Simple, healthy, exotic and delicious – that’s Japanese food for you. Maori Murota’s new book, Japanese Home Cooking (Murdoch Books) has all you need to to perfect some classic dishes from the Land of the Rising Sun. Here are 100 recipes that are suited to all occasions. This simple sweet potato dish caught our eye and we think you’ll love it.
Serves4
Preparation:10 minutes
Cooking:40 minutes
Ingredients
1 sweet potato (approx. 500 g/1 lb 2 oz)
Extra virgin olive oil
Sauce A
1 teaspoon gochujang (spicy Korean paste)
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon raw sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Sauce B
4 tablespoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
½ garlic clove, grated
Juice 1/8 lemon
Garnish
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 pinch raw sugar
4 tablespoons plain yoghurt or plain soy yoghurt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
5 crushed pecans
2 pinches sumac
Zest 1/8 lemon, cut into thin strips
A few dill leaves
1 pinch sea salt
Method
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
Prepare the sauces. Mix all the sauce A ingredients together in a bowl and all the sauce B ingredients together in another bowl.
Cut the sweet potato in half lengthways. Quickly rinse the two halves under water and drizzle with a little olive oil. Wrap each piece in aluminium foil. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. The sweet potato is cooked when the flesh is tender all the way through.
Place the sweet potato on a plate. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Drizzle with yoghurt or soy yoghurt, the two sauces and olive oil. Sprinkle with the pecans, sumac, lemon zest and dill and scatter over the sea salt.
Photographs: Akiko Ida