Otsumami
Cooking Japanese food has been a passion for me for many years, so much so that in the early 90's I opened a small Japanese restaraunt (which remained open long enough for me and my business partner to realize we were not seeing eye to eye and that a felony assault charge was going to be leveled against one of us eventually 
Over the years I have accumulated as well as created quite a few recipes. I would like to share some of them if anybody is interested.
As we head into the heat of Summer, ice cold beer becomes the beverage of choice for many of us and the beers of choice for us Japanphiles are the three big lagers of Japan: Kirin, Sapporo and Asahi. In my opinion if you are going to drink Japanese beer you should do it Japanese style. That means you need your Otsumami, or side dish to accompany that icy cold beer.
Most Otsumami are realtively simple dishes and in accordance my first recipe will be a very simple one.
Piri-kara Kyuri (Spicy cucumber)
Cut 1 large English cucumber into quarters lengthwise, then cut each long strip into 1 inch sections, then salt generously.
In a large bowl mix 1 Tblspn of Tobanjan (Chinese hot chille bean paste) 2 Tblspn of Goma-abura (sesame oil) 1 Tblspn of dark brown sugar 3 Tblspn of Shoyu (Japanese Soy Sauce) and 1 Tblspn of black sesame seeds (use white if black are not available)
Add cucumber pieces and toss till the cucumber pieces are well coated withthe dressing. Allow to marinade in the refridgerator for 1 hour.
Serve in small bowls with an Ice cold beer.
There you have it, the first Otsumami of Summer. Try it and enjoy it. If you all are interested I will continue to post recipes periodically.
Dozo meshiagate kudasai.
Scott Irey
Just another one of those "few peanuts short of a snickers bar" MJER guys.
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