Part 14: Professional Cook Hasuike Yoko’s Cucumber Herb Yogurt Salad Puts Yogurt’s Refreshing Umami Flavor To Use in Cooking

In this ongoing series, we ask food professionals for their top recommended fermented foods. This time we speak with Hasuike Yoko, a professional cook.

Hasuike gets a lot of mileage from all kinds of fermented foods in her daily cooking and in her recipe suggestions. From her many choice fermented dishes, she picked out yogurt for this article. She uses yogurt in her regular cooking as well as in desserts and sweets. To this end, she shares her multi-purpose yogurt salad that can be enjoyed as a salad or as a dip.

Change up your cooking with yogurt

In Japan, yogurt is often associated with desserts after a main meal, light snacks, or an ingredient in sweets. But around the world, yogurt is used in a much wider range of dishes —sauces and dips for meat and fish dishes, in soups, in simmered dishes, and in drinks.

“Yogurt adds depth to cooking because it has just the right amount of acidity. For example, you can make a flavorful sauce just by mixing grated garlic and a little salt with yogurt. It also makes flavors pop in a simple meat or fish sauté. You can complement it in endless ways, such as with anchovies or chopped herbs. And to complete a tomato-based soup, add a scoop of yogurt to the plate after serving. I like the sensation of the various flavors blending in my mouth.”

Drain yogurt well to achieve a creamy texture

“Yogurt also adds a full-bodied richness if drained well. If you use it like this, yogurt won’t leave you with a heavy feeling after eating. Using yogurt in place of fresh cream or cheese will leave you with less guilt too. (laughs) Enjoying light meals on a regular basis is a delight for me.”

Cucumber herb yogurt salad

Hasuike shared with us a favorite recipe of hers that you can enjoy just as a salad or use it as a sandwich filling or as a sauce that goes with meat or fish.

Drizzle with olive oil to taste. It will last in the refrigerator for two to three days.

Yogurt’s refreshing taste livens up rich meat dishes

“Steaks are usually accompanied by French fries or mashed potatoes. But this yogurt salad goes amazingly well with meat. It’s refreshing, yet mild, and you can have it on the side or you can put it directly on the steak and eat them together, which is delicious. The texture of the cucumber, the aroma of dill, the acidity of yogurt, and the umami flavor of the beef all come together and mix in your mouth in a complex and delightful way.”

“I like my steak to be nicely browned on the outside and medium rare on the inside. I recommend grilling on a skillet. For a two-centimeter-thick steak, I generally grill one side for two and half minutes, turn it over and grill the other side for one and half minutes. Then I turn off the heat and leave covered for a minute. You can also grill tomatoes as a garnish in an empty space on the skillet.”

“You can change the herbs in the yogurt salad to whatever you like, such as mint or perilla leaves. For example, the fragrance of mint goes really well with lamb. Or if you switch to perilla leaves and add a little soy sauce or miso, you can make a delicious Japanese-style yogurt salad.”

Yogurt helps with preparing foods in advance

Hasuike is a known outdoor enthusiast. She says that yogurt is convenient when preparing meat or fish dishes in advance to take with you on outdoor excursions.

“Kiwis and pineapples also tenderize meat, but the meat fibers will fall apart if you marinate them too long with these fruits. On the other hand, you can marinate meat as long as you want with yogurt, and yogurt also removes unpleasant smells.
I often freeze chunks of meat that have been covered in yogurt and then pack them with other ingredients. The meat acts like an ice pack, so it’s great when you are going outdoors.”

Hasuike often uses a combination of yogurt and another fermented food — such as yogurt and homemade amazake, yogurt and miso, or yogurt and saké lees — when preparing food in advance.

“It’s not surprising that fermented foods blend well together. The umami of each complement each other and increase the depth and richness of the flavors. Another of my favorites is a Japanese-style salad made with cucumbers fermented in rice bran, yogurt, a little miso, and chopped perilla leaves.”

Add nutrition and a faint tartness with yogurt

Hasuike trusts in yogurt as a source of nutrition as well as flavor.

“Yogurt is a reliable source of protein. When you’re busy or you don’t feel like eating, you tend to reach for noodles or other carbohydrate-heavy foods. As an alternative, yogurt has a nice texture and is easy to eat.”

Yogurt, which is delicious on its own, is an ingredient that’s easy to add to other dishes, such as a topping for soups or a sauce for grilled vegetables.

“By slipping in more yogurt into your cooking, in terms of nutrition and taste, you can instantly expand your repertoire of daily meals and add more richness to your dinner table.

“There are dozens of ideas for how to use yogurt, but one I really like is fruit shiraae [mashed tofu salad]. I take a salad of tofu and yogurt with a dash of lemon juice and dress it up with strawberries, figs, persimmons, and other fruit. Top it with prosciutto to make it even more delicious. I feel it goes great as a snack with wine. Adding the tartness of yogurt to the sweetness of fruit immediately creates a wonderful balance. For me, yogurt is one of the easiest things to use in my daily cooking.”