Last Friday’s recipes are two recipes from “Kimetsu no Ryouri,” a Demon Slayer fanzine cookbook I purchased a couple of years ago. I finished both recipes before Friday but was too busy/lazy to post until today, lol. The first is a mango smoothie called “Zenitsu’s Super Mango Lemon Shocker” and the second is “Giyu’s Flowing Dance Sake Daikon Shirataki”. This lovely fanzine is on theme with September’s Demon Slayer bullet journal layout and came with blank themed recipe cards and a bento sticker sheet. The recipes are more on the Taisho-era Tokyo “East meets West” side, so some of those recipes are American style smoothies and French style macarons, while some are fairly traditional Japanese recipes, which do fit the time period of Demon Slayer. This book is definitely one of those that had recipes too simple to be worth making or photographing, or too complicated and expensive for an amateur home cook. I decided it would be a good idea to combine a simple drink recipe with a slightly more complicated main course I’ve never made before.
Note, I did not make the Obanai or Mitsuri (the characters in the bullet journal) recipes because their recipes contain my loathed nemesis, sweet red bean paste. All of my friends hate sweet red bean paste. Actually it’s more I am South Vietnamese and prefer mung bean or lotus seed paste which is used way more than red bean paste of East Asia. But yeah, red bean paste stays out of my house.
[photo of salmon and daikon slices on a bed of shirataki noodles]
no photo of the mango smoothie because it looked normal
Ingredients Summary – smoothie at any grocery store; noodles at an Asian grocery store or extremely well-stocked grocery store
- smoothie: mango, lemon juice (I used bottled), pineapple fruit (I used canned fruit), ice
- noodles
- shirataki noodles
- salmon filets
- veggies – daikon, optional lemon/yuzu peel
- seasonings – ginger, soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, rice
Steps Summary – very easy for the smoothie; fairly easy for the noodles
Smoothie: combine fruit with ice and blend, can add syrups or other juices and fruits as desired.
Noodles: Blanch and rinse salmon filets, set aside. In same pot, add rice to make rice water and boil the peeled daikon chunks for 10 minutes, drain and set aside. In same pot, add seasonings to make brine and simmer salmon and daikon under a foil cover for 20 minutes. In a different pot, boil rinsed/drained shirataki noodles for 30 seconds, drain and set aside. Combine noodles with spoonfuls of liquid and some salmon and daikon, add lemon zest if desired.
Taste Summary – smoothie: very tangy and not too sweet; noodles: refreshing and slightly savory/sour
- Taste
- obviously the smoothie tasted awesome, 3 of my favorite fruit flavors, couldn’t go wrong
- I liked the noodles, I did fear it was going to be bland like very traditional Japanese food tends to be, but for summer weather, this would be so fresh and rejuvenating and rehydrating, especially as cold noodles. I added a pinch of black pepper anyway lol, negating the cooling effect. There was a hint of vinegar acidity and bit of ginger heat. The daikon and salmon and noodles absorbed the savory brine well, as I left the pot in the fridge before combining with noodles the next day.
- Texture
- Smoothie texture was thick, need a wide straw but you can thin it out or thicken it up with any additions.
- Noodles had a good firm texture, the daikon chunks were softened but not mushy or disintegrating at all. The salmon did break up when I trimmed it from the skin, but held together afterwards with pleasant bite.
Convenience Summary – Smoothie was fast and easy unless you had to peel and cut fresh fruit in which case, it would take a while depending on your skill. Noodles required a long time in the kitchen unless you boiled the salmon and daikon at the same time, but you still had to brine and simmer and even refrigerate overnight for maximum flavor before cooking the noodles. At least the steps were easy, and I enjoyed the novelty of making a otoshibuta (the foil lid contraption) to keep the daikon and salmon submerged in the brine.
Would I make these recipes again? The smoothie if I had all ingredients, the noodles if I remembered to buy shirataki. I personally don’t need the carbless diet so I never remember to go to the refrigerated section for shirataki noodles, but if I did have those and some leftover daikon, I might try a cold noodle version for hot weather. It’s still hot here. There are a couple of simple rice and noodle recipes but they were way too similar to previous reviews, so probably the only thing I’ll make next from this book is the thumbprint cookies. Onto another cookbook!