Shiso, funny

Shiso, prepared for ochazuke. Photographs ©2014, Lori Korleski Richardson

Looking for ways to use the bunch of shiso I picked up at the farmers market last week, I ran across an ifood.tv video series called "Cooking with Dog" (no, dog is not one of the ingredients).

As the cook shows how to prepare a recipe for ochazuke featuring salmon and shiso, her trusty and well-coiffed gray miniature poodle sits on the counter, or perhaps a stool, next to her, very nicely behaved.

It must be seen to be believed. Click here to view. As a bonus, you will learn how to prepare a recipe. Bon(e) appétit!

Ochazuke
Serves 1

This is a good way to use leftover rice. It's said to be especially good after a night of drinking.

Ingredients

For first bowl
1.75 ounces salted salmon fillet
1 tablespoon sake
Toasted white sesame seeds
Hojicha or other type of Japanese green tea
Scoop of steamed rice
Toasted nori seaweed, sliced or chopped
1 tablespoon salmon roe marinated with soy sauce based seasoning
1 tablespoon cilantro (Chinese parsley)
Wasabi
Salt

For second bowl 
Scoop of steamed rice
1 pickled Japanese plum, stone removed and flesh chopped finely
1 tablespoon shirasu whitebait
2 tablespoon chopped takana-zuke - pickled takana greens
2 shiso leaves, stems removed, cut in half vertically, then sliced thinly at an angle horizontally
Hojicha  or other type of Japanese green tea
Toasted white sesame seeds

Topping Suggestions
Toasted tarako - salted Alaska pollock roe
Salted kombu seaweed
Ika Shiokara - salted semi-fermented squid
Tsukemono - Japanese pickles
Arare - bite-sized Japanese rice crackers

Instructions

Put the salmon fillet in a bowl and sprinkle the sake over both sides.
Heat a pan over medium heat. Pat the salmon dry with a paper towel. Sauté until brown, removing excess fat with a dry paper towel, and flip it over. Reduce the heat and sauté the other side. When both the sides are browned remove the fillet. Cool.
Toast the sesame seeds in the pan and put it in a mortar. Grind the sesame seeds.
Make the green tea in hot boiling water.
Place the steamed rice in a bowl and sprinkle the nori.
Remove the skin and the bones from the fillet. Roughly crumble the fillet and place the salmon on top of the rice along with the roe and cilantro. Add tea. Sprinkle on the sesame seeds and add a dab of wasabi. Serve.
For the second bowl, place the steamed rice in a bowl and sprinkle the nori. Make another cup of green tea. On top of the nori, put the plum, whitebait, takana and shiso. Pour the tea over and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve.

Use other toppings as desired.