Cooking Japanese in Jamaica - Delectable dishes with ingen

Ai Irisawa-Coney, Contributor

Summer is fast approaching and I see French beans/string beans in abundance in the supermarkets. They are fresh, cheap, very tasty, and healthy. I use them a lot in my cooking. Today, I would like to share some easy ways to cook French beans so you can invite your friends and family over for drinks with these great, simple Japanese dishes on hot summer nights.

When I buy French beans, I go for the ones that are small, dark green and thin. These are the young ones, but they are soft and sweet. The others that are thicker and lighter in colour, tend to be stringy, tough and not so sweet because they are overgrown and full of fibre. Avoid those. Always buy fresh beans and enjoy succulent texture and flavour the frozen or tinned ones do not have.

There are thousands of ways to cook ingen (French beans in Japanese). They are great for breakfast, snacks and, of course, lunch and dinner.

These recipes are easy and fun! Give them a try.

Ingen no gomaae

Cooking time 10 minutes

Serves 2 persons

Ingredients

200gm French beans

2tbsp crushed sesame seeds

1¹/²tbsp soy sauce (Kikkoman brand recommended)

1tbsp of sesame oil (optional)

Salt

Cooking Instructions

1) Wash beans, remove the ends and cut them one inch long. Boil them in salt water until soft.

2) Drain and leave them in water with ice cubes to stop them from cooking and to keep them crunchy.

3) Mix them with soy sauce, crushed sesame seeds and sesame oil (optional).

Ingen no bacon maki

(great for beer and white wine)

Cooking time 10 minutes

Serves 2 persons

Ingredients

20 French beans

5 strips of bacon

1tsp butter

¹/²tsp soy sauce (Kikkoman brand recommended)

Pinch of salt and pepper

10 toothpicks

Cooking Instructions

1) Wash beans thoroughly and remove both ends.

2) Boil them in salt water and drain. Leave them in water with ice cubes to stop them from cooking and to keep crunchy.

3) Cut bacon into half.

4) Take two stalks of beans and wrap them with half a bacon strip and use a toothpick to keep them together. Repeat until you have 10 pieces.

5) Heat frying pan and add butter. When butter melts, add bacon-wrapped French beans and soy sauce, then cook until the bacon is crispy, but not dry.

Ingen no tempura

Cooking time 10 minutes

Serves two persons

Ingredients

200gm French beans

150gm flour

1 egg

100cc water

Cooking oil

Pinch of salt

Cooking Instructions

1) Wash beans thoroughly and remove both ends.

2) Mix flour with egg and water.

3) Add uncooked French beans into the mix. Take three to four beans at a time and add them to hot oil to be deep-fried at 180C for a few minutes.

4) When ready, sprinkle with a pinch of salt to taste. You can use mayonnaise or another dip if you wish.

Itadakimasu.

Ai Irisawa-Coney managed a Japanese restaurant in Soho, London. She is also a founder of Epiphany Media Solutions and ACI Consultancy.