Any firm vegetable, cut into small pieces, can be used. Cook over charcoal if you can, or under the broiler if that’s not possible. Store extra sauce in the fridge, it keeps well and can also be used to baste whole vegetables baked in the oven or to accompany sauteed vegetables. From Lesley Downer’s “Japanese Vegetarian Cooking”, 1986.
Ingredients: [‘dark soy sauce’, ‘sake’, ‘mirin’, ‘sugar’, ‘carrots’, ‘potatoes’, ‘onions’, ‘leeks’, ‘green pepper’, ‘small mushroom’, ‘vegetable oil’, ‘pepper’]
Quantity of Ingredients: [“”,”1/2 cup dark soy sauce”,”1/2 cup sake”,”1/4 cup mirin”,”1 tablespoon sugar (or, omit mirin and increase sweetener to 2 tbsp.) or 1 tablespoon honey (or, omit mirin and increase sweetener to 2 tbsp.)”,””,”2 medium carrots”,”2 small potatoes”,”2 onions”,”4 small leeks”,”1 green pepper”,”1/4 lb small mushroom”,” vegetable oil”,” japanese seven-spice pepper (shichimi togarashi)”]
Number of Servings: 4
Steps: [‘Bring the sauce ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan and set aside. Wash and trim the vegetables. Cut the carrots into 1/2-inch slices and cut the potatoes into small chunks. Peel the onions, then halve and slice into half-moons. Slice the leeks into 1 1/2 inch lengths. Cut the pepper into 1-inch squares. Wipe and trim the mushrooms and remove the stems;cut a cross in each mushroom cap. Soak long bamboo skewers in water. Thread each type of vegetable separately onto them, or onto metal skewers.Lay the onion slices on the table and carefully insert a skewer into each piece to hold them in neat half-moons. Slide a skewer horizontally through the mushroom caps. Simply skewer the other vegetables. Pat them dry and brush with oil.’, ‘Preheat the broiler or grill to very hot and broil the vegetables for 1 or 2 minutes, turning occasionally. Brush them thickly with sauce and return to the heat.Continue to cook, brushing 2 or 3 times with the sauce, until they are tender but not overcooked and dry.’, ‘Slide the vegetables off the skewers onto small plates and serve immediately. Sprinkle with a little seven-spice powder before eating.’, ‘Note: If available, the following foods also are delicious and very popular cooked this way in Japan: deep-fried tofu, in cubes; shelled, boiled, and peeled gingko nuts;boiled and peeled quail eggs; and thinly sliced lotus root.’]