Monday, December 19, 2005

Chrysanthemum Rice

Success! I'd never been pleased with chrysanthemum petals in rice....but this works!

Chop a few daikon stems finely (with or without leaves, in fact the stems alone make a pretty pale jade contrast to the bright yellow petals), rub in a teaspoon of coarse salt and leave to drain. When limp, squeeze dry and set aside.

Pull petals off half a dozen or so yellow edible chyrsanthemum flowers (most are edible anyway, if not sprayed with insecticide) and toss into a pot of boiling water with a spoonful of mild vinegar. Drain, cool under running water, squeeze gently, and toss with a tablespoon each of mirin (sweet sake) and mild vinegar (preferably rice vinegar, but cider or wine vinegar will do). Set aside.

Into a pot of cooked rice, mix the chopped daikon stems and then the chrysanthemum petals. Don't squeeze again, just drain gently and toss with the rice.

A pretty consolation for tonight's chilly temperatures!

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your new blog! I'm looking forward to reading more.

    One question: one of my students doesn't cook daikon greens because she says there are too many pesticides on them. I wonder if there are really more than on other above-ground veggies like spinach, cabbage etc, so I don't worry about it too much.
    Is this a concern for you? Do you buy organic?

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  2. Thanks!
    I don't normally buy organic these days, because it's just too expensive. However, supermarket daikon greens don't look very inviting, so I rarely use them unless I've managed to buy some "fresh from the field", from growers who try to use less pesticide.
    Frankly, Japan does use a lot of pesticides, and with the climate warming up, tropical pests are moving north, so I don't expect to see a big move to organic. I agree that there are probably more pesticides on other greens, though I suppose daikon has a fairly long growing season...

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