Still on a Japanese food bend, I tried to recreate a delicious dip I had in a Japanese fusion restaurant called Shokan in Tokyo. Served with a selection of raw vegetables, the dip was so good. The earthiness of the miso blended well with the freshness of the tomato paste; the saltiness of the miso went so well with the sweetish tomato paste. It was a marriage waiting to happen.
I tried to get the recipe for the dip from the owner /head chef of the restaurant -- a friendly guy who knew just enough English to converse with us -- but he subtly evaded my prodding again and again. The dip was his own concoction and I guess he wasn't going to pass it out to just anyone.
No matter. I remembered the taste and I thought that I should be able to come up with something similar, if not identical. Half the fun is in the trying right? (WELL, not if you read my last post about Spekkoek!)
First, I had to determine the right ratio between the tomato paste and miso. 2:1 was what I settled upon. (You may have to set your own ratio depending on the type of miso you use and how strong it is).
What else should I use?
The tomato and miso alone tasted yummy but there was still something missing. It wasn't the same as the one I had at Shokan. I tried adding a few different ingredients: minced ginger (not bad), pepper (not great), vinegar (just a bit is actually quite nice), japanese mayonnaise (oh, so yum: with less tomato paste).
Ok, so I may not have cracked the code and replicated the dip at Shokan exactly but who cares? I still have a very tasty miso sip ... actually I have several and that's good enough for me.
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