I recently joined an online event that featured some condiments from Kysushu Island. If you are not familiar with Japanese geography, Kyushu is one of the Southern Islands, where my mother is originally from. I received samples of the condiments to try, so after researching and reading about each products, I decided to make some dishes using these Japanese condiments from Kyushu.
The first condiment is Koji Amazake from Hyogo, which is a rice fermented drink. You might have heard of Amazake, maybe at some Japanese pub, or Izakaya. They are alcoholic beverage, which is different from Koji Amazake. Unlike regular Amazake, Koji Amazake does not contain any alcohol. What does it contain, you might ask? It has enzymes that makes your body feel full of energy, Amino acids for healthy body, Glucose to help build healthy muscle, and Vegetable Lactobacilli, which I believe is basically a “good” bacteria we need in our intestines. I heard Koji Amazake is good for your skin, increase metabolism and energy, and enhance the immune system. Great! It is made from rice and koji (malted rice), you will see bits of tiny rice pieces in the bottle.
You can use koji amazake almost like a milky sweetener. You can add it to your milk/soy milk, yogurt, fruit/veggie juice/smoothie, coffee, etc. You can also have it cold and hot. And, just because it doesn’t contain any alcohol, that doesn’t mean it can’t become delicious cocktails… You can turn it into all kind of cocktails! But, it is so much more versatile than that. You can create all sorts of desserts with it, or add it to your pancake batter! You can also use it in place of sugar for cooking, for fish, soup, and meat. It’s use is really limitless! Too busy to make any kind of creation? Just freeze them in ice cubes, and put them in your ice tea/coffee. Oh yeah!
The second condiment is Shio Koji Garlic from Kagoshima. Shio Koji is a salt-marinated rice malt. It is like a garlic puree mixed with shio koji. I like to use garlic a lot with my cooking, and salt is a must for most savory dishes. With this, you get to have garlic and salt, all in one! You can quickly make ramen broth with this as well, just mix soy sauce, oil, and this shio koji garlic, and you have an easy shoyu ramen base. Mix it with miso paste, ground sesame seeds, oil, and maybe some chili paste, plus this shio koji garlic, and you have a miso ramen base. Or any other soup that can have some garlic and salt flavor! Easy, right? You can also use this shio koji garlic as marinate for your meat and fish!
The third condiment is Fresh Basil Sauce from Oita. It looks like pesto at first glance, but it isn’t pesto, as it does not contain any nuts in here. It is made with basil, olive oil, garlic, and salt. Simple yet packed with flavor! This basil sauce is completely pesticide- and additive-free, making it a health-conscious choice. It can be used on pasta, salads, or even in soups to add a touch of green and the delicious taste of basil.
The last condiment is Scallion Dressing from Fukuoka. This dressing also contains koji, or malted rice. it’s basic ingredients are scallion, onion, oil, garlic, vinegar, salt, sugar, and pepper. It can be used as a dip for potato chips, or pour it over roast beef, salad, tofu, even on top of boiled egg. Add to cooked steak or other meat dish and fish as a finishing sauce.
Now, with these four incredible condiments, I planned a full course dinner! As I only had one of each condiments, I had to get my calculator out and see how many dishes I can create with these Japanese Condiments from Kyushu! I searched web for recipes, and there I went!
For the complete dinner set, I started off with creating a dessert, since it needs to be chilled for a bit. I decided to make Koji Amazake Chocolate Mochi. For this, you need Koji Amazake, Mochi, Milk Chocolate, and Cocoa Powder. Cut the mochi into small pieces, and put in a microwave-safe bowl.
Add 50g of milk chocolate, and 2 1/2 tablespoon of Koji Amazake into the bowl. Put a wrap loosely, and microwave for one minute.
In a meanwhile, prepare a square (or any shape, if you don’t have one) container, lined with saran wrap. Take the bowl out of the microwave, and mix well.
After some arm workout, everything should melt together nicely. If not, you might need to put it back in the microwave, only for 20 seconds or so at a time. Be careful not to overdo it!
Pour the chocolate mochi mixture into the square container, and wrap it tightly. My container was a bit too large for this amount, so it became rectangle…which is perfectly fine! Chill in a refrigerator for about one hour.
Since it was going to be our dessert after the dinner, I left it in the refrigerator while cooking other dish. Once they are chilled, take it out from refrigerator, cut them into six pieces, and coat with cocoa powder. This turned out to be really good! The Koji Amazake added a nice little sweetness, nice mochi-y texture, and it went great with the chocolate flavor!
Let’s move on to the savory dishes! For main dish. I decided to cook Tomato and Basil Pasta. For this, I used three of the Japanese condiments from Kyushu; Koji Amazake, Shio Koji Garlic, Fresh Basil Sauce, Diced Tomato Sauce, and Pasta.
