Sautéed Kabocha with Butter and Soy Sauce is a great side dish to any entree, from Japanese to American foods. In fact, the rich savory flavor with a touch of sweetness of this Kabocha would be a nice holiday dinner addition.
Ajitama Onigiri (味玉おにぎり) is a Japanese rice ball with a marinated boiled egg (Ajitama) inside. Ajitama is often called Ramen Egg because it is a common and popular topping for ramen noodle soup. Eggs are marinated in salty and sweet soy sauce based sauce, and they taste great with rice, too. We use the same sauce to season steamed rice for making Onigiri.
Today’s miso soup is made with cabbage and green onions, topped with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Parmesan cheese is packed with umami, so there is no surprise that it goes well with miso soup.
Tamago Sando (卵サンド) is a Japanese version of an egg salad sandwich. Finely chopped hard boiled eggs are mixed with tangy Japanese mayonnaise and sandwiched with fluffy white Shokupan Bread. Tamago Sando has always been a popular kind of sandwich in Japan as long as we can remember, but in the more recent craze, it’s surfaced on social media often and gets a lot of attention for the strikingly scrumptious look of the rich overstuffed sandwich. Tamago Sando is so easily made by anybody with or without cooking skills, so you can actually make and eat the delicious dish at home rather than looking at pictures.
Matcha Dorayaki is a version of the popular Japanese sweet Dorayaki with Anko sweet red bean paste sandwiched between fluffy matcha-flavored pancakes. The harmony of sweetness of the red beans and the slight bitterness from Matcha works very well. If you like Matcha flavor, you have to try it! You can make homemade Anko yourself from our library. Or you may opt to buy prepared Anko from Japanese markets, which is fine too. Because the pancakes contain more sugar than regular American pancakes, cook a small number at a time to be able to handle better without burning them. Have Matcha Dorayaki at a calming teatime for one, or share this delicious dessert with friends and family. Hope you like it!
Today’s miso soup is with Steamed Rice. Steamed rice gives miso soup some body, by very slightly thickening it. It is still a soup, not Okayu porridge or Zosui. It’s a perfect dish when you’re not feeling well and have no appetite. This simpler and milder soup is easy to take in, but it’s still got some substance to give your body energy. Hope you like it!
Karaage is Japanese fried chicken, and it is usually made with chicken thighs with skin. In this recipe, we use boneless and skinless chicken breasts which are much lighter. Chicken breasts could become bland and dry when cooked, so we marinate them well with the seasoning and freshly grated ginger and garlic. We also cut chicken into smaller bite size pieces. These bite sized fried chicken can be a great appetizer or a perfect main dish to pack in a Bento box.
Tuna Zuke Don (マグロ漬け丼）is a rice bowl dish with marinated Tuna. Fresh Sashimi tuna is flavored in a savory soy sauce-based sauce, and placed on top of Steamed Rice. It is really easy to make, but you can taste this restaurant-quality dish at home.
Warabimochi (Warabi Mochi, わらび餅) is a traditional Japanese dessert (wagashi) made from warabiko, a starch extracted from warabi (bracken) roots. The pure 100% warabi starch is rare today, but you can buy warabiko mixed with various kinds of starch such as sweet potato flour, usually sold as Warabimochiko (Warabi Mochi Ko).
We added more water and a bit more sugar than our original Warabi Mochi recipe and made it softer and sweeter. In addition to kinako (soybean flour) topping, kuromitsu (black sugar syrup) is poured on top. Served with green tea, it’s a fantastic dessert or a snack in the afternoon.
Today’s miso soup is made with kimchi and tofu. This miso soup is inspired by Korean Kimchi soup or Kimchi Jjigae, but it is not the authentic Korean soup. It’s rather a simple Japanese miso soup with kimchi in it. It’s lighter and milder than jigae (Korean stew).
You can have the soup simply as it is, or add some thinly sliced pork, seafood, or eggs to make it heartier.