Umeboshi Recipes

Ume and shiso chicken meatballs

There’s a world of magic in the shiso leaf. It adds its unique aroma and flavor to whatever’s prepared with it, and in the case of red shiso it can add a brilliant color as well.

The green shiso leaf is often served with sashimi, and my favorite last bite is wrapping a piece of maguro or buri and shredded daikon with a shiso leaf and dipping it in soy sauce. It’s a wonderful balance of flavors and textures. Salted and squeezed, the green shiso leaf is one of the primary ingredients in Kinzanji miso, the predecessor to the miso you know today and still a popular condiment in Japan.

The red shiso leaf can be massaged with salt and squeezed out to make a pickle condiment, or boiled in sugar water to make a brilliantly colored juice that is the ultimate summer drink.

Before the advent of flavored umeboshi, people purchased shiraboshi (ume salted to 20% salt and sun-dried) and stored them in a crock at home with water and red shiso. This reduced the salt content of the ume and added flavor and color. Red shiso is antimicrobial, protecting the crock from spoilage.

This recipe incorporates umeboshi paste and salted red shiso into chicken meatballs for an umami-packed treat. Since it’s ground, of course it would be great for a main dish, sandwich filling, or soup or pasta meatball – just make the shape you need.

Recipe

Ingredients
Ground chicken 150g
Lotus root 50g
Umeboshi paste (from a tube or 11% salt umeboshi chopped) 1T
Sake, soy sauce 1t each
Salted red shiso 5g
Roasted sesame with ume salt 1T
Sauce: Noodle soup liquid 50cc, ume paste 1-2t  

Directions
Finely chop lotus root and shiso. In a bowl, mix that with chicken, ume paste, sesame, sake and soy sauce. Add salt and pepper if desired.
Dampen your hands and form the meat into desired shape.
Heat oil in a frying pan and brown the outside of the patties. Then cover and cook over low heat.
Mix sauce ingredients and serve.

umeboshi pizza toast

Recipe

Ingredients
Umeboshi (we suggest our Inaka-zuke): 2
Cream cheese: 100 g (room temperature)
Bread: 2 pieces
Pizza sauce
Cheese for pizza: 100 g

Optional
Pepper slices
Onion slices
Ham slices or hot dog rounds
Mushroom slices

Directions
Remove umeboshi seeds, process to paste with a knife, and mix with cream cheese.
Prepare optional toppings.
Spread the pizza sauce on the bread then cream cheese mixture, then top with cheese.
Bake for 5-6 minutes until the pizza cheese melts.

Ume jako pasta

The sourness of umeboshi is a refreshing part of this pasta dish, which can be eaten hot or cold. If you can't find whitebait (called chirimen or jako in japanese), try topping with some parmesan cheese, herb salt, crumbled pita chips, or shredded fish of your choice. Yum!

Recipe

Ingredients
Ume jako pasta, 2 ppl
200g pasta
2-inch piece of kombu
4 shiso umeboshi
Green shiso
20g Dried whitebait
2T butter
Dash of soy sauce and sake

Directions
Soak kombu in 1/2C cold water overnight. Then bring to boil and remove kombu. (use of kombu dashi is optional)
Boil pasta. Reduce umeboshi to paste with knife. Slice shiso finely.
Add oil to frying pan, lightly fry whitebait. Remove to cool plate.
Add butter, soy sauce, sake, 1-2T kombu dashi to frying pan, add pasta and whitebait and mix. Finish with salt and pepper, garnish with shiso.

Umeshu chiffon cake

This is a chiffon cake with umeshu and umeshu ume added, so you can use your favorite recipe and modify as you like. Here's the basic idea:

Whip 4 egg yolks and 70g of sugar in a bowl until it turns a bit white.

In order, mix into the egg yolk mixture 60cc of salad oil, 1T vanilla extract, 30cc water, and 70cc umeshu.

Sieve 130g cake flour, 1t baking powder, and a pinch of salt, and mix into egg yolk mixture.

In a separate bowl, whip 7 egg whites and a pinch of salt until slightly bubbly, then add a pinch of sugar. Whip until 70% firm, add 60g sugar, and whip until standing in peaks.

Gently fold in the egg white mixture. Mix in 1.5 chopped umeshu ume and pour into 20cm diameter baking form. Sprinkle. 1.5 chopped umeshu ume on top.

Bake 40-45 minutes at 170C. Cut around outside with knife to remove from form.

Umeboshi tuna salad sandwich

Exotic foods add exciting flavors and new dimensions to your dishes. The challenge is often discovering use cases that make them easy to apply to a wide variety of menu items. These sandwiches are easy to make, a hit with the whole family, and exemplify one easy way that ume can be applied to the dishes you already love to make.

Recipe

Ingredients
Light flavor / low salt umeboshi, 2
Canned tuna, 1/2 can (45g or so)
Japanese style creamy sesame dressing (or thousand island if necessary) 3-4T
Rolls or hot dog buns, 2
Lettuce, condiments as desired

Directions
Remove umeboshi seed, smash to puree with fork or knife
Drain water or oil from tuna
In bowl, mix umeboshi, tuna, and dressing well
Build your sandwich!

umeboshi simmered mackerel

Umeboshi are very high in citric acid, which has a number of positive effects on dishes cooked with them. One of these is the reduction of strong odors, such as those found in sliced pork or fish. Another is the softening of some parts of the food such as bones, depending on the cooking time.

The fish gets a wonderful seasoning from the umeboshi, and the umeboshi absorbs the flavor of the sauce and the umami of the fish. It’s a great combination, and even people who don’t like fish report enjoying the dish.

Recipe

Ingredients
1/4 cup sake
3T soysauce
2T mirin
2T sugar
2 fish fillets such as yellowtail, mackerel, or whole gutted sardines
Shiso or unflavored umeboshi

Directions
Blanch the fish in boiling water for a couple seconds then cool and pat dry. Bring sauce to a boil, add the fish, and cook for 10 minutes or more.

Umeboshi shrimp mayonnaise stir fry

Umeboshi are a great way to add flavor to any food. You can use them instead of salt and bring a fruity tang to the dish. This recipe uses a honey umeboshi for a little sweetness and not too much salt.

Recipe, 2 servings

Ingredients
Medium shrimp, 10
Cornstarch as needed
Salt, sake as needed
Broccoli, 1/2 floret
Onion, 1/2
Shimeji mushrooms, small handful
Red or yellow pepper, 1/2
Honey umeboshi, 2-3

Sauce
Mayonnaise, 3T
Sake, 2T
Sugar 2t

Directions
Dip shrimp in cornstarch and rinse with water to remove odor
Add salt and sake to hot water, bring to boil and add shrimp
Cut broccoli into bite-sized pieces and boil in salt water
Cut remaining vegetables into bite-sized pieces
Remove seed from umeboshi and reduce to paste with knife
Mix umeboshi paste with sauce ingredients to make ume mayonnaise
Add oil to a pan, sautee vegetables, and lightly salt. Add shrimp, coat with ume mayonnaise.