Nice to see yuzu
Niche condiment chat
Thanks so much for all your lovely messages about Hannah’s email and our buns last week, we feel #blessed.
For those of your who have ever listened to The Cookbook Circle podcast, you will not be surprised to know that I, once again, am talking about something Japanese.
Yuzu kosho is one of my very favourite Japanese condiments, up there with Kewpie. I am hoping to convince you that it’s worth picking up a jar and joining me on my yuzu kosho-enhanced life.
Yuzu kosho (ゆずこしょう) is a Japanese condiment made from the zest of yuzu - a citrus fruit that is somewhere between a grapefruit and an orange -mixed with chillis. It takes the form of a grainy paste that you keep in the fridge once the jar is opened. You absolutely do not need a lot to impact your dishes and impress yourself and others too. It’s citrusy, spicy, salty and savoury.
Here’s the type of thing you’re looking for in your Asian supermarket or online:
I know you’re thinking that I’m Ottolenghi-ing you right now and telling you about some random condiment that you’ll use once and then forget about, but no no no no, stick with me here, I’ve got you. There’s not a huge amount of recipes featuring yuzu kosho that I’ve found in English but let me tell you some easy peasy yuzu squeasy ways that you can incorporate it into your cooking.
My favourite way to use it is in the the best basic bitch brunch, avocado toast. Add a tiny bit when you are mashing your avocados, reducing the salt you’d usually add because the yuzu kosho is a little salty. Put it on your toast as usual and get ready to have your mind blown. My mouth is watering just writing this.
Less is always more with our funky green yuzu friend, so start with adding a small bit (I’m talking like 1/8th teaspoon per person) to food where you’d usually add lemon for that acid tang.
If you eat meat, cut through the richness by mixing yuzu kosho into mayo or other dips. Yuzu kosho mayo on a pulled pork sandwich or a yogurty yuzu kosho dip for fried chicken incredible.
Make a chicken marinade using 1 part yuzu kosho to two parts sesame oil and two parts soy sauce, alongside a clove of garlic.
Add it to your next vegetable soup or stock to add depth and spice.
The next time you make tuna mayo for pasta or sandwiches, add some yuzu kosho. Really it will work with any fish, even a sushi or sashimi.
It tastes amazing with tofu. I had my first run in with yuzu kosho at an amazing tofu restaurant in Kumamoto called Tofu Kissho who served their tofu with yuzu kosho and other yuzu based sauces. Mix your yuzu kosho with some olive oil and honey and pour over tofu.
A yuzu kosho spicy margarita?! YES!
I promise you from the bottom of my Japanese-food loving heart, it’ll change you.
Of course, very important to back up my hypothesis that you’d love to cook with yuzu kosho with a few ideas from bigger and better chefs than me:
Alison Roman’s peppers with yuzu kosho (from Nothing Fancy)
Sonoko Sakai makes a yuzu kosho maple syrup with one teaspoon of yuzu kosho, a quarter of a cup of maple syrup and two tablespoons of soy sauce. (I’m gonna make this tomorrow).
I will add any more ideas I think of in the coming days to the comments of this post, but please also share your recipes, thoughts, ideas and worries about yuzu kosho and we can be each other’s guide on this journey…
See yuzu later!
Victoria x
