edamame

[jbonne]

In 2003, according to the USDA there were 79 million acres of corn planted and 73.2 million acres of Soybeans.

there's a great story in that fact alone.

apropos of nothing, i've discovered my two cats have an enormous yen for edamame. they love cheese and tidbits of meat, but they'll roll over and do poodle tricks for soybeans. curious.

[torakris]

helenjp mentioned zunda-ae, I particularly love the zunda mochi where the edamame are smashed then sweetened and then formed around a ball of mochi (pounded rice cake). They look like this

[Sackville]

I love edamame beans but up until now they've been a special treat when we go out for sushi. Normally they're served in the pods with a bit of spice on them as an appetiser. But yesterday I discovered a Japanese supermarket where they sell them frozen!!

I came home and made this recipe (new for me) for roasted edamame with chilli, cumin, basil, olive oil and other spices.

What are your favourite ways to cook edamame beans?

[torakris]

sackville,

those look great!

I do a similar thing with chickpeas...

My favorite way to eat them is boiled and salted then sucked out of their shell.

I always have a frozen pack in my freezer, they are still in the pods but already boiled and salted all you do is defrost, either naturally or in warm water. Two days ago I picked up a bag of frozen shelled edamame, 500g for only 198 yen ($1.90), now I am going to try some dishes like soups and such that were just too time consuming before.

I often use edamame as an accent to foods, I toss them into fried rice, stirfries and add them to simmered dishes like hijiki, they are a great color contrast.

[Akiko]

Sackville that does look great:

I came home and made this recipe (new for me) for roasted edamame with chilli, cumin, basil, olive oil and other spices

What did you do? Shell, toss with ingredients, and then roast in the oven? At what temp and how long may I ask?

[Hiroyuki]

Sorry, as a native (male) Japanese, I can never be imaginative about the uses of edamame - For me, they have always been something to go with cold beer on a hot summer day.

Only one suggestion: If you care for sweets, you can make zundamochi.

http://www.shejapan.com/jtyeholder/jtye/li...i/wagashi4.html

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

Sorry, as a native (male) Japanese, I can never be imaginative about the uses of edamame - For me, they have always been something to go with cold beer on a hot summer day.

I'm neither male, or native Japanese, but I'm a edamame purist too. They're best boiled and salted.

[smallworld]

I agree: edamame are best boiled and salted. Fresh, of course. But for variety, I think they're great in cooking (especially in rice and sunomono), and I like to occasionally add flavours to boiled edamame. Salt and lime is a classic, and I like the idea of roasting them with chili. The fresh ones are just starting to come to the markets, so I'll try it soon.

Kristin, where do you find decent frozen edamame? And for 198yen??

[Fred12fred]

Most of the comments here seem to refer to boiling the edamame, and THEN salting. Is this a more common way to prepare them?

I tend to boil them IN salted water as it gives them a better taste to me...

Of course, boiled and salted frozen edamame is probably even better

And, the chili/cumin/basil looks good!

[torakris]

Kristin, where do you find decent frozen edamame? And for 198yen??

←

I always buy them from my co-op (Kanagawa Seikyo)...

these are the shelled ones

I notice the maker is Nichirei so they should be available in many stores. These ones are te best for straight eating, they aren't salty enough for me. I use them mostly in benots, or add then stir fries (today my husabnd's bentos had a bean sprout and edamame curry powder flavored stir fry), fried rice, simmered dishes etc.

I tried a couple of the frozen shio yude (boiled and salted) types before I found the one that I really like. A couple of te brands were too mushy. I really like my co-ops brand, though I am not sure of its availability. Last week I picked up a bag at my local drug store (Create) for 100yen, I think it was 300g so a very good deal), and they were surprisingly good...

these ones

[torakris]

I have mentioned it before on other threads but those frozen packs of shioyude (boiled and salted) make great ice packs for bentos. By the time you get to where you are going they are defrosted enough to eat!

[torakris]

Most of the comments here seem to refer to boiling the edamame, and THEN salting.  Is this a more common way to prepare them?

I tend to boil them IN salted water as it gives them a better taste to me...

←

I double salt. When I do them fresh I will boil them in salted water and then salt the pods after draining while they are still hot.

[Genny]

Most of the comments here seem to refer to boiling the edamame, and THEN salting.  Is this a more common way to prepare them?

I tend to boil them IN salted water as it gives them a better taste to me...

←

I double salt. When I do them fresh I will boil them in salted water and then salt the pods after draining while they are still hot.

←

Looks like I'm on the right track, that is how I've discovered we like them best too. Boiling in plain water doesn't get the bean salted, they are too bland.

[Hiroyuki]

I'd like to introduce two Japanese phrases, saya kiri and shio momi.

Saya kiri (lit. hull cutting) refers to cutting both (or one end) of each hull, and shio-momi refers to rubbing hulls with salt in a bowl to remove the fuzz. Saya kiri is too cumbersome for me to practice, but I always do shio momi.

The most important thing to remember is to boil them in a salt solution of about 4 percent. For example, to boil 250 gram of edamame, first use 10 g of salt for shio-momi (don't rinse off the salt), put 1 liter of water and 30 gram of salt in a pan, and boil edamame for 3 to 5 minutes.

I learned this tip from the famous TV show, Tameshite Gatten

http://www.nhk.or.jp/gatten/archive/2004q3/20040714.html

(Japanese only)

[Sackville]

Sackville that does look great:

I came home and made this recipe (new for me) for roasted edamame with chilli, cumin, basil, olive oil and other spices

What did you do? Shell, toss with ingredients, and then roast in the oven? At what temp and how long may I ask?

