Last night we hosted Brian, Gary and Blee for a traditional Japanese meal: Ichiju Sansai (roughly translated ‘soup plus three’) where five separate bowls/plates are set before the diner. Typically, these are: rice (on the left); soup on the right; a simmered dish to the back far left; grilled fish on the dish to the back far right; and, one in the centre for boiled greens.
Being an atypical pair of lads, in our version we served:
Appetizer
- Cucumber cups with wasabi mayonnaise
Main
- Soy-cured salmon, with asian pear and cilantro creme fraiche;
- Sesame green beans;
- Black sesame udon with pork and king oyster mushrooms;
- Deep-fried eggplant with sweet miso paste; and,
- Salmon roe and smoked salmon rice sushi
Dessert
- Matcha macaroons with black sesame buttercream (homemade by G); and,
- Dessert sushi (coconut sushi rice with mango or kiwi centres rolled in bitter chocolate) (homemade by Blee)
On to the food!…
3) cilantro and soy sauce; 4) ginger and Thai chili and blend to make a marindade
5) & 6) add this marinade to the salmon and let sit in the fridge for 20 hours
7 & 8) 20 hours later you’ll have this beautiful piece of fish that you simply carve
9) the creme fraiche is made from cilantro, lime juice and zest, soy sauce and a pinch of salt
10) FABULOUS!
11) for the eggplants you need, light and dark miso, mirin, sake and egg yolks; 12) mix and heat
13) it’s done; 14) ready the 1 inch eggplant slices
15) deep fry for about 5 minutes and the broil another five; 16) add a dab of miso and brown
17) matcha power; 18) the roasted and ground black sesames for the buttercream
19) sift matcha with icing sugar; 20) grind the toasted hazelnuts
21) the power, cream of tarter, sugar and vanilla; 22) fold this into the egg whites
23) add the nuts and mix; 24) you want a molten lava sort of texture
25) more egg whites for the buttercream; 26) add in butter and sesame paste
27) this was TOO DIE FOR good; 28) pipe
29) perfect macaroon tops and bottoms with perfect foots; 30) (sign) so yummy with Blee’s mango dessert sushi
31) the picture says it all
32) use baby cucumber and hollow them out while preparing a washi mayo
33) pipe in the mayo and add some salmon roe (NOTE: do pipe it in … I was in a rush and simply spooned it)
34) the udon noddles get cooked; 35) pork and king oyster mushrooms get pan fried before adding in the noodles, dashi, soy and butter
36) the final meal should look like this
37) ikura and smoked salmon sushi rice; 38) Gary, Brian and Blee giving me their geisha smiles 
AppsScraps 
very nice. but presentation/plating could use a little touch up! And the soy cured salmon, where did you get that idea from? it’s 5 stars B!
wow, that looks amazing! i haven’t had good japanese in a while… definitely makes me want to get some udon and sushi!
That is a fabulous feast and the surroundings are excellent!!