This is the first of my “Murakami meals”, named after one of my favourite authors, Haruki Murakami. I wrote a short blog post about what I mean by a Murakami meal. I had aubergines so I decided to prepare them with ponzu (a Japanese dressing). I also made soy beans with shiitake mushrooms and rounded it off with brown rice cooked with konbu seaweed.
This recipe requires 30 minutes soaking time followed by 20 minutes cooking time.
Japanese-style vegan gluten-free • 550 kcal per person 
Ingredients
For two people:
- Main ingredients:
- a cup of frozen soy beans
- 2 medium aubergines
- 1 cup of brown rice
- For seasoning I used:
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms
- a 2 cm piece of ginger, thinly sliced
- 1 piece of konbu (about 5x10cm)
- ponzu: a mixture of
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce,
- 1 tablespoon yuzu juice,
- half a tablespoon rice vinegar,
- 1 teaspoon mirin
Preparation
- Soaking: 30 minutes
- Put the rice and konbu together in a pot with 2 cups of water and soak for 30 minutes in cold water.
- Meanwhile, soak the shiitake for 30 minutes in a cup of freshly boiled water, then slice them thinly.
- Cooking: 20 minutes
- Cook the rice with the konbu for 6 minutes, either on the hob or in the microwave at full power (900W).
- Meanwhile, cook the beans for 3 minutes in the microwave at full power (900W). Add the shiitake and ginger to the beans and cook for two minutes.
- Remove the konbu and slice it into smaller strips. Return it to the pot and continue cooking for another 20 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed.
- Meanwhile, wash and slice the aubergines.
- Cook each aubergine separately for 7 minutes in the microwave at full power (900W). Divide the aubergine slices over two plates and sprinkle them with the ponzu dressing.