Saya Ingen Shira-ae

Green Beans with a Tofu, Miso & Sesame Dressing.

Course Side Dish

Servings 2

Ingredients

300 grams green beans
100 grams silken tofu (pressed tofu is not suitable for this recipe)
50 grams sesame seeds , lightly toasted
2 tsp miso paste
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp mirin (rice wine)

Instructions

Prepare and cook the green beans as you like them. My preference is that they have a little crunch left in them.
Once cooked, drain and tip into a bowl of cold water to stop them cooking further.
In the meantime, grind the sesame seeds using a mortar and pestle, food processor or spice grinder.
Mix the ground sesame seeds with the miso paste, sugar, mirin and tofu. Silken tofu is so soft and moist it will easily break up and combine with the other ingredients.
Drain the beans well and mix with the dressing.

Notes

Shira-ae traditionally uses white miso paste, the mildest and sweetest miso. I prefer the saltier and more pungent flavour of red miso, so it’s the type I most commonly have in the fridge. Red miso gives my shira-ae dressing a darker colour than it would have if I used white miso.

Note: I have used Clearspring organic tofu, a long life firm silken tofu made with organic soy beans, spring water from Mount Fuji and nigari, a naturally occurring mineral rich coagulant derived from sea water. See below for my tofu lowdown.