Mountain Potato

[wawairis]

So what does mountain potato taste like? I'm totally unfamiliar with it.

[tissue]

It tastes a little like daikon, not as sharp.

But it's really this slimy textural thing I find interesting.

[torakris]

yamaimo are actually very bland, but they have a nice crunch when not in the grated form.

Think of it like a slimy jicama.

[wawairis]

Thank you for your responses. I'm surprised that the slimy consistency is a plus.

I think I would be willing to try it.

[torakris]

made some tororo soba for lunch yesterday, lots of wasabi and scallion, damn this is good stuff!

[torakris]

mixed some nagaimo with mekabu two nights ago and seasoned it with a bit of tsuyu (seasoned soy sauce), yum!

it was hard to keep on the chopsticks though......

[Sobaicecream]

Mmmm, this is making me hungry! That looks so good, Kristin.

Unfortunately, the last time I grated yama imo, I forgot about the itch factor, and it was not just itchy, my hands turned fire-engine red, and it was really uncomfortable! My husband quickly searched on the Internet, and told me about the vinegar trick, but it didn't work at all.

Oh well, the suffering aside, I mixed karashi mentaiko (spicy cod egg) with the grated yama imo, and it was really good!

By the way, did anyone else notice what I think of as the "Super Slime Bowl" at Maguro Ichiba (chain restaurant) this summer? It was a bowl of rice, very prettily topped with natto, grated yama imo, okra, raw squid, those tiny slimy brown mushrooms, and a raw egg. I guess you were supposed to swirl everything together and watch the slime webbing fly!

[torakris]

last night

nagaimo and mentaiko (mixed with a bit of mirin)

it isn't normally the watery, but I made it about 2 hours before taking the picture...

[Kiem Hwa]

On "tonight's" episode of Burari, the host went to a restaurant where they served yamaimo (I didn't catch specficially which one, but a slimy one), where the yamaimo was grated into a slime, and mixed with miso and probably some green onions and other stuff, then served over mugi-gohan (barley rice).

Such a yamaimo was a specialty of the area the restaurant was in.

Has anyone tried mixing thier yamaimo with miso?

[Hiroyuki]

On "tonight's" episode of Burari, the host went to a restaurant where they served yamaimo (I didn't catch specficially which one, but a slimy one), where the yamaimo was grated into a slime, and mixed with miso and probably some green onions and other stuff, then served over mugi-gohan (barley rice). 

Such a yamaimo was a specialty of the area the restaurant was in.

Has anyone tried mixing thier yamaimo with miso?

←

Sorry, I'm not a fan of yamaimo or tororo (grated yamaimo), but my father is. He is also a fan of jinenjo (wild yamaimo), which is slimier and more expensive than cultivated ones. Some people prefer adding soy sauce to tororo while others prefer miso, but I just can't recall which my father prefers...

[torakris]

I do it both ways, though I think I slightly prefer the soy sauce/wasabi.

For some reason when I make the miso version I like it with sliced up (raw) okra added as well. Okra and miso go wonderfully together.

[torakris]

tororo with okra, miso, soy sauce and myouga (the red pieces), sorry really bad picture...

[torakris]

one of my favorite salads using nagaimo

cut the nagaimo into large bite sized pieces place them into a bag and lightly smash them, add them to a bowl with cucumbers and tomatoes and dress them with equal parts of soy sauce, rice vinegar and a flavorless oil (like canola), then sprinkle the whole thing with a handful of katsuo bushi (bonito flakes)

[jschyun]

At a restaurant in LA (Urasawa), the chef makes his tamago look and taste like sponge cake somehow, with the use of yamaimo. He said it took about 3 hours to make.

I like it roasted to as well as in salad. I have to admit, it did take a while for me to appreciate the sliminess, but I'm a convert.

[Kiem Hwa]

I recently found a recipe book on Shojin Ryori (vegetarian Buddhist Monk foods), and there are quite a few recipes using yamaimo, so last night I tried an easy one:

yamato-imo no nori-maki:

grated mountain yam rolled in a piece of nori and fried until lightly golden brown, then rolled in a shoyu-ginger sauce.

It was pretty good! A nice new way to enjoy yamaimo!

Also shown is Kizami Natto no Ao-jiso Age, shiso-wrapped Natto tempura.

[SG-]

Ok finally got my hands on some nagaimo this weekend and this is what I made as an appetizer for dinner:

Grated nagaimo topped with a generous heaping of uni and very thin strips of nori and bonito flakes drizzled with a sauce made of lightly diluted shoyu (the kind with konbu used for sashimi) mixed with wasabi.

Simple preparation and quite tasty indeed. Think I'm going to serve this next time I have people over for dinner.

[torakris]

julienned nagaimo with shiso and ponzu

[helenjp]

Torakris, I think that's my favorite way to eat nagaimo. This dish always seems to taste better at this time of year, too - maybe because it's more crisp and watery, and not as starchy and sticky as it gets in autumn?

[torakris]

more nagaimo!

this time with okra and and umeboshi sauce

[Akiko]

When I was in Japan in the spring, the soup making store sold me some little square sheets of what she said would turn into tororo if I put it in my miso soup. Have you seen this? Is it basically freeze dried tororo?

Can I put it in cold soba tsuyu and will it still turn out okay or does it have to be hot?

[Evan]

Has anyone tried Mukago?

It is also part of the mountain potato but since I've never had the opportunity to get it, it remains a mystery in terms of taste and texture for me.

[helenjp]

Yes, I have...it tastes a little more earthy than mountain potato, and is a little crisper and less slimy...but I have to admit it didn't make that much of an impression!

[torakris]

When I was in Japan in the spring, the soup making store sold me some little square sheets of what she said would turn into tororo if I put it in my miso soup.  Have you seen this?  Is it basically freeze dried tororo?

Can I put it in cold soba tsuyu and will it still turn out okay or does it have to be hot?

←

Is it a sort of pale green?

it sounds like tororo konbu a kind of seaweed.

[torakris]

Yes, I have...it tastes a little more earthy than mountain potato, and is a little crisper and less slimy...but I have to admit it didn't make that much of an impression!

←

I too have had it, I see it mostly mixed in with rice.

It wasn't bad but not worth searching for...

[dougery]

Mountain potato with slices of maguro, scallions and soyu then put on hot rice... mmmmm.... Maybe a dash of bonito to top it off!

One of my favorites!