be brittle and slightly leathery once finished.
• Once the dehydration process has ended, allow the fish to complete cool before removing from the racks.
• Once cooled, place in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. ENJOY!

SAKURA SAUCE

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, add the 3 egg yolks, whole egg, and a little vegetable oil.
• Note: Be careful to add the oil very slowly. If too much is added at once, the mixture will separate and be wasted. You can tell the mixture has separated when it does not look smooth and creamy like mayonnaise.
• Using a hand-held blender, begin mixing until of mayonnaise consistency, slowly adding the rest of the oil.
• Add white pepper, salt, soy sauce, and remaining oil.
• Mix until well blended.
• Use with seafood or chicken, covering with sakura sauce when almost completely cooked.
• Sprinkle wine around food, simmering for 3 to 4 minutes, and serve.
• *The wine creates steam so sauce will cook on top.

UMEBOSHI (JAPANESE SOUR SALTED PLUMS) RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Place ume in a container and fill with cold water. Soak overnight in a cool spot.
• Discard water and transfer ume to a large wooden, ceramic, or food-grade plastic tub.
• Measure salt over ume. Distribute salt with your hands, making sure not to make cuts on the fruit.
• Place a clean muslin (or food-grade plastic) sheet across the surface of salted ume and drape it down the sides of tub.
• Lay a drop lid on top of the sheet and weight with rocks or similar heavy items equaling weight of ume. (Alternatively, you could line the tub with a thick food-grade plastic bag, squeezing out the air, and cinch it up before laying the drop lid.)
• Store salt-weighted ume in a cool dark spot, but check after 2 or 3 days to make sure the brine has surfaced. If it has not, you should massage any residual bottom salt up to the top fruit. The ume should remain in the brine for several weeks, but check periodically to make sure no mold is forming (if it has, pick the mold off carefully).
• After brining for at least 3 weeks (2 weeks for small ume), dry ume for 3 days in the bright sunlight (they do not have to be consecutive days) on rattan mats (or the equivalent) stretched across a wooden frame for good air circulation. At night, return the ume to the pickling pot.
• On last day of drying, strain brine left over in bottom of salting-tub through a fine-mesh strainer and store in a clean jar or bottle. This is called plum "vinegar" (umesu).
• Pack dried ume (umeboshi) in resealable gallon-sized freezer bags (fill bags only half full). A syrupy liquid will pool at the bottom of the bags which aids in the long-term preservation of umeboshi. Umeboshi keep indefinitely at room temperature packed in airtight resealable bags. This recipe is reprinted with permission from Preserving the Japanese Way: Traditions of Salting, Fermenting, and Pickling for the Modern Kitchen by Nancy Singleton Hachisu , ©2016 Andrews McMeel Publishing. In the book, Hachisu tells not only of the traditional methods of preserving in Japanese culture but of her journey to learn and conquer these traditions as an American-born wife to a Japanese farmer. These umeboshi , salted plums, are a traditional delicacy, often eaten with rice.