Crab Gratin is a casserole dish with crab meat and creamy white sauce that is a popular western style dish in Japan. Piping hot Gratin is a perfect food for warming up during a cold winter.
Furofuki Daikon is thick-cut Daikon radish cooked in Dashi broth and served with seasoned Miso sauce poured on top. When Daikon is cooked in boiling hot broth, it gets very hot, much more than some other ingredients, because of its high water content. Furofuki Daikon is a traditional Japanese winter dish from old times to warm you up, and it is not a coincidence that Daikon is in season and at peak flavor in cold months there.
Harumaki egg roll is a deep-fried packet filled with shredded meat and vegetables, and one of the most popular Chinese foods in Japanese cuisine. In this recipe, instead of shredded meat and vegetables, we stuffed cooked chicken breast, cheese, and fragrant Shiso leaves. It is so much simpler to make Chicken and Cheese Harumaki time-wise (and also “number of ingredient”-wise). These Harumaki are a perfect entree for everyday dinner as well as a great appetizer item for parties.
Have you ever bought Mochi rice cakes for a New Years feast and had too many leftovers? A lot of packaged Mochi today lasts a very long time, but you still may want to use it up in a reasonable amount of time. There are a lot of creative Mochi “recycling” recipes out there, but we suggest this sweet and soft Mochi with Mitarashi Sauce. Originally a Japanese sweet, Mitarashi Dango is skewered Mochi balls. They are grilled and browned first, then a Soy Sauce-based sweet sauce is poured over. Saltiness and a pleasant savory smell from Soy Sauce matches surprisingly well with the rest of the sugary sauce.
Ankake Soba is Soba noodle soup that is thickened with starch. The thick soup not only keeps the dish hot much longer than regular noodle soup, but also coats the noodles with tasty soup in every bite. The soup includes a variety of mushrooms, which add a lot of Umami flavor. Hot and savory soup makes it a perfect hot noodle dish in the cold season.
Madeleines are French sweets that are a cross between cookies and cakes. They are usually baked in shell-shaped molds or a special Madeleine pan with shell indentations. We flavored this traditional French concoction with fragrant Yuzu citrus peel. The distinctive Yuzu citrus aroma is unusual but a surprisingly good match with the buttery rich cake.
Nikumaki Onigiri is a rice ball wrapped with thinly sliced beef and cooked in sweet soy sauce. Although it’s still called Onigiri, Nikumaki Onigiri is a more substantial and satisfying meal than normal Onigiri which is usually wrapped in Roasted Seaweed.
2020 has been crazy for many people including us at Japanese Cooking 101. Who knew that a once-in-a-century kind of pandemic would swirl our lives into chaos this year? With two of us from different households working together to make our videos, we have taken some time off since the lock downs in the end of March in California. Our decision was simply to keep our immediate and extended family members and people surrounding us safe. We have been carefully watching numbers and the medical situation in California, and finally have decided to ease back into a modified version of our normal schedule of video makings. If you are regular visitors to our website and YouTube subscribers, thank you for your patience waiting so long. We are confident we can work together again safely in the well-ventilated kitchen with good precautions such as keeping social distances, wearing masks, and following good hygiene practices.
Daigaku Imo is Japanese candied sweet potatoes. In Japan, it is more a snack or dessert than a sweet potato side dish that belongs to a meal like sweet potatoes in American cuisine. Daigaku Imo is something your mom makes for an after school snack or tea time for the family. Scrumptiously glossy, sweet, and hearty – it’s one of everyone’s favorites. That said, Daigaku Imo could also be an interesting alternative to the usual sweet potato or yam casseroles that are fixtures in holiday meals in the US.
Roast Turkey Breast with Cranberry Soy Glaze is a great alternative dish to a traditional whole roast turkey. The brined succulent white meat with a sweet and tangy cranberry soy sauce can satisfy people who want regular baked turkey and others who want to try something new.