Almost six months ago, I made doubanjiang, and if you're curious what it is, please check my earlier post, and here.

Since it has passed six months, I opened the lit of the jar and checked it. I tasted it a bit and thought the fermentation was good enough. Although I had added lots of red pepper, it tasted very mild. I gave half of it to my daughter, and my son-in-law loved it, so I guess it's not so bad.

When I opened the jar, there was no mold! I was thrilled to think about how I should use it in my cooking.

First, I made up my mind to make 肉味噌 (niku miso) using my homemade doubanjiang. Niku miso is made with miso, doubanjiang, minced meat, sugar, garlic, ginger, oyster sauce, and Chinese soup stock. I like eating udon (a kind of Japanese noodle) with it.

Surprisingly, I can still harvest strawberries. On that day, I picked some lettuce with them.

I prepared my homegrown fresh lettuce, celery, and sisho ( a type of Japanese herb) as topping for the udon.

I put an onsen tamago (Japanese style soft boiled egg) on the very top.

Ta-da! It's ready to eat!

(5071)