Kinpira Recipe

Shinji and I won a cooking contest at Elizabeth Andoh's Kansha cooking website. Following is the recipe we submitted.

In our house we keep a Tupperware in the fridge for vegetable scraps. During the week as dishes are assembled cuttings from different vegetables are collected here. Most often it contains carrot or daikon peels, broccoli or shiitake stems, or the tops and bottoms of bell peppers. These usually find their way to the garbage can in most homes, but if the vegetables are thoroughly washed before peeling then they can be used for cooking. Not only is it thrifty, it is using food to its fullest. 

After a good amount of vegetable scraps have been collected, but not letting too much time to pass so the vegetables spoil, it’s time to create a dish. These can be put onto a salad, into a soup, usually with some chicken stock, or made into fried rice. Another popular dish in our home is kinpira. Dinner is usually rice, a protein, and two vegetable dishes. This dish will keep for several days and is good in bento, as a topping to a green salad, or on bread for a quick sandwich.

Vegetable Scraps Kinpira

Serves four (as a side dish)

½ cup daikon peels, julienned

½ cup carrot peels, julienned

½ cup broccoli stems, julienned

½ cup tops and bottoms of bell peppers, julienned

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon sake

2 Tablespoons mirin

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

¼ teaspoon shichimi togarashi (or toasted sesame seeds)

Carefully wash the vegetables before peeling and adding to the Tupperware. Julienne vegetables into uniform cuts.

Add the vegetable oil to a fry pan. Over high heat sauté the vegetables until they start to sweat. Add the sake, mirin, and soy sauce and continue to sauté over medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated and the vegetables are tender. Taste the vegetables to see if you want to add any seasonings. Sometimes I like to toss a little bit of sesame oil at this point.

Move to a serving dish. Garnish with shichimi togarashi. (optional)