So, the umeboshi turned out great! I figured burying things in salt was a safe bet, and I was right.
After they sort of equilibrated for a month, I made two different dishes with them: ume onigiri and an ume martini.
I first saw this kind of ume onigiri on Midnight Diner, which I’ve told you I love. And then lo and behold I discovered that my girl Namiko Chen is cooking her way through the Midnight Diner recipes over at Just One Cookbook, and she has the ume onigiri from Season 2 episode 3 of the Toyko Stories series. So that’s the recipe I used. If you’re not familiar, onigiri are the Japanese equivalent of the sandwich–quick, portable starch-and-protein (or veg) packets that consist of sushi rice hiding something like salmon or tuna or umeboshi, all swaddled in nori seaweed for easy, non-sticky handling. The ones you buy at convenience stores in Japan have this ingenious packaging that keeps the nori separate from the rice until you open it so the nori stays crispy. Amazing. Anyway, the Midnight Diner version of ume onigiri uses ko ume, a vinegar-pickled ume, chopped and mixed through the sushi rice along with toasted sesame seeds. But, you can substitute salt-brined umeboshi, which is what I did.
The ume martini I just made up: it’s a gin martini with an umeboshi in the bottom and a tiny bit of umeboshi brine to turn it pink (it’s super salty, so take it easy; when in doubt you’re fine just with the umeboshi itself:
Ume Martini
I go heavy on the vermouth here for the sweetness to balance out the salty umeboshi. I saw some recipes online for martinis involving plum wine or ume liqueur, and those seem good, too, but I didn’t have that stuff around.
- 1.5 oz gin
- 1.5 oz dry vermouth
- .5 tsp umeboshi brine (optional)
- 1 umeboshi
Put umeboshi in the bottom of a martini glass. Put remaining ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake, and pour over umeboshi in glass. Makes 1 martini.
The Rookery 