←

Sorry I haven't replied to this sooner. To be honest, it completely slipped my mind that I'd posted it

This is the recipe.

Hope it's not too late!

[Sackville]

Salt and lime is a classic

←

This is a new one for me. Can anyone point me to a recipe? Or is it just as simple as boil, salt, squeeze over some lime? Shelled or still in the pods?

[Akiko]

This is a new one for me. Can anyone point me to a recipe? Or is it just as simple as boil, salt, squeeze over some lime? Shelled or still in the pods?

Thats exactly what I do. Shio momi, boil, resalt and squeeze lime on. Still in the pods for me.

[smallworld]

This is a new one for me. Can anyone point me to a recipe? Or is it just as simple as boil, salt, squeeze over some lime? Shelled or still in the pods?

Thats exactly what I do. Shio momi, boil, resalt and squeeze lime on. Still in the pods for me.

←

Yup, what she said. They beans are still in the pods, but you get enough lime flavour from the shell when you suck them out.

[JasonTrue]

Inspired by zunda with shiratama I ate somewhere in Japan, I have twice tried making edamame ice cream. I'm still trying to get the proportions right, but the second time I made it it was a bit better. Last time I made it was a few months ago.

I was trying to get the fat content to about that of premium ice cream for about 15% fat content, so I used the nutritional information to figure out the fat content of the edamame, the milk and the cream. I boiled what I believe was about 2 cups of shelled edamame (using a Japanese rice measure probably more like 2.5 cups) in lightly salted water.

I ground the edamame in a food processor (a small one which is an attachment to a multipurpose hand mixer) in small batches with some of the sugar a little bit of milk.

If I remember correctly, it was about 2 cups edamame, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup cream, and 1.5-2 cups milk. Due to the density change from ground edamame and dissolved sugar, I think this made about 4.5-5 cups liquid which is about right for my 6 cup ice cream machine after expansion.

The flavor was pretty nice, especially when drizzled with kuromitsu. I've found an edamame gelato at a gelato shop in Japan before but mine was more smooth; I had ground the edamame down to a find paste; they mixed in some whole edamame I think.

I'll try to make it again so I can offer more precise guidance.

Edit: changed description of zunda

Edited April 21, 2005 by JasonTrue (log)

[Akiko]

Sorry I haven't replied to this sooner. To be honest, it completely slipped my mind that I'd posted it 

This is the recipe.

Hope it's not too late!

Sackville, I tried it, this is lovely. There are probably a million versions on this you could do -

stir fry in yuzu pepper paste for a different Japanese take.

stir fry in ground fennel, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin for an indian version

stir fry in mexican oregano, bit of mexican chocolate powder and some ancho chili powder for a mexican version.

you get the idea!

Edited April 21, 2005 by Akiko (log)

[Ohba]

If you've got growing space, you could try cultivating your own. My wife got ordinary soybeans, soaked them overnight and planted them out. They're ready to go in 2-3 months.

They seem to be quite trendy in Hong Kong; that is, reviews of Japanese restaurants invariably seem to mention how the edamame tasted. I can't really see why it would be worth spilling ink on describing the quality or succulence of boiled, salted beans as prepared by a restaurant. You might as well rate the steamed rice.

I have been served them a couple of times in Chinese restaurants as an appetizer, usually soaked in rice wine and with pepper and maybe a couple of other flavours added. Far better just salted - the wine doesn't work as far as I'm concerned.

[helenas]

Inspired by this thread i made stir-fried edamame with yuzu kosho and pan roasted scallops.

today i whipped sort of pesto with a rest of the edamame bag: egg yolk with beans then yuzu kosho and olive oil.

The pesto came out so delicious but soba-pesto thing was on a gloppy side - next time i'll just puree beans and stir in yuzu paste and olive oil for a looser consistency.

[torakris]

It has been a while since I took this picture so I can't remember the exact name but this bread was called something like zunda milk bread. Zunda is slightly sweetened ground up edamame. This was really a wonderful tasting bread.

[djyee100]

Interesting thread! I'm glad I got to read it. (Better late than never?)

My CSA was delivering fresh edamame for a while, and I submitted this recipe for their newsletter:

Spicy Edamame with Onions

1 bunch edamame, approx 1/2 lb beans in pods

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups thinly sliced white or red onion

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 or 2 jalapeno chiles, seeds and veins removed, cut into thin strips

2 tablespoons cilantro, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

Strip pods off stems and boil in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. Remove beans from pods, discard pods, and reserve beans.

Heat oil in a skillet. Add the onion, garlic, and chiles. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook over medium-low heat without browning until onion is translucent and very soft. Add a little more water if necessary so the onion doesn't stick. Then stir in the beans and cilantro, and let everything cook for another minute or so. Taste for seasoning, and add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt or more if you like. Serve warm or at room temperature.

[nakedsushi]

I first had this delicious edamame appetizer in a restaurant near Berkeley campus and tried to recreate it myself with some success.

Stir fried unshelled edamame

For the sauce, I mixed together: soy sauce, grated ginger, chopped garlic, and sometimes, chili paste (siracha works as well)

I usually use frozen unshelled edamame for this. Throw it in a wok with some hot oil and stir fry till they're mostly done. Pour in the sauce, stir to coat, fry it till the outsides of the edamame are only slightly burned, and then they're ready.

I guess I could do this with shelled edamame, but it's easier to eat as finger food when they're in the shells.