(I see you leaning into the computer there!)
The best kitchen tool I've bought yet cost me all of $2.50 at the Japanese grocery store.
Ok, that's a bit of a lie. My Santoku knife is actually the best tool ever, which I bought for $80 at Williams-Sonoma (full disclosure: ex-rockstar-teenage-employee of WS) and my second best tool is the rice cooker my mom bought me for Christmas. Or intended to buy for Christmas but knew how excited I would be so gave it to me early (thanks Mom!). But the best NEW tool is the Japanese 4-in-1 slicer. It grates, crinkle cuts, purees (for garlic and ginger) and slices paper thin. I had oodles of fun with it this weekend slicing up cucumbers and grating daikon. I wish it grated more like the food processor julienne blade, but hey, we can't ALL be ex-WS employees with a 40% discount, now can we?
Japanese slicer + Harumi Kurihara's "Harumi's Japanese Cooking" + delicious fresh ingredients = Salad of Many Shapes and Textures with Peanut Miso Dressing!
Recipe (but feel free to vary as your slicing desires take over)
2 carrots, peeled
1 small daikon (6 inches long)
1 small cucumber
A handful of shiso leaves (sub arugula or another spicy green, but
shiso is amazing and my newest addiction)1 T teaspoons miso
1 T unsweetened peanut butter or tahini
a squirt of Sriracha
1 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
a bit of warm water - add 1 T at a time
Using the vegetable peeler, make carrot ribbons. (The slicer failed me on the carrots). Grate the daikon as finely as possible. It should resemble daikon snow. Slice the cucumbers as thinly as possible using the slicer blade. If the cucumbers are especially wet, pat them dry with a paper towel. Wash and dry the shiso or greens and scatter then around. The greens are more of a garnish than a salad base but make a nice textural and flavor contrast, especially the shiso. This would be good with regular lettuce, though, if that's all you have.
Mix the miso, PB, sriracha or hot sauce, soy sauce and rice vinegar in a small bowl. Add a bit of warm water just to make everything come together. Add a bit more to make the dressing liquidy but not too thin. You want it to be pourable but not watery. Assemble your salad in whatever way you prefer and pour the dressing over. You might have more dressing than you need, but that's better than less.
This should be enough for one very big salad (like for a raw foodist or a hungry vegetarian) or two smaller salads.
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