Food & Wine (April 2015)
Spring! We're so happy to finally -- finally! -- be hitting spring here in Washington, D.C.
And for us there's probably no vegetable that quite sings "spring!" more than young, tender asparagus.
We're asparagus purists, especially when it's at the height of season. Lightly steam or sauté it, sprinkle it with the faintest whisper of salt, and eat. That's how we like it.
So what about this Crunchy Asparagus Salad full of Japanese flavors? Would it make the cut for our simple-is-best approach to spring asparagus?
Short answer: Yes! This salad heightens the flavor of asparagus without overpowering it.
We loved the play of the asparagus with the daikon radish, and the sesame and soy flavors are great here, too.
But we have a bone to pick with Food & Wine: What's up with the togarashi? It's thrown in at the end of the ingredient list "for sprinkling." That's it. No explanation of what it is, where to find it, what you might substitute for it if you can't find any.
Just: "Togarashi." Are we the only people who don't know what that is?
We turned to Ye Olde Internette for help. As we learned from Wikipedia, togarashi is a Japanese pepper. OK, cool. But then we read this:
When the term is used in English, it refers to any number of chili peppers or chili pepper-related products from Japan, including:
- Shichimi, or Shichimi tōgarashi, a condiment that is a mixture of seven different ingredients that varies by maker
- Shishito, or Shishi tōgarashi, a small, mild variety of Capsicum annuum
- Niji Iro Tōgarashi, a 1990 manga series
Right off the bat, we figured this recipe probably didn't call for a 25-year-old manga series to be sprinkled on the salad. (Not to brag, but we're basically geniuses.)
And we figured it didn't make sense to use an actual pepper -- even a shishito -- to "sprinkle" on the salad.
So we deduced that what we were really looking for was Shichimi, a spice blend.
Well, fortunately for us, we live about two blocks from a Japanese specialty foods store. We walked in, grabbed some Shichimi togarashi in no time flat, and ran out the door. (well, first we paid for it.)
Anyway, long story short: We bet the majority of you don't live a stone's throw from a Japanese market. So how can you sub some homemade shichimi togarashi?
The one we bought is a blend of chili pepper, orange peel, black sesame seed, white sesame seed, Japanese pepper, ginger and seaweed. That's a lot of ingredients. But we're sure you can easily find chili pepper, black and white sesame seeds, and ground ginger. That right there (plus a tiny pinch of salt) would get you well on your way to the same flavor.
Also, hey, it's just a finishing flavor. So if you want to make this without the togarashi, no sweat!
But we will say this: If you can find shichimi/togarashi, or if you're willing to order it online, you should. It's a delicious spice blend that we're happy to now have in our kitchen. We'll definitely be using it on fish, in rice, maybe tossed with some vegetables.
And it's certainly a flavorful -- and beautiful -- finishing flair for this yummy spring salad.
Crunchy Asparagus Salad
Food & Wine (March 2015), recipe by Kuniko Yagi
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Total time: 20 mins
Servings: 4
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 bunch of thin asparagus (about 1 pound), trimmed
One 4-ounce piece of daikon radish, peeled and thinly sliced (1 cup)
Kosher salt
Pepper
Toasted sesame seeds and togarashi, for sprinkling
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, whisk the soy sauce with the sesame oil and vinegar.
Fill a medium bowl with ice water. In a steamer basket set in a large saucepan of simmering water, steam the asparagus until crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to the ice bath to cool. Drain and pat dry, then chop the asparagus into 2-inch lengths. Add the asparagus and daikon to the soy sauce dressing, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Transfer to plates, sprinkle with sesame seeds and togarashi and serve.
