Shoku-Iku Recipes: 'Full Japanese' Garden Breakfast

Chef Makiko Sano has already converted plenty of Londoners to the Japanese way of eating with Suzu restaurant. Now, she shares the basis for satisfying, nourishing food at its simplest. Meals are created to invigorate, each containing five colours, textures and flavours and spanning the five food groups

Forget the greasy full English, and get a healthy, wholesome start to the day with this breakfast recipe from  Makiko Sano's new Japanese cookbook, Shoku-Iku. By encouraging us to rethink our relationship with food through the practice of conscious eating, this book gives countless new Japanese cooking ideas to keep you busy.

Try out this new take on eggs for breakfast - with kale and baby spinach leaves, of course.

‘Full Japanese’ Garden Breakfast

This is a quick, easy way of having eggs for breakfast. I always like to eat some greens at breakfast as well, as did all my family before me. This is a fusion of British and Japanese cooking methods and flavours – why not? I’m Japanese and I live in Britain – so I call it a ‘full Japanese’. Use a lidded sauté pan.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 2
1 tsp rapeseed oil
1 garlic clove, grated
large handful of kale, chopped into 1cm slices
handful of baby spinach leaves
3 cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 shiitake mushrooms, finely sliced
4 eggs
1 quantity Garden soy sauce dressing (* see below)
finely chopped chilli (optional)

METHOD

Heat the oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat, add the garlic and stir until fragrant.

Add the kale with any water from washing still clinging to its leaves, the spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms and cook until almost tender.

Hollow out four spaces and drop an egg into each. Put the lid on and cook over a low heat to steam for three to four minutes, depending on how you like your eggs (we only cooked two for the photo).

Transfer to plates and serve with Garden soy sauce dressing, sprinkled with chilli, if you want. 

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* Garden soy sauce dressing

This is very light and full of nutrition with a lot of vegetables inside it. It’s nice with salad or – surprisingly – with beef.

Makes about 300ml / Serves about 6
1 apple, grated
1 carrot, grated
1 onion, grated
100ml soy sauce
100ml rice vinegar
80g honey or brown sugar

Simply mix all the ingredients together and it’s ready to serve.

Recipe extracted from Shoku-Iku by Makiko Sano (Quadrille Press, Hardback £14.99)