Horenso (Spinach)
Horenso is spinach. I have never eaten or seen anybody eat raw spinach in Japan. We usually boil or steam it. Spinach has rich Vitamin C and Iron, however, as you boil or put in the water, those nutritions will be reduced. Thus, you should not really boil long or put in the water long. Why then don’t I eat it raw? No, I don’t think it tastes good and is hard to eat. Anyway, this is Horenso Goma-ae. Goma is sesame, ae means stir or mix. After I boiled the spinach a short time and put...
Read MoreNikujaga
Nikujaga is one of the very popular dishes for Japanese. Niku means meat, jaga is short for potato. I cooked potato, carrot, onion, beef and malony with dashi soup, say sauce, mirin and cooking sake. Then I put boiled green beans on top. Warm, well seasoning absorbed potato is very tasty comfort food. Let the potatoes absorb the seasoning well, the warm and well flavored potatoes are a tasty comfort food.
Read MoreInari sushi
Inari sushi. Originally, inari means fox. Foxes are very popular animal in Japanese tales or myths. The sushi wrapping is abura-age, or deep fried tofu and is associated with the fox due to their color…it is my guess. Anyway, as foxes have been quite a familiar animal to us since ancient time, inari sushi has also been popular among us. The sushi is especially loved among children. This maybe due to the abura-age is cooked with a slightly sweet taste with mirin or sugar and dashi shoyu,...
Read MoreNi-mame (Soybeans)
February 3rd, is Setsubun festival in Japan. It is cerebrating the coming of spring. We throw roasted soy beans inside and outside of the house. We yell “oni wa soto!, fuku wa uchi!” (evils are out! good is in!) as we throw beans. Then we eat roasted beans, as many as your age. Anyway, this is ni-mame. Mame means beans. After I soaked beans in the water over a night, I boiled them in the konbu dashi soup, soy sauce, mirin and sugar for about…until the beans are your prefered...
Read MoreUdon
Udon, or Japanese noodle. This noodle is made from flour. You can get various kinds of udon at Japanese grocery stores, however, I usually buy frozen ones. You heard me right, frozen. Unlike soba noodles, the frozen udon is actually not bad at all. I keep them in the freezer and whenever I need quick snack, I defrost the udon in the hot water ( I don’t even need to boil.) and put them in a strainer. Then make soup with dashi shoyu, (you can even buy instant powdered “udodn...
Read MoreOkowa
Okowa, or steamed sweet rice. The picture looks like mixed rice, but this is Okowa. The biggest difference of the two is okowa is made with motchi kome, or sweet rice. Today I added hijiki sea vegetable, carrot, pork, edamame, konnyaku and canned bamboo shoot. I cooked those ingredients with soy sauce, dashi soup and cooking sake in advance and then cooked with sweet rice. I used my rice cooker which has a function for “sweet rice cooking”, but if you want the real deal, you can...
Read MoreKyuri momi (Cucumber salad)
Kyuri momi, or sweet sour cucumber salad. Give a salt massage to cucumber. Let cucumber rest and sweat. Then squeeze out its liquid. Add wakame sea vegetable, sesame seeds, rice vinegar and sugar. Mix them well. Healthy, easy ,tasty. Enjoy.
Read MoreOnirigi
Onigiri. Some people call them Omusubi. It is rice balls. After you clean your hands very well, wet your hands with vinegar and touch salt. Put a handful of fresh cooked rice on your vinegary salted hands and make a ball roughly. Then put ingredient in the center. The ingredients could be sour plum, konbu (see vegetable), shoyu katsuobushi (bonito soy sauce), cooked salmon, etc… In this onigiri, I put sour plum and tuna with mayonnaise respectively. I made them take away lunch.
Read MoreSoba (Japanese noodle)
Soba is a type of noodle which is made from buckwheat. You can eat it with hot dashi soup or with cold dipping dashi soup. Today, I added katakuriko (potato starch) in konbu dahi soup to thicken it. On top of soba, I added wakame (sea vegetable), abura age (deep fried tofu), green onion, shimeji mushroom and grated fresh ginger. This thickened dashi soup is called ankake. It makes your body really warm along with the ginger. It is great for a cold night. Really...
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