River Cottage

If it’s good enough for a Buddhist monk, it’s good enough for Hugh. Sachiko Saeki teaches him how to make a traditional vegan temple meal

• 3 bunches mibuna (Japanese salad leaf - see note)
• 2 cm piece kombu, shredded (dried kelp seaweed- see note)
• 2 whole dried chillies
• Dried peel of ½ an orange (see note)
• 2 tsp yuzu salt (see note)

1. Put all the ingredients together in a small plastic bag and shake well. Remove all the air from the bag and weigh down the contents in the bag with a heavy weight and leave for hours.

Note

• If you can’t find mibuna try using spinach instead.
• You can get kelp at Asian supermarkets or online at Japancentre.com, freeze dried yuzu is also available from these sources, to make yuzu salt, mix ½ tsp dried yuzu zest with 1½ tsp salt.
• To dry out the orange peel, use a spoon to scrape out any excess pith, then either leave it in the airing cupboard for 3-4 days, or leave it in an oven at 150°C/gas mark 2 for around 4 hours, or until it is hard and dry.