Event Overview
You’ll see demonstrations of
- how to make Corn Miso for Summer (味噌)
- how to make shio-koji (塩糀)
- how to make misodama (味噌玉)
- how to make takikomi gohan (味噌炊き込みご飯)
- how to make kimchi base for fast kimchi (because summer is coming!)
- how to make namemiso (not fish or chicken but vegan) toasted almond kisses
The point of all these items is to show you what to do with what you have on hand, and what you can access. Got kids? Work, like even two jobs ? Need to spend less time and money cooking and more time enjoying food? We know what you need to know.
Makiko Ishida (Maki) is a koji enthusiast, and a busy parent that knows how to budget time without sacrificing nutrition or taste for her family. A native Tokyoite who was born into a katsuobushi (fermented bonito) trading family. Maki-san has a unique sense of how to blend traditional Japanese food with everyday American fare. She likes to share easy and fast Japanese home-cooking ideas using koji-fermented staples such as miso, soy sauce, mirin, shio-koji, and sake that anyone can apply into his or her own kitchen.
Sometimes Chefs have access to fresh ingredients that a forager, farmer or artisan just harvested or made, other times they have to deal with what they ordered or shopped for versus what is in the house. It’s really a bigger version of what we all go through at home when tired or busy or exhausted. That doesn’t mean you can’t use something in your pantry, refrigerator or from your local store and make something filling and very tasty.
Chef Ken Fornataro will show you how to make food if you have miso, koji, shio-koji, soy sauce, mirin and other ingredients ready to go with quick trip to the farmers market, your local salad bar, the super market or a dig into your CSA box or your pantry or refrigerator. Even for picky kids – we know all about the young stubborn ones – and people that are eating a vegan diet.
Often you can prepare things that will last for days or weeks, requiring only what you want to eat fresh that day.
Based on the demonstrations we’ll have – if accessing the ingredients makes sense and preferably uses ugly vegetables, the following, all vegan, mostly gluten free items:
Menu:
- Fried Garlic, Pickled Jalapeño, and Tomatillo Salsa
- Szechuan Sauerkraut with pastrami flavored smoked hamma natto (koji based)
- Shiitake Kombu Dashi Dama
- Gohan Takikomi (recipe below)
- Edamame Crispy Beans (glazed with a shio-koji plum mirin)
- Jasmine Amasake (sweet, thick, koji based rice)
- Miso Mayo Dip (miso, mayo with special seasonings, radishes)
- Cucumber Misozuke (Cukes aged in a black pepper miso)
- Spicy Ginger, Carrot, Garlic, and Onion Kimchi
- Coriander Seed, Fennel and Lime Rind pickles
- Toasted Almond Kisses (savory, nutty, sweet namemiso based)
- Garlic Misozuke (Fresh garlic fermented in miso)
If you are a member of culturesgroup MeetUp, Evolving lifestyles, or nycferments, $20. Bring cash and pay there if you like. So please join the group and register for the event! Hope to see you there! koji@earthlink.net with questions!
Contact us!
koji@earthlink.net
culturesgroup@earthlink.net
www.culturesgroup.net
facebook.com/groups/pickles/
Instagram: @culturesgroup
www.meetup.com/culturesgroup/
Miso Takikomi Gohan (味噌炊き込みご飯)
Ingredients
- Rice 1 cup + 2⁄3 cup (about 300 grams)
- Water 2 cup (400 ml)
- Miso 2 TBSP
- Soy Sauce 1 TBSP
- Sake 1 TBSP
- Mirin 1 TBSP
- Sesame Oil 1 TSP (Suggested, substitute with what you have)
- Carrots 2 small roots, finely chopped
- Konjac 1⁄2 of a 90 oz package, finely chopped
- Deep Fried Tofu (Abura-agé) 1 sheet, cut in small strips Fresh Ginger 3 TBSP, finely julienned (optional)
- Shichimi Pepper (optional)
- Mix Miso, Soy Sauce, Sake, Mirin, and Sesame Seed Oil well and pour onto the rice in a
rice cooker (or a pot with lid). - Add water.
- Add vegetables and tofu. Mix well.
- Soak the rice mixture for 20 minutes before starting the cooking.
- When finished cooking, mix the rice well and sprinkle finely julienned fresh ginger and
shichimi pepper if you like.
Suggested Rice: Water Ratio
Dry White Rice : Water = 1 : 1.2
Dry Brown Rice : Water = 1 : 1.6~1.8
Gallery
About the Presenters & Organization
culturesgroup
culturesgroup is about food and drink making, preservation, fermentation, science, cultural history and communication through sharing dishes, photography, art, writing, scientific papers, personal oral histories, and ideas. We focus on traditional and novel techniques in cooking, fermenting, brewing and preserving techniques using koji, yeasts, and the tasty bacteria that make pickles
Ken Fornataro
Ken Fornataro has been fermenting and preserving grains, legumes, fish, meat and available local resources with Aspergillus since the 1970sAt age 19 Ken was appointed Executive Chef of The Hermitage in Boston. Soon after, he found himself ducking out the back door to Erewhon, where he befriended Aveline and Michio Kushi, fellow macrobiotic practitioners and advocates William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi to address world hunger and sustainable through agricultural practices traditional Chinese, Japanese and other Asian cultures, as well as Julia Child, and other Boston based chefs like Leo Romero and Madeleine Kammon who together taught him traditional Russian, Japanese, Mexican, French and whole food cooking, preservation and fermentation techniques - including kefir, amasake, miso, jiang, hishio, shih, shio-koji, soy sauces, rice wine, tempeh, seitan, fish sauces, vinegars, breads, sweets, many kinds of pickles, and vegetarian and vegan foods.
Ken has served as Executive Chef, Sous-Chef and Garde Manger of many restaurants and food interests in Boston and New York. He has worked for Margaret and Franco Romagnoli, Bernard’s in NYC’s Lower East Side, Rebecca’s on Charles Street in Boston, Michél Guérard, Marcella Hazan, Petrossian, Troutbeck, and as a private chef throughout the world. He has also engaged in other businesses including directing for profit and non-profits, one which contributed to developing a cure for HCV, and making treatment advances for infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS. Ken has authored 32 publications on science and research, primarily abstracts of research protocols of novel compounds for human study for people with HIV/AIDS as well as associated opportunistic infections. His contributions are documented in books and films and historical archives.
Makiko Ishida
Makiko Ishida (Maki) is a koji enthusiast, and a busy parent that knows how to budget time without sacrificing nutrition or taste for her family. A native Tokyoite who was born into a katsuobushi (fermented bonito) trading family. Maki-san has a unique sense of how to blend traditional Japanese food with everyday American fare. She especially loves to share easy and fast Japanese home-cooking ideas using koji-fermented staples such as miso, soy sauce, mirin, shio-koji, and sake that anyone can apply into his or her own kitchen.