I put some olive oil and Shio Koji Garlic in a pan. After about a minute, added one tablespoon plus one teaspoon of Koji Amazake.
Then, add about 140g of tomato can, which is maybe half of the can or less. The reason why I didn’t use the entire can is because I wanted the basil to be in the spotlight. I crushed some bigger chunks of tomatoes with my wooden spatula, and cooked on low for about 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened, and water evaporated.
Add the cooked pasta into the frying pan, and mix well. There really isn’t much to mix with, as there is not much of the tomato sauce mixture, compare to the pasta. Add about 2 tablespoons or so of Fresh Basil Sauce, and mix.
Then you are done! Simple dish with simple yet high quality ingredients that you can really taste! I added a little extra basil sauce on the top, which was extra nice!
We also added freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, because cheese makes everything even better! This pasta was AMAZING! Super delicious! It is incredible how a truly high quality, tasty product can do with simple pasta!
Let’s move on to the next dish. I happened to have some extra potatoes, and a few cherry tomatoes left over. So, I decided to make Potato and Tomato Hot Salad. I used two of the Japanese Condiments from Kyushu for this dish; Shio Koji Garlic, and Fresh Basil Sauce. This dish is super easy, and quite fast! Put the potatoes, skin on (unless you prefer to have them peeled, then go right ahead), into microwave until tender, anywhere from four to eight minutes. Then, cut them into small pieces. Cut the cherry tomatoes into half or quarter, depends on the size. Put them in a bowl together.
Add 2 tablespoons of Fresh Basil Sauce, and 1/2 tablespoon of Shio Koji Garlic. Mix them well. And voila! You are done! This super easy dish came out great too. Very flavorful and very filling!
The third dish was Mushroom Risotto. For this, I used two of the Japanese Condiments from Kyushu; Shio Koji Garlic, and Koji Amazake. I had dried Maitake Mushroom at home, so I decided to use Maitake for this risotto. I wanted to make quick and easy version, so I am going to use cooked brown rice. First, I cooked shallots for about three minutes in a pan with oil.
Then, I added about 1/2 tablespoon of Shio Koji Garlic, and rehydrated maitake mushrooms. Cooked them for another three minutes until they are getting nice and golden.
I kept the water that I used to rehydrate the mushroom, and I used 100ml of that as my broth. Add 80g of cooked rice, and bring it to boil.
Add 50 ml of milk, and two tablespoons of Koji Amazake, stir and simmer for a minute or two.
Taste and add salt and pepper as your preference, and you are done! The risotto had some sweetness to it from Amazake, which can be balanced really well with some salt. We added saffron salt, and it was great! I think the amount of Shio Koji Garlic was not enough. It would’ve been better with one full tablespoon, or maybe even more. But it was really tasty regardless!
Now, at this point, I still haven’t used one of the Japanese Condiments from Kyushu: Scallion Dressing. For this, I decided to make cold dishes. One was to simply use it as salad dressing, and pour it ever salad. Another dish, I decided to use Tofu, and my homemade Salmon Flakes.
The cold tofu is usually topped with some soy sauce, but I only used Scallion Dressing. I made the salmon flakes with a good amount of salt, so it had nice balance of salty flavor, and refreshing flavor from the Scallion Dressing. This dish, alongside the regular salad, acted as palate cleanser for all the other dishes with strong flavors.
I somehow managed to cook/make all these dishes at the same time, and fished up all around the same time! Go me! It was quite the feast, every dish was very tasty, delightful, and packed with flavors!
After we digested all the great food, thanks to the high quality Japanese Condiments from Kyushu, we were ready for dessert! I decided to use the last bit of Koji Amazake to make a cocktail to go with the dessert. Yes, I really went all out! I made English Breakfast Tea, stronger than normal, and chilled in refrigerator. Once it was chilled, I mixed it with 2 1/2 tablespoon of Koji Amazake, and 3 oz of Whisky. Mixed well, and pour it over ice, and garnished with Orange peel.
Here it is, kind of a Japanese Highball drink, with whisky, tea, and Koji Amazake! It was a nice, relaxing drink, perfect to get our mind and soul to unwind…
So, there it is! My complete dinner course, ending with Chocolate Mochi and Highball Cocktails! I learned that we can do so much with condiments, especially if they are high quality. They all turned simple ingredients into fabulous, delicious dishes! I hope this blog gave some inspirations and ideas on what you could do with your condiments! If you are interested in these particular Japanese Condiments from Kyushu, check out some Asian Supermarkets! I heard that the Fresh Basil Sauce can be found online, but the rest of them might be hard to find online… What are you going to cook next?