Steamed Vegetables with Miso Sesame Sauce

Step 1

Gather all the ingredients for Miso Sesame Sauce.

Step 2

Grind 6 Tbsp sesame seeds with a pestle and mortar.

Step 3

Crush 2 cloves garlic.  Add 1 tsp sugar and 2 Tbsp miso and combine well.

Step 4

Add 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp sesame oil, 4 Tbsp mirin, and 2 Tbsp rice vinegar.  Mix well.

Step 5

Check the taste and add kosher salt if necessary.  I added ¼ tsp salt.

Step 6

Prepare all the ingredients. Make dashi; otherwise, use water instead.

Step 7

Cut the sweet potatoes into ¼ inch slices (uniform smaller pieces will cook faster than larger pieces) and soak in water to remove starch. Drain and set aside.

Step 8

Wash the gobo really well and peel it thinly with a peeler. Soak in water immediately to avoid color changes and change the water once. Drain and set aside.

Step 9

Discard the seeds from kabocha and slice thinly.

Step 10

You can either cut the carrot into ¼ inch slices or use a peeler to peel the carrot.

Step 11

Cut the corn on the cob into 1-inch thickness.

Step 12

Hold each asparagus, snap and discard the shorter bottom end. Cut the asparagus in half.

Step 13

Cut the broccoli and cauliflower into florets.

Step 14

Cut the napa cabbage into bite-size pieces.

Step 15

Pour the dashi in your steamer, cover the lid, and bring it to boil on medium-high heat. As a quick guide, dashi (or water) should be at least 1-2 inches to your steamer (pot). Insert the steamer basket. Make sure the surface of the dashi (or water) is not touching the basket. If it is, take out some water.

Step 16

When steam is coming out from the pot strongly, reduce the heat to medium and place the hard vegetables such as sweet potatoes and root vegetables. I also added kabocha squash and corn here as the rest of ingredients are fairly fast to cook. Cover the pot and set timer for 5 minutes.

Step 17

Then add “Flower” vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, and the bottom part of the napa cabbage. I also added carrot peels here. Set the timer for 3 minutes.

Step 18

Lastly, add the leafy part of the napa cabbage and mini tomatoes. Cook for 2 more minutes.

Step 19

Insert a bamboo skewer to check the doneness of denser vegetables. If it goes through, it’s ready to eat! Stop the steaming when the vegetables are still a bit crunchy since the residual heat will continue to cook the vegetables.

Step 20

Serve the steamed vegetables with Miso Sesame Sauce and enjoy! During the meal, you can continue to steam the vegetables. Keep an eye on the dashi/water inside the pot. Make sure you are not running out of dashi/water. If it’s too little, add more dashi/water.