I discovered something called "aojiso" when I lived in Kanazawa a few years back. It was a pickled topping at my local onigiri-ya (see first picture). It was crunchy, tangy, and with a strong taste of green shiso. I once asked the owner exactly what the crunchy part consisted of and they said unripe plum. When I moved back to Los Angeles, I was elated to find this at my local Marukai market (see second and third pictures) under the name of aoshiso no mi (青しその実). As you can see, the ingredients for this one list cucumber as the main ingredient. Now, it's been a few years that I have not seen this product at Marukai or Nijiya in Southern California (much less in New England where I now live). I have seen something similar to it that is purple (presumably purple shiso) and the base is eggplant, but exact same brunoise texture, but not exactly the same.
When I try to Google recipes for this it's nearly impossible as aojiso or aoshiso also simply refer to the shiso leaf. It doesn't seem to be a very common preparation?
The closest recipe I have been able to find is this one, but it does not include unripe plums, nor cucumber, only the shiso/perilla seeds (which I wouldn't know where to find, unless I grow it myself?).
Does any one have any experience preparing this with cucumber (or unripe plums though not sure where I would get these!)? Any recipes y'all can point me to?
by kryoseternal
Dining and Cooking