If you don’t have access to a speciality shop health food shops

If you don’t have access to a speciality shop, health food shops sell wakame seaweed and mirin wine, and sometimes wasabi mustard. Taro is available in Caribbean markets (also sold as eddoe or yam).YakitoriChicken grilled on skewers Serves 4For the dipping sauce (tare):7 tablespoons sake180ml/9fl oz soy sauce7 tablespoons mirin2 tablespoons caster sugar6 chicken thighs2 Japanese negi or small leeks (alternate with pieces of chicken on one skewer)12 small fresh shiitake mushrooms (skewer alone)225g/8oz chicken livers4 small green peppers (thin skinned if available)Bamboo skewers (18cm/7in long) soaked in waterFirst make the dipping sauce: mix the ingredients together in a small saucepan and bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar and get rid of the alcohol. Take off the heat and put into a tall, narrow jug, the correct size to dip a small bamboo skewer in.Prepare the ingredients to be grilled. Cut the chicken thigh into bite-size pieces, about 2cm (3?4in).

You can remove the skin and grill the pieces separately or leave it on Cut the leek into 2cm (3?4in) slices Wipe the mushrooms and cut off the stems. In a colander, pour boiling water over the livers to eliminate odour, then plunge into cold water and drain. Wash and de-seed the peppers and cut into bite-size pieces.Thread the ingredients on to the skewers: about five small pieces of chicken on one skewer; three pieces of chicken alternated with two pieces of leek on another; and three shiitake on a third Put green peppers on another, and the liver separately. The items are mostly cooked separately because the grilling times will vary for each ingredient.Grill either over charcoal or under a grill for about five minutes (depending on ingredient and size) until 80 per cent cooked. Dip into the sauce and return to the grill for about three minutes more, until the chicken is just cooked through. You may have to test the first one to get the timing correct – you don’t want to serve underdone chicken, but nor do you want it dried out or blackened A little charring is fine. Dip once more into the sauce before serving, and allow any excess to drip back into the pot.

Although most delicious hot, these can be eaten at room temperature.Nasu no Soramame aeDeep-fried aubergine with fresh broad beansThis is a dish for early summer, when broad beans appear in the markets. In Japan they are not sold in their pods as they are in Britain, but shelled. The cooked beans are pressed one by one out of their skins, and the pulp is mashed.Try to use small aubergines as they are fried skin side down to reduce the absorption of oil and if you fry large areas of cut flesh the dish will be too greasy.36 large broad beans2 teaspoons mirinPinch saltVegetable oil for deep frying4 small aubergines (or 2 larger ones) stalks removed, and cut in half, lengthwiseCook the beans in lightly salted boiling water, for about five minutes until tender Drain and rinse in cold water. Make a little nick at the top of each bean and squeeze the pulp out into a grinding bowl Discard the skins Crush with a pestle (or fork) Mix in the mirin and salt The mash should be slightly lumpy, not too smooth Now you need to fry the aubergines Heat the vegetable oil to 340F/170C on a medium heat. Place the aubergines skin side down and fry for about three minutes (longer if using bigger ones), until they begin to soften.

Turn over and fry for a further minute, flesh side down, until just soft all the way through.Drain on kitchen paper Cut diagonally into 2cm (3?4in) slices. Combine carefully with the mashed beans, and serve in individual dishes, as a side dish. This could also make an interesting starter in a Western meal.. This is something like a lemon curd souffle, normally advertised as a “light fluffy sponge with a lemon sauce underneath”. 120g unsalted butter200g caster sugar4 medium eggs, separated50g plain flour, siftedfinely grated zest of 1 lemonjuice of 2 lemons400ml milkicing sugar for dustingcreme fraiche to serveHeat the oven to 170C fan oven/180C or 350F electric oven/Gas 4 Cream the butter and caster sugar together until pale.

Incorporate the egg yolks, then the flour, lemon zest, juice and milk. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until stiff and fold them into the lemon mixture – if you use a food processor to cream the mixture, then transfer it to a bowl first Pour the mixture into a buttered 20cm souffle dish. Dust with icing sugar and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and risen Serve straight away, with a spoon of creme fraiche.. Fine-tuning the standard screening test for prostate cancer can help doctors reduce false alarms by up to 40 percent and perhaps find early-stage tumors that might otherwise be missed, researchers say. Fine-tuning the standard screening test for prostate cancer can help doctors reduce false alarms by up to 40 percent and perhaps find early-stage tumors that might otherwise be missed, researchers say.
About three-quarters of men with prostate cancer have elevated levels of a protein called prostate-specific antigen – PSA. Testing blood for PSA has been a standard screening method for older men since about 1990.However, other conditions, such as non-cancerous prostate enlargement, can also make PSA levels shoot up, so doctors must perform biopsies to make sure cancer is truly the cause.