4 easy side dishes with Shishito Peppers 〜ししとう副菜四種〜 | easy Japanese home cooking recipe

Welcome to Taichu's Kitchen. Today I'm going to show you 4 side dishes using shishito peppers. So I decided to make this because I was able to find shishito peppers on the grocery store even in Germany. So for those of you who don't know, shishito peppers are a type of Japanese peppers. They look like these, a little longer and a little thicker than your finger. These are just kind of small peppers compared to like bell peppers and the flavor is a little bit similar. I think it has more strong flavor, a little more bitterness and depending on the kind, a little bit more spicier. And therefore there are a lot of kids who don't like them in Japan. I think it's more for an adult. This is also a very seasonal thing. You almost always only see it in summer. And it's also a very typical thing if you go to Yakitori. So depending on where you live, it might be a bit difficult to get all these. But because this only grows in summer, this has got a lot of the nutrients that you need to get through this hot summer. It's a Western philosophy that the food that grows in that season contains the nutrients that you need for that season. So this is just a great summer vegetable. Today I'm showing four different kinds of side dishes. One seared and marinated, one just simply grilled, just the same way they serve in a Yakitori restaurant. And third, filled with meat filling, and fourth, stir-fried with bacon and garlic. They're all very easy and has no special ingredients. So when you can get hold of these shishito peppers, I hope you give this a try yourself. Then, let's get started. Here are the ingredients for four side dishes using shishito peppers. So as I explained in the beginning, these are about the size of the shishito peppers. And when you buy them, try to get some fresh ones. So to tell how fresh they are, you want to look at the stem. So if the stem looks fresh like this, these are fresh. As they get older, then the stem kind of starts shrinking. So like this in the photo. So you want to try to avoid those. Even though with the shishito peppers, the flavor doesn't change that much, but it's always better to get fresh ones. And as other ingredients, for the grilled marinated shishito, I have as a topping sesame seeds. And for the grilled shishito, I have ginger for condiments. And filled shishito, I have ground pork meat. You can make it also with beef or chicken. And a stalk of scallion. And then for the stir-fried shishito, I have garlic and bacon. You can also make this vegetarian by taking out the bacon. Then I have sesame oil. I prefer using sesame oil, but you can use any other frying oil. And then for the seasoning, I have here rice wine vinegar. If you don't have this, you can use just regular white wine vinegar or apple vinegar instead. Then soy sauce, sugar, and salt and pepper. And then for the meat filling, I'm also going to use a little bit of starch. Then let's prepare the shishito. So for the first dish of grilled marinated shishito, I'm going to use about 6 or 7 shishito. And I don't really have to do anything, but I'm just going to poke a hole so they don't pop when you fry them. So make sure you do that, otherwise it can splash you and burn you. Then for the grilled shishito, I'm going to use some skewers. And then put them in a skewer. You don't necessarily have to do this, but it just looks nice and it'll be easier to just kind of turn over when you grill them. And also by doing this, you poke a hole so that they don't pop either. So if you're not putting them in a skewer like this, make sure you poke a hole like I did with the other ones. So that's that. For the next dish of grilled shishito, I'm going to use kind of the bigger ones, a little wider ones. Then what I'm going to do is I'm just going to push this with your thumb like this inside. And then you want to spin it like this. Then you take it out. And then you take it out on a dish like this or whatever. And then you have a whole shishito to fill with meat filling. And so you just kind of push this in here like this, and then you turn. And just like this. Oops. Yeah, that happens. If that happens, don't panic. Just use a small spoon like this and then just take it out like that. So that's done for that. Then for the last dish of stir-fried shishito, I'm actually going to just kind of cut in half. And you can take the inside out like this. And then I'm going to make a strip like this. This one's smaller, so I'm just going to cut it in half like this. In half, and then take the inside out. Yeah, just in half like this. And then also just cut it in half. Then with that, I'm finished with preparing the shishito peppers. Then as the next thing, let's prepare the rest of the ingredients. So as the first thing, I'm going to grate ginger. Just probably need just like a piece like this. Then I'm going to peel off the skin. Then using a grater, I'm going to grate this. Then that's finished. Then as the next thing, I'm going to cut up the garlic. So take the bottom off and then don't cut it all the way so that you can peel off like this. This is a kind of easy way to peel this. Then I'm going to smash this with the palm of my hand. And then I'm going to cut this into pieces. Just like that. I'm going to cut up the scallion. I'm going to kind of make a slit through here and just also like here. Then I'm going to cut into medium-sized pieces like this. And then as the last thing, I'm going to cut up the bacon. Just in strips like this. Then with that, all the ingredients are prepared. Then as the next thing, we're going to make the sauce for the marinade. So in a pot, I'm going to put 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of water, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and also 1 teaspoon of vinegar. Then I'm going to turn the heat to medium and let the sugar dissolve. So you don't really need to bring this to boil. As soon as the sugar dissolves, it's finished. Turn the heat off. Then I'm going to put it aside as a marinade. Then I'm going to put it to the side. Let's fry the shishito peppers. I'm going to fry this in a pot. I personally often use a pot for frying instead of a frying pan because the depth of the pot, the oil doesn't splash that much and I don't have to clean that much. But either a pot or a frying pan, whatever you have is fine. Then I'm going to turn the heat to medium. Then here I'm going to put in some sesame oil or any frying oil you have, just about 2 teaspoons or so. Then here we're going to put in the shishito peppers. Then we're going to kind of turn around the shishito peppers and coat it with the oil. We're going to kind of turn it around so that it gets cooked evenly. So as you can see, after once it's got cooked all the way around