Edamame in their pods with salt, lemon and chilli
Japanese izakaya-style edamame, boiled in their pods in water as salty as the sea, then tossed off the heat in chilli olive oil and finished with lemon zest and fleur de sel. Eat with your fingers, slipping the beans out between your teeth.
Method
- Scrub the half lemon under hot water and dry: its zest will be grated. In a 3 L saucepan, bring 1.5 L water to a rolling boil over a high heat with the 45 g coarse salt: the water should be distinctly salty, like seawater, to season the pods and the beans right through.
- Add the 400 g edamame straight from the freezer, without thawing. Once the water returns to the boil, lower the heat a notch if it foams and cook for 3–4 minutes: the pods should be bright green, and a bean tasted should be tender with a slight bite. Beyond 5 minutes, it becomes floury.
- Drain in the colander without rinsing and shake off the water. Wipe the saucepan dry, then heat the olive oil and chilli flakes in it over a medium heat for 30 seconds: the flakes sizzle and the oil turns pink, without blackening.
- Off the heat, return the pods to the saucepan and toss (or stir with a spoon) for 20 seconds to coat in the chilli oil. Grate the zest of the half lemon over them, squeeze in a quarter lemon (10 g juice), scatter over the 2 pinches of fleur de sel and give one last shake: in this order, the oil clings and the lemon stays bright.
- Serve immediately in a bowl, with the final quarter lemon and an empty bowl for the pods. Eat with your fingers: bring a pod to your lips, slide the beans out between your teeth, taking the salt and zest with them, and discard the pod.
On your plate
Recipe
177 kcal · protein 15 g · carbs 16 g · fat 6 g
Quantities per person
- 200 g Frozen edamame in pods
- 22.5 g Coarse salt
- 5 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 0.5 g Chilli flakes (peperoncino)
- 30 g Lemon
- 0.5 g Fleur de sel
Cooking tips
Also good cold the next day, eaten as a snack or shelled into a salad with cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of olive oil. For an Israeli touch, replace the chilli with 3 g za’atar or 2 g sumac, scattered on with the zest. Never rinse the pods after cooking: you would wash away the salt and stop the oil clinging.
Edamame from izakayas and sushi bars: pods boiled in very salty water and eaten with your fingers; a homemade version sharpened with chilli olive oil and lemon zest.
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