Zaru Soba (ざるそば) is cold buckwheat noodles with dipping sauce. It is a cool noodle dish often served in summer in Japan. Zaru means a colander or a strainer in Japanese, and cold Soba noodles are usually served on a slotted bamboo mat that lets water drip through. Zaru Soba is a great dish to beat brutal summer heat and humidity in Japan.
Chicken Udon (鶏うどん) is Udon noodles and chicken thigh pieces cooked in hot soup. It is an easy and light meal, but satisfying enough to stand alone. Chicken Udon is a good food to eat at anytime, but this hot noodle soup is especially delicious in cold seasons.
Mitarashi Dango (みたらし団子) is one of many very traditional Japanese Mochi sweets. Small round Mochi balls are skewered on bamboo sticks and covered with a gooey sweet and salty brown sauce. Mitarashi Dango is a great snack and quite satisfying without being overly sweet. You may want to try it one afternoon with hot green tea.
Kinpira Sweet Potato (さつまいものきんぴら) is braised sweet potato seasoned with Soy Sauce and sugar, just like Kinpira Gobo or Kinpira Carrot. This is a great small side dish that goes very well with any kind of entree, fish or meat. Or make it as a snack to have with tea in the afternoon.
Kinpira usually means Kinpira Gobo which is braised burdock root and carrot cooked in a sweet and salty sauce, but here we made it with Japanese sweet potato. Japanese sweet potato has yellow meat with purple skin, and it is quite dense and sweet when cooked. The American counterpart, often called a yam, has orange flesh, is less starchy than the Japanese kind, and has more water content. It is much easier to find Japanese sweet potatoes at local stores today, and you can most likely find them at American supermarkets. If you can’t try any Asian market.
Niratama (ニラたま) is stir-fried garlic chive/Chinese chive and scrambled egg. A variation of Nira Tama is similar to a Chinese dish, but what we made here is more home-cooking than anything else. Nira Tama is easy to make with simple ingredients, so it can be an additional side dish for an everyday dinner.
Ham Katsu Sandwich (ハムカツサンド) was known as “Katsu” sandwich in the 70s and 80s in Japan, and it was more thriftily made with ham rather than with Tonkatsu pork or chicken cutlets. Ham Katsu soaked in a savory sauce is a perfect filling by itself for this simple and nostalgic sandwich. without lettuce or cabbage or any condiments.
Ham Katsu (ハムカツ) is Panko-coated deep-fried thinly sliced ham. It was a popular food in the Showa era (1926-1989) in Japan. Ham Katsu has been more of a nostalgic food than anything else, but it’s getting more attention lately, and making a small come-back in the restaurant scene there.
Demon Slayer Bento (鬼滅の刃 牛鍋弁当) is a popular Bento that appeared in the mega-hit anime movie Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. It is a beef bowl or Sukiyaki beef over Steamed Rice in a Bento box. Whether you like this anime series or movies or not, this is one of the great tasting train station Bento of all time.
Abura Zomen (油そうめん) is Somen noodles stir-fried with meat and vegetables. It is a Japanese southern island regional food, but there are no hard-to-get ingredients or difficult steps in the recipe. This easy-to-make but tasty noodle dish will appeal to a lot of people from the young to the old.
Abura Zomen is originally from the southern Amami islands of Kagoshima, Kyushu. The name means “Oil Somen noodle,” but it’s not greasy at all. It uses a not insignificant amount of water, or Dashi stock if you prefer, in the process of making fried noodles, so it may really be more braising than stir-frying. The water and oil emulsify along the way, and it becomes like a thin sauce for the noodles.
Fried Squid Ring (イカリングフライ) is squid sliced into “rings,” coated with Panko and deep-fried. It could be an appetizer dish to go with drinks or a tasty entree for dinner.
Fried Squid Ring is more a home cooking dish than restaurant food. It can be served at some diner-type restaurants, but more often, you may find it at Izakaya, food and drink bars. It is like fried calamari in the US, but Fried Squid Ring is definitely always coated with Panko bread crumbs.