Japanese

Kaiseki

Name: Kaiseki
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 500 ml water; 5 g kombu; 5 g katsuobushi; 70 g Japanese short-grain rice; 100 ml water; 40 g sea bream fillet; 80 g salmon fillet; 60 g kabocha squash; 1 fresh shiitake mushroom; 4 mangetout; 60 g spinach; 2 tsp white sesame seeds; 40 g silken tofu; 2.5 tsp light soy sauce (usukuchi); 2 tsp mirin; 1 tsp caster sugar; 2 tsp sake; 0.75 tsp sea salt; 30 g daikon; 1 shiso leaf; 0.5 tsp wasabi; 2 mitsuba sprigs; 1 strip yuzu zest; 20 g takuan; 2 strawberries

A pared-down kaiseki supper for one: ichiban dashi drawn from kombu and katsuobushi, then a sesame-dressed spinach appetiser, a clear soup, sea bream sashimi, salt-grilled salmon, simmered vegetables, and rice with pickles, finished with fruit.

Lunch & dinner 25g+ protein

85 min40 prep · 45 cookHard614 kcalper serving

Method

Wipe 5 g of kombu with a damp cloth and soak it in 500 ml of cold water in a small saucepan for 30 minutes. Set the pan over a low heat and bring it slowly to 60-80C over about 10 minutes, so the surface only trembles; lift the kombu out just before it would boil, or the dashi turns slippery and bitter. Take the pan off the heat, scatter in 5 g of katsuobushi, let it sink and steep for 2 minutes, then strain through muslin without pressing the flakes. You should have a clear, faintly golden ichiban dashi.
Rinse 70 g of short-grain rice in cold water, swirling and draining 4 or 5 times until the water runs almost clear, then drain in a sieve for 10 minutes. Put it in a small heavy pan with 100 ml of water and leave to soak 30 minutes. Cover, bring to the boil over medium heat, drop to the lowest heat for 12 minutes, then rest off the heat, still covered, for 10 minutes before fluffing with a wet paddle.
For the takiawase, cut 60 g of kabocha into two or three 3 cm wedges and bevel the edges. Bring 150 ml of the dashi to a gentle simmer in a small pan with 1 tsp of mirin, 1 tsp of light soy sauce and 1 tsp of caster sugar, add the kabocha skin-side down and cook, barely bubbling under a lid or paper cartouche, for 12 minutes until a skewer slides through. Add the 1 shiiitake, halved, for the last 5 minutes. Blanch the 4 mangetout in salted water for 1 minute and refresh in iced water so they stay bright.
For the sakizuke, blanch 60 g of spinach for 30 seconds, plunge into iced water, then squeeze dry and cut into 4 cm lengths. Toast 2 tsp of white sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat for 2 minutes until they pop and smell nutty, grind two-thirds of them to a coarse paste in a suribachi, and loosen with 1 tsp of light soy sauce, 1 tsp of mirin and a teaspoon of the dashi. Fold the spinach through and mound it in a small bowl, topped with the reserved whole seeds.