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Recipes with komatsuna or spinach

3 recipes that use komatsuna or spinach, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Kishimen (Nagoya flat noodle soup), takes 20 minutes. It is most often cooked with kamaboko fish cake, kombu and light soy sauce.

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Atsuage no nimonoSimmered fried tofu and greens

Atsuage no nimono is the kind of simmered dish that turns up on everyday dinner tables across Japan, especially in autumn and winter when komatsuna and spinach are at their best. Thick blocks of fried tofu, crisp outside and soft within, are simmered in a light, slightly sweet broth of dashi and soy until they drink it up, then the greens go in for the last few minutes. This version uses kombu and shiitake dashi and no mirin, so it is vegan and alcohol-free. Served as a main for two with rice, each portion gives about 23 g of protein, from the fried tofu. The common mistake is boiling the broth hard, which toughens the tofu and makes the greens drab. Chef's tip: pour boiling water over the atsuage first to rinse off surface oil; the broth then soaks in instead of sliding off.

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Ozoni (Kanto-style New Year mochi soup)

On the morning of 1 January, families across Tokyo and the Kanto plain sit down to ozoni, a clear, delicate soup of bonito-kombu dashi with chicken, komatsuna, carrot and square rice cakes grilled until they puff. Every region has its own version; in Kansai the mochi is round and the soup is white miso, but Kanto keeps it clear and seasoned with soy. A little sake goes into the broth and simmers away (leave it out for an alcohol-free soup). Mochi is very sticky: cut it small for children and older people, take small bites and chew well, as it can cause choking. The common mistake is boiling the mochi in the soup, which makes it dissolve and turn the broth cloudy; grill it separately. Chef's tip: add the yuzu peel only in the bowl, just before serving, so its fragrance is the first thing you smell.

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Kishimen (Nagoya flat noodle soup)

Travellers changing trains at Nagoya Station often grab a bowl of kishimen standing up at one of the platform noodle counters, and the dish is eaten all year in noodle shops across the city. The noodles are wide, thin and slippery, so they pick up a lot of broth with every mouthful. A typical bowl has a light, golden dashi, sweet fried tofu, a little green vegetable, a slice of fish cake and a big pile of bonito flakes that wave in the steam. It takes about 20 minutes from start to finish. Chef's tip: add the bonito topping right at the table, not in the kitchen; it softens and sinks within a minute, and the fresh smoky smell is half the pleasure.

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Goes well with komatsuna or spinach