A small Japanese feast

Today I had a hankering for something Asian, something really healthy. Venison is a kind of meat that is hard to beat and when served with only vegetables, it is as healthy as it can get. To make it more interesting, I opted for various textures on the plate and the result was a tasty combo.

The small Japanese feast featured teriyaki venison, steamed vegetable dolmas and crunchy garlic pak choi. Although there were plenty of flavours on the plate, a drop of sweet chilli sauce is never wrong and it helped this meal another step up the taste ladder. It also looked quite nice when served in a little bowl, lending a bit of colour to the otherwise green & brown display.

It wasn't a complicated feast to arrange, but time consuming, so nothing that I'd knock up if I was short of time or very hungry. All the parts of this meal were things I had cooked before, although the dolmas were stuffed with mince last time. In preparation for today, I had scanned Pinterest for a suitable vegetarian filling, but many contained either cabbage or tofu. Tofu is something I'd only eat if I starving to death and as I was using cabbage as a wrap, I didn't want it inside as well. Plenty of recipes mentioned mushrooms though, so I hung onto that and swapped the cabbage for bean sprouts. It worked well, although there was no way of eating them in a dignified way. If cutting into a dolma with knife and fork, it fell apart and if treating it as finger-food, it was a messy affair. I went down the messy road and stocked up on serviettes. 

The main flavours in this meal were soy, ginger and garlic, with a hint of honey and chilli. Sometimes simple flavours are enough, when the food is cooked well. Also, there was the addition of sweet chilli sauce at the end.

I have a plenty of kitchen gadgets, but not a steamer. Sure, I could get one, but so far I have managed well with a metal colander, a saucepan and a lid. To be perfectly honest, I'd rather spend money on something else, unless I start steaming food every day.

To make this Japanese meal, you need:

Teriyaki meat

1 lb meat of your choice, sliced thinly (I used venison)

1/3 cup soy sauce

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp mirin (I used rose cider)

1.5 tbsp ginger, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

Vegetable dolmas

1 cabbage head (I prefer savoy)

1/2 bag bean sprouts

2 carrots, julienned

1 pepper, finely sliced

1 leek, sliced

250 g mushrooms

1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/4 chilli, finely chopped (more if you are brave)

soy sauce

Pak choi

2 pak choi

1 garlic clove, finely sliced

1. Start by making the marinade for the meat. Slice the meat finely and chop both garlic and ginger. 

2. Mix all ingredients in a bag or a container with a lid and set aside for at least 45 minutes. 

3. While the meat is marinating, start on the dolmas. 

4. Chop and slice everything apart from the cabbage. Mind your fingers.

5. Soften the carrots and mushrooms in a little oil in a sauce pan.

6. Add the rest of the filling ingredients, apart from the bean sprouts. Cook until they have softened.

7. While the vegetables are cooking, quarter the pak choi lengthwise.

8. Season with soy sauce and do a taste test.

As you can see, I use a supermarket's own brand of soy sauce. It is worth splashing out on certain food items, but not on a soy sauce used for cooking.

9. Add the bean sprouts and cook until they have softened.

10. Do another taste test and adjust with whatever you find is needed. Set aside to cool down a little.

11. Parboil the cabbage. Savoy cabbage only takes a few minutes, white cabbage takes longer. It needs to be pliable, without falling apart.

To get the leaves off whole, I cut around the stem and carefully peel one leaf off at the time. I find it quicker to cook them this way.

12. Cut the thickest part of the stem away to make wrapping easier.

There may be better ways of wrapping dolmas, but I start with folding in the split end, then the sides before rolling it up tightly.

13. To avoid the dolmas unfurling, pack them tightly in the steamer (or colander)

14. If using a homemade steamer, boil water in a saucepan and place a metal colander on top of it. Make sure the water isn't deep enough to get into the colander. You want the dolmas to steam, not boil. Pop a lid on to keep the steam in. Cook the dolmas for 10 minutes.

15. While the dolmas are cooking, fry off the garlic slices in a little oil.

16. Add the pak choi to the garlic and fry until they get a nice colour and are as soft or crunchy as you prefer them. I know, not very precise, but there we are. Everyone likes them differently.

17. Time to cook the meat. It needs to be flash fried on high heat, until just done and shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

I had everything going at the same time in the end.

18. It is nice if you can get the meat to brown without over cooking it. 

I didn't manage this time. It wasn't over cooked (phew), but I failed to get the seared brown surface.

19. Serve with a drop of sweet chilli sauce if you wish.

I love this kind of picky food and it looks so pretty on the plate. If serving guests, I would opt for dolmas that don't fall apart. A mince filling works well for that purpose. A more substantial Asian meal could feature rice of noodles, but we were on a post take away stretch of meals and opted out of carbs this time. Otherwise I would have gone for some sort of rice, as I think that would better than noodles on this particular plate.