Takana Zuke - Karashi Takana Recipe?

Hello
I was lucky enough to sample some takana zuke AKA karashi takana (not sure which term is correct) last year. It was a side dish of mustard greens and hot pepper served at a very good Los Angeles ramen restaurant.

The consistency was thick and it was brown in color. It was very tasty and unique. I have since grown and planted about 20 feet of japanese mustard greens in my garden. I have tried many times to replicate this dish but I have been unsuccessful...

I believe the ingredients are:
Mustard greens (pickled)
Hot peppers
Sesame oil
Rice Vinegar
Sake

Any help with a recipe would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

The consistency was thick and it was brown in color.

Since it was brown in color I believe it is "Furu-Duke" meaning long-term fermented pickles. I have never made it by myself, but I found a recipe.

https://cookpad.com/recipe/4608777

English translation.

https://translate.google.co.jp/translate?hl=ja&sl=ja&tl=en&u=https%3A%...

It requires 120 days to ferment and the temperature should be important. I am afraid the weather in California might be too warm in winter, but anyway try it!

Hello and thank you for your quick response and recipe links. I was able to find an image of the side dish served at the restaurant I spoke of previously:

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/tsujita-la-artisan-noodle-los-angeles-...

This mustard dish was very dark and also quite spicy. Do you believe the mustard in the picture to be Furu-Duke? They simply called in "Takana" at the restaurant, but I suppose that is a general name for mustard greens... I believe they just add cayenne pepper to make it spicy, but it is definitely a form of fermented mustard greens.

This mustard dish was very dark and also quite spicy. Do you believe the mustard in the picture to be Furu-Duke? They simply called in "Takana" at the restaurant, but I suppose that is a general name for mustard greens...

Takana is a kind of mustard green. Taka means "high" in English and Na means leaf or green. Takana is one of the three major green to make leaf pickles in Japan (other two are Nozawana in Nagano and Hiroshimana in Hiroshima. Takana is mostly grown in Kyushu.)

Yes the mustard green part of the picture should be Furu-duke Takana. But there are obviously other ingredients. The brownish paste might be miso and there might be some granular things. I am not sure but it might be minced meat, probably pork meat. In Kyushu stir-fried minced pork with miso is very common (called buta-miso where buta means pork).

Traditional Furu-duke is very salty so it is usually cooked as below. Soak in water to remove salt (over night or more). At this time the Furu-zuke should have some sour and salty taste, but not strong enough. Then it is cooked to add some taste of your favorite: many people (or restaurants or food manufacturer) add some hot taste with red pepper. Soy source or miso is usually used. Sugar and/or MSG-containing seasoning are sometimes added. Sometimes the Furu-duke is stir-flied with sesame oil. Today I saw fresh Takana in our local farmer's market in Kagoshima. So it should be the season to make pickles of Takana.

Fantastic
Yes, my takana plants are growing very well both outside and in my greenhouse. I live in Sacramento, in northern California, where the climate is probably similar to north central Japan. I harvested some yesterday and bagged them according to the instructions, hopefully it will turn out great.
Thanks you so much for your guidance.
-Steve