Rice flour pancakes made
with grilled eggplant & shiso stock

by Dick Middelweerd
De Treeswijkhoeve, The Netherlands
 

RICE FLOUR PANCAKES
125ml milk
50g rice flour
2 eggs
2 tbsp soybean oil

JAPANESE ROUND GRAIN RICE
100g Japanese round grain rice
170ml water
8g Mirin
10g rice vinegar

VEGETABLE FILLING FOR THE PANCAKES
4 green shiso leaves
20g beansprouts
20g snow peas
20g white part of the leek
10g shiso vinegar
4ml soy sauce

MISO GLAZE
60g shiro miso
30ml water
18g Mirin
6g finely cut ginger
12g shiso vinegar

GRILLED EGGPLANT
1 eggplant
1 tbsp of soybean oil

EGGPLANT MISO CREAM
300g eggplant
2L water
5g fleur de sel
14g shiro miso

SHISO STOCK
330ml water
26g green shiso leaves
12g soy sauce
26g shiso vinegar
5g potato starch
8g water

OIL OF GREEN SHISO LEAVES
125g green shiso leaves
300g soybean oil

MARINATED DAIKON CUBES
25g daikon
25ml rice vinegar

PUFFED WHITE RICE
50g wild rice
500ml soybean oil
2g fine sea salt
 

1 — RICE FLOUR PANCAKES
Mix the eggs and milk in a mixing bowl. Use a hand blender to mix the rice flour into the milk mixture in three lots. Make sure there are no lumps in the batter. Heat a small frying pan and grease it with soybean oil. Pour a little batter in and make a turning movement with the pan, to spread the batter thinly. Cook the pancakes until they are golden brown on one side, then remove carefully from the frying pan.

2 — JAPANESE ROUND GRAIN RICE (If you have a rice cooker, please follow the device instructions. There is no tastier rice than from a rice cooker).
Rinse the rice for 20 minutes in plenty of fresh water. Refresh the water every five minutes so that the starch is well-removed from the rice. Cook the rice slowly in the weighed amount of water. Lower the heat slightly and leave the rice to cook for 12 minutes. Stir the rice as little as possible as it damages the rice grain and disturbs the cooking process. After 12 minutes, the heat must be turned off and the rice must continue to cook in a covered pan for 20 minutes. When the rice is finished cooking, gently stir in the Mirin and the Japanese rice vinegar.

3 — VEGETABLE FILLING FOR THE PANCAKES
Cut the vegetables into thin slices. Fry them slowly in a frying pan with a little oil. Add the soy and shiso vinegar to the vegetables.

4 — MISO GLAZE
Mix all the ingredients together until well-blended.

5 — GRILLED EGGPLANT
Peel the eggplant and cut it into the desired portions. Smear a small amount of soybean oil on the cut eggplant. Grill the eggplant golden brown on all sides on a not-too-hot barbecue. Check if done. This will depend on how big the slices are. If not fully cooked, you can finish it in kitchen foil. Brush the grilled eggplant with the miso glaze you prepared earlier.

6 — EGGPLANT MISO CREAM
Peel the eggplants and cut into big pieces. Put them into a pan with the water and sea salt. Boil until fully cooked, about 20 minutes. Pour the eggplants on a colander and leave them to drain for 5 minutes to get rid of all the cooking water. Puree the eggplants together with the miso in a food processor or blender and then rub them through a fine sieve.

7 — SHISO STOCK
Boil the water, soy sauce, and shiso vinegar, then add the shiso leaves. Cover the pan with foil and allow the leaves to infuse for 7 minutes. Remove the leaves, reserving the stock. Mix the starch with the water to make a thickening paste. Add it to the stock. Bring the stock to a boil while stirring with a whisk. You will notice that the stock binds nicely, which enhances the mouthfeel.

8 — OIL OF GREEN SHISO LEAVES
Cut the shiso leaves finely with a knife and put them into a litre measure. After that, heat the soybean oil to 90°C (194°F). Add it to the shiso leaves. Next, mix it with an immersion blender for about 4 minutes, until all the chlorophyl is extracted from the leaves. This will give the oil a beautiful green colour. Pour the oil through a coffee filter and refrigerate as soon as possible.

9 — MARINATED DAIKON CUBES
Peel the daikon and cut it into same-sized cubes. Pour over the rice vinegar and marinate for an hour. Also cut some very thin daikon strips and put them in the rice vinegar. We will use them to wrap the vegetable bouquets.

10 — PUFFED WILD RICE
Heat the soybean oil to 200°C (392°F). Put half of the wild rice in a sieve. Next, place the colander in the hot oil. The rice will begin to puff. Remove the rice from the oil and place it on greaseproof kitchen paper. Sprinkle some fine sea salt on the rice while it is still warm.

SERVING INSTRUCTIONS
Put a thin slice of marinated daikon on a chopping board and place some mizuna, enoki mushrooms and beansprouts on it. Wrap it all together into a vegetable bouquet. Place a pancake fried side down and put a green shiso leaf on it. Place some prepared, hot rice and some of the fried vegetables on top. Roll the filled pancake up and cut off the ends.