like this, we're going to turn the heat off. Then here I'm going to put in the sauce that we just made. Then we're going to put this in a container with the sauce, of course, and then with that, this is pretty much finished. Then we're going to let it cool and put it in the fridge. You can save this for 2-3 days or so in the fridge and then you can use this as a side dish. So as the next thing, let's grill the shishito peppers. So if you have a charcoal grill, that would be perfect, that would be better, but we can also just do it with a regular frying pan like this. Then we're going to turn the heat to medium and heat up the frying pan first. So once the frying pan has been heated, we're going to put in the shishito peppers. Then we're going to put in here about a teaspoon of water on the side, just like this. Then we're going to put on the lid and we're going to kind of little steam it to speed up the process. So after about 2 minutes or so of grilling, I'm going to turn it to the other side. Oh yeah, that's looking really good. Then we're going to grill on this side as well. So also after another 2 minutes or so, let's look at the other side. Oh yeah, this is looking good. Then there's a finish for that. I'm going to turn the heat off. Then we're going to put the grated ginger on the side. Then with that, this is finished. Next we're going to make the filled shishito. As the first thing, we're going to make the meat filling, so I'm going to put in here first the meat, then I cut up scallion, then also here just a bit of ginger, just kind of give it a little bit of a kick to it. Then we're going to mix this up with your hands. By the way, scallion and ginger have kind of the effect to kind of get rid of the stinkiness or the bloodiness of the meat. Then I'm going to season it with salt and pepper. First just a pinch of salt, just like that much, and also the same amount of black pepper. Then here I'm going to put in about a tablespoon of starch. I have here tapioca starch, but whatever starch you have is fine, potato starch or cornstarch. Then we're going to mix this in. Then that's done for that. Now let's put it in the shishito peppers. Then just going to stick it in like this with your finger. So this is finished, perfectly done. Then we're going to fry this. So then using a frying pan, I'm going to turn the heat to medium and heat the frying pan. So once the frying pan's been heated, I'm going to put in some sesame oil or any frying oil you have. Just about a teaspoon or so. Then we're going to put in the filled shishito. Then we're going to put the lid and grill this for about two minutes or so. So after about two minutes or so, then we're going to turn to the other side. Oh yeah, this is looking really good. Then we're going to put the lid on again and heat this for another two minutes or so. So after about another two minutes or so, oh yeah, this is looking good. We're going to turn to the other side one more time. If it's possible, try to grill the side that hasn't gotten cooked yet. So this is looking good. I'm going to turn the heat to low, and then I'm going to put in the seasoning. In here, I'm going to put in about 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. I'm going to turn the lid on and cook like this, and kind of steam it like this for about a minute or so. So after another minute, oh yeah, this is looking really good. We're going to cut up the shishito with the sauce like this, and I'm going to turn the heat off, and let's put this on a plate. Now we can put in the sauce. Okay with that, filled shishito peppers is finished. So as the last thing, let's make the stir-fried shishito peppers. For that, I prefer using a pot like this, but with a frying pan, whatever you have is fine. I'm going to turn the heat to medium, and heat up the pot. In here, I'm going to put in some sesame oil, or any frying oil you have. Just about 1 to 2 teaspoons. Then here, I'm going to put in all the bacon. So once the bacon has been cooked thoroughly, then here we're going to put in the garlic. I'm also going to cook the garlic like this. Make sure you keep stirring, and after 30 seconds or so, garlic has been cooked as well. Then we're going to put in the cut up shishito peppers. Then we're going to season this with salt and pepper, just about a pinch or so, just like this. And also a little bit of black pepper. Then stir it just around. Then at the very end, just about a teaspoon of soy sauce. This can also help steam the vegetable. So then after frying for another minute or so, this is finished. I'm going to turn the heat off, and let's put this on a plate. Then with that, this is finished. And to serve, let's put the marinade in the plate, and then the sauce as well. And then as a condiment, I'm going to put some roasted sesame seeds on the top. Then with that, this is also finished. Then this is finished for all four dishes. Then let's eat. Oh, these all look so delicious. Now let's eat. Itadakimasu! Okay, now let's start with this marinade. You can eat it with your finger like this, but you don't want to eat this top part. So you're going to put it in a mouth like this, and take out this bottom part. Mmm, this is really good. This kind of sweet-sour soy sauce marinade is just really perfect, especially for this hot summer. It's going to help you freshen up. Let's have this filled shishito. Itadakimasu. Mmm. So if you haven't noticed, this is the same thing as the teriyaki sauce. You don't really taste the shishito that much, but a little bit of a hint of that bitterness to it just kind of makes it fresh. It's just the perfect flavor for the rice. Let's stir-fry shishito. Itadakimasu. Mmm. The smokiness and the oiliness of the bacon just goes perfectly with the bitterness of the shishito peppers. So delicious. So lastly, simply grill the shishito. This isn't complete without the soy sauce. I'm just going to distribute the ginger, and pour the soy sauce all over. How you want to eat it, it's very similar to the marinade. You don't need the stem part here. Mmm. Oh, such a perfect dish. So with this, you can really enjoy the flavor of the shishito. And the soy sauce and the ginger just kind of bring out the flavor. Really delicious. Oh, that was so delicious. Gochisosamadeshita. Oh, they were all so savory. So as you saw, making each of these side dishes are not difficult at all. Each probably takes no more than like 15 minutes or so. So I hope you give this a try yourself when you can get hold of shishito peppers. If you found this video helpful, I'd love it if you could hit the like button for me, so this video can be spread to more people. And if you have any requests, or any questions, or any feedback, please feel free to write anything in the comments below. Otherwise, I look forward to seeing you in the next video. Bye.