Fantastic carrot Kinpira

Ai Irisawa-Coney, Contributor

Since I was a child, kinpira has been one of my favourite Japanese foods. Usually, burdock and lotus root are used for this recipe. Both of them are root vegetables consumed a lot in Japan. I saw lotus vegetables sold here in Jamaica but never the burdock. The lotus root can be quite expensive so you can use carrot or celery, or mixture of both as alternatives as they both, taste fantastic when cooked this way.

Kinpira is served as an appetiser or side dish. I love it so much I can eat it as main dish. However, I will not recommend it as a main course due to high content of soy sauce used to make one serving. Having that said, in moderation, it is one of the most delightful Japanese dishes I could recommend.

I'm not a fan of bitter melon nor expert in recipes using them. However, it is said bitter melon is a perfect match for Kinpira. If you love bitter melon, it is definitely worth a try (If you are trying this, please let me know how it tastes. You can send any feedback to ai@axisja.com)

Best way to serve kinpira is with a bowl of Japanese rice. This combinations reminds me of home and I just can't get enough of it. You can also cook kinpira in larger quantity and keep in your fridge or freezer (just portion out before refrigerating or freezing), and it can become useful on the day you come home too tired to cook. If you drink sake, wine or beer, kinpra can be quite good something to nibble with. Worth a try!!

Kinpira

Cooking time 15 minutes

Serves 2 persons

Ingredients

2 medium carrots or three stalks of celery (OR half & half)

4 tablespoon of Soy sauce (Kikkoman brand recommended)

1 tablespoon of sugar

2 tablespoon of white wine

1 tablespoon of sesame seed (for garnish)

2 tablespoon of good quality sesame oil

Cooking Instructions

1. Peel carrots and cut them into very fine julienne

2. Put sesame oil in non-stick frying pan

3. Fry carrots until soft

4. Add all the other ingredients at one time and cook down until all the liquid is gone

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