Welcome to our new and improved Peko Peko blog!
We are so excited to bring you loads of amazing food information, recipes, and sneak previews into the forthcoming release of our exciting new 2023 product range.
From March 3, 2023, we will be travelling to Japan to research and discover new ingredients and recipes that we can share with all our loyal customers. We will be visiting the International Foodex Trade fair in Tokyo, Miso factories nationwide as well as lots and discussions with chefs and restaurant owners to uncover loads secret ingredients as well as cutting edge cooking methods.
Part of our mission is to bring more Umami to the table and into our products! As Peko Peko does not use ANY artificial flavours or instant sauces, using Umami is how we create our dishes with so it’s imperative that we keep moving forward against the tide of commercial and often unhealthy products and keep on creating Umami for the love of health and wellbeing!
So, what is Umami you may ask? We all know the basic tastes of sweet, sour, salty, and savoury but back in the early 1900s, a Japanese scientist by the name of Kikunae Ikeda started to consider the possibility of a fifth basic taste. Ikeda discovered the fifth flavour after evaluating numerous items that didn’t quite fit into the previous four categories. He called it Umami うま味 .
It’s a little hard to describe, but when you taste it, you know how distinct it is. Umami is the kind of flavour that’s found in foods like meats, cheeses, mushrooms and tomatoes. It means the “essence of deliciousness” in Japanese, and its taste is often described as the meaty, savoury deliciousness that deepens flavour.
The Umami flavour has been commercialised and many companies use this in the form of MSG. You may notice that many sauces, sushi vinegar and basically anything with strong flavours contains MSG otherwise known as flavour enhancer 621. Peko Peko’s commitment for the last 20 years is to avoid any MSG or artificial flavours in our products so it’s our commitment make sure our food is super tasty and healthy using only naturally occurring Umami flavours.
At home one of our main staples in creating a fabulous Umami packed meal is by our basic Umami chicken stock. From this we can create Umami packed curries, soups, risotto and basically anything that requires a stock. In this first blog I would love to share our delicious Umami packed miso soup made from our homemade Umami packed chicken stock. Many Japanese instant miso soup stocks are filled with MSG and is what we want to avoid!
Umami packed Chicken Stock and Miso Soup
Ingredients
1 x whole organic chicken
2 cups water
2 – 3 whole dried shiitake mushrooms (optional but adds more Umami)
1 x 10 cm piece kombu seaweed (optional but adds more Umami) and is also extremely high in iodine.
2 cups cut vegetables including carrot potato broccoli beans kale spinach or anything you have left over or anything in your garden.
2-3 tbs medium miso paste (preferably organic but at least with no added MSG)
1. In a pressure cooker place the chicken in 2 cups of water, shiitake mushrooms and kombu. Pressure cook for 30 minutes turning down to low after reaching the initial high steam
2. Remove chicken from the pressure cooker and once cool enough remove as much meat as possible. Also remove the shiitake and the Kombu. Set aside to slice later.
3. Place bones back into the pressure cooker and cook the bones on low for another 3-4 hours until the bones can crumble in your hands. You may have to add a bit more water at this point.
4. Remove the bones and you will be left with an incredibly delicious chicken stock filled with a depth of Umami like no other! You can store in the fridge for a up to a week or freeze.
Miso soup
1. Using 2 cups of stock add another 2 cups of water and bring to the boil.
2. Add hard vegetables and simmer until tender. Add other vegetables or greens that require less cooking and cook for a minute or 2.
3. Turn off the heat and add back some of your cooked chicken, sliced and add the sliced shiitake mushrooms and thinly sliced kombu. Dissolve miso in a ladle and add to the miso soup, tasting as you go along. If you feel like a stronger flavour add more!
4. Reheat again gently without boiling then serve into a big bowl!
This meal is packed with not only Umami but an incredible amount of nutrients, vitamins and minerals, collagen, and good probiotics for healthy gut health! Enjoy and stay tuned for our Japan adventures with pictures recipes and loads of fun information! Stay safe and healthy! Sam