Tag: umami

Heirloom Tomatoes with Curry Yogurt, Bacon & Anchovies

Heirloom Tomatoes with Curry Yogurt, Bacon & Anchovies

🍅 Heirloom Tomatoes 🍅
with
Curry Yogurt, Bacon & Anchovies

At the height of summer, great tomatoes don’t need much, but this dish gives them plenty to play with. Ripe heirloom tomatoes and tiny Sprinkles are piled over a cool, creamy curry yogurt sauce with fresh jalapeño, then lightly drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil and finished with crispy bacon, anchovies and fresh chives. It’s an umami flavor explosion—salty, smoky, savory, spicy and just a little sweet.

The curry yogurt is definitely better made a day ahead. An overnight rest gives the curry and turmeric time to meld with the yogurt, Kewpie mayonnaise and lime. Serve the finished platter in the middle of the table with thick slices of grilled sourdough for scooping up the tomatoes and curry yogurt. It’s a terrific summer side dish or appetizer to share.

Heirloom Tomato Curry Recipe

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Tofu and Tomato Salad, Umami Black Vinegar Dressing

Tofu and Tomato Salad, Umami Black Vinegar Dressing

Tofu and Tomato Salad
Cucumber, Red Onion
Umami Black Vinegar Dressing

This Umami Black Vinegar Dressing is a savory, tangy, and lightly spicy marinade that brings big flavor with minimal fuss. Tamari and fish sauce create layers of umami, while black vinegar lends a mellow tartness. Toasted sesame oil brings nutty warmth, chili oil a touch of fire, and sugar a subtle sweetness, with fresh garlic adding savory base notes that tie it all together. Perfect for salads, cold noodles, dumplings, and more.

Tofu and Tomato Salad Recipe

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Sultry Coconut Curry Noodles with Shrimp

Sultry Coconut Curry Noodles with Shrimp

Sultry Coconut Curry Noodles with Shrimp

This yellow curry noodle dish carries a sultry allure, with its velvety textures and deeply spiced flavors that envelop the palate in warmth.

It has a fragrant, creamy broth with a balance of spice and richness. The aromatic shallots, ginger, garlic, and jalapeño are sautéed in olive oil. Curry powder and ground turmeric deepen the flavor before coconut milk and chicken stock create a smooth, flavorful base. A touch of cornstarch thickens the broth, while fish sauce adds serious umami notes.

Plump shrimp are simmered until just cooked, absorbing the warm, spiced broth and taking on the gorgeous golden color. Served over chewy-tender noodles, this dish is comforting, super flavorful, and mildly spicy. A garnish of fresh cilantro and basil add bright herbal notes while red jalapeño brings a bit more color and heat.

Coconut Curry Noodles with Shrimp Recipe

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Nobu-Style Dry Miso Octopus Carpaccio

Nobu-Style Dry Miso Octopus Carpaccio

Nobu-Style Octopus Carpaccio
Dry Red Miso, Chives, Lemon Juice, Olive Oil

Dry Miso paired with lemon juice, olive oil, and snipped fresh chives results in an innovative 5-ingredient octopus carpaccio with that unmistakable Nobu touch. The dry miso adds texture, saltiness, and savory umami flavors to the dish.

Red miso paste is a fermented soybean paste with a deep, rich taste that anchors it as a cornerstone in Japanese cuisine. This miso undergoes a longer fermentation process, resulting in a darker hue and a more complex profile than white miso.

Red miso powder represents a creative twist on the traditional Japanese paste. This dehydrated gem captures the bold essence of classic red miso in a powder form, where it can be used in ways that a paste cannot.

Nobu-Style Dry Miso Octopus Carpaccio Recipe

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Doenjang Adds Umami Notes to Mashed Potatoes

Doenjang 된장 Mashed Potatoes Butter, Roasted Seaweed, Gochugaru, Sesame Seed, Black Pepper

Doenjang 된장 Mashed Potatoes
Butter, Roasted Seaweed, Gochugaru, Sesame Seed, Black Pepper

Umami is the savory taste and round mouth-feel imparted by glutamate and nucleotides found in certain foods. Doenjang, that funky-chunky-fermented-aged Korean soybean paste, has an exceptionally robust umami profile.

In 1908, a chemistry professor at Tokyo Imperial University was intrigued by the complex flavor and deliciousness of dashi, a simple Japanese soup base made from seaweed. Upon investigation, Dr. Kikunae Ikeda was able to isolate the principal flavor ingredient of kombu (the kelp used to make dashi). Using classical chemistry procedures he identified this substance as glutamic acid.

Glutamic acid is a type of amino acid, which are the building blocks of proteins. Bound with minerals such as sodium, potassium, or magnesium – glutamic acid becomes glutamate, a salt. It is the salt form of glutamic acid that elicits the taste. Following Ikeda’s glutamate discovery, other foods were determined to be sources of umami, and that the process of fermentation forms and releases amino acid and nucleotide compounds as well.

Doenjang is made from dried soybeans which are boiled and stone-ground into a coarse paste, then formed into blocks called meju and allowed to ferment with the help of warmth or sunlight and bacteria. One to three months later, the blocks are placed in large pottery jars and covered with a very salty brine as the fermentation process continues.  At the end of the long process the liquid is filtered off, this liquid is Korean soy sauce called ganjang, and the remaining solids are our salty-earthy-complex-umami rich paste with a pungent aroma – called doenjang.

Doenjang 된장 Mashed Potatoes Recipe

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