Cooking Japanese in Jamaica

Yasaiitame,  Ai Irisawa-Coney, Contributor

When the temperature gets very hot, I do not feel like cooking. But lack of healthy options pushes me to do more cooking than eating out. Though simple, yasaiitame is very filling and one of the easiest and quickest recipes I know. It certainly saves me on a day when I don't feel like cooking.

'Yasai' in Japanese means vegetable, and 'itame' is stir-fry. Guessed it? Its simply stir-fried vegetables. For this recipe, I usually use only vegetables. But you can also use shrimps, strips of chicken breast or bacon. You can have it as a main course with white rice or as a side dish. You can mix it with soy sauce flavoured stir fried noodles or pasta to make yakisoba. Or you can use Ramen noodle, garnished with Yasaiitame so that it becomes a little more balanced.

The main ingredient for this recipe is cabbage. It's great because cabbage is found in abundance around this time of the year. I love cabbage, and Jamaican cabbage taste like Japanese cabbage - sweet and crunchy.

My version of yasaiitame with this key ingredient makes it different from the rest - I use cider vinegar. It really makes a difference and makes it taste as if a professional chef cooked it, no joke. I will explain how it is done.

Cooking time: 15 minutes each

Serves two person

Ingredients

¹/² medium cabbage (find a fresh one for the crunch)

150g bean sprouts

1 medium carrot

1 medium onion

1 stalk of spring onion

¹/² green pepper

2 tbsp soy sauce (Kikkoman brand recommended)

1tbsp cider vinegar

1tbsp cooking oil

Salt and pepper

Instruction

1. Cut cabbage into strips.

2. Peel carrot and onion and slice them thin.

3. Julienne green pepper.

4. Chop spring onions.

5. Wash beansprouts.

6. Heat oil in large frying pan or wok (if you have one).

7. Throw all the vegetables at once and keep stiring until vegetables are cooked. Make sure they are not too soft. Leave some crunch.

8. Add some salt and pepper, soy sauce and vinegar (you can use more or less soy sauce depending on your liking).

Itadakimasu!!

Ai Irisawa-Coney managed a Japanese restaurant in Soho, London. She is also a founder of Epiphany Media Solutions, www.facebook.com/epiphanymediaja, and ACI Consultancy, www.aci-consultancy.com.