Kimpira & 7-spice blend

Jun 2, 2019 | Recipes, Summer

Classic KIMPIRA, stir-fried slivers of carrot and gobō (burdock root) finished with 7-spice blend and toasted sesame seeds.

Kimpira & 7-spice blend (shichimi tōgarashi)

金平・七味唐辛子

The original seventeenth century dish called kimpira was made from finely whittled gobō (burdock root), and finished with a blend of incendiary spices; the dish was named after a folk-hero, celebrated for his fiery determination. Today, kimpira-style dishes are regularly made from a wide variety of vegetables, especially roots such as lotus, carrot, and daikon, and tubers such as yams, sweet potatoes, yellow and white potatoes. Peppers – green, red, yellow – are also good candidates.

Daikon and potato peels are particularly well suited to cooking kimpira-style. Indeed, what many people would call kitchen scraps – the peels and trimmings from fruits and vegetables used to make other dishes – can be put to fine use prepared as kimpira. See what might be languishing at the back of your vegetable bin.

top row: black sesame, chinpi (dried mikan or yuzu peel), asa no mi (flax seed), keshi no mi (white poppy seed)

bottom row: aka tōgarashi (red chili pepper), sanshō, ao nori (sea herb)

The blend of seven spices known as shichimi or shichimi tōgarashi can be used as a garnish or finishing touch for many dishes.

Sprinkle on freshly fried potato and/or root vegetable chips… kara agé fried chicken nuggets… mounds of grated daikon radish… or to spice up mayonnaise or salad dressings.

Download Recipe

KIMPIRA variations on a theme

 

Cooking Cloth

Cooking Cloth

Cloth is the work horse, and often unsung hero, of the kitchen. In the Japanese kitchen, cloth enables the cook to perform a wide range of tasks such as lining steamers, draining and straining, enveloping, and shaping.Cloths known as fukashi nuno 蒸し布 are used to line...

An Edible Ode to Winter: Sleet & Snow

An Edible Ode to Winter: Sleet & Snow

Winter weather reports predicting SLEET (mizoré), are rarely welcome news. After all, the bone-chilling mixture of rain and snow is messy under foot and creates hazerdous road conditions. But when  mizoré appears on a menu, it conjurs up tasty fare. Snowy white daikon...

Year-Passing SOBA; New Year-Welcoming UDON

Year-Passing SOBA; New Year-Welcoming UDON

Year-Passing SOBA... New Year-Welcoming UDON The Japanese bid farewell to the current year by slurping l-o-n-g noodles at midnight. Though most areas of Japan eat soba, calling the noodles toshi koshi (year-passing), those hailing from the Sanuki region eat udon....

Thanksgiving Rituals in Japan

Thanksgiving Rituals in Japan

In Japan, rice is more than just sustenance. It holds symbolic and sacred significance. Rice yield was also a measurement of wealth during the Edo Period (1603-1868). Early records of rituals celebrating the harvest and entreating future prosperity, called nii namé...

Recent Posts & Projects