Sushi Rolls or Hosomaki are a very basic but popular sushi in Japan. Hoso means thin and maki means roll. We want to say “thin” because there are also thick rolls, Futomaki. While Futomaki has a lot of fillings such as cooked vegetables and sweet fish flakes, Hosomaki rolls only have one skinny filling inside. Because of the simplicity of ingredients and cooking technique, Hosomaki is suitable for home cooking as well as restaurant food.
Sesame Dressing is a mayo based dressing with a burst of sesame flavor that is popular for salad in Japan. It has more calories than soy sauce based dressings, but it tastes so good. There are a lot of bottled sesame dressings at Japanese supermarkets, but it is very easy to make at home.
Stir Fry Vegetables, called Yasai Itame in Japanese, is a common home cooking dish. Nobody really use recipes to make Yasai Itame. You just look in the refrigerator and search for what vegetables to use up. Yes, Yasai Itame is left-over vegetable mishmash or hodgepodge food (a lot of the time anyway).
There is a different type of Yasai Itame in Japan, which is served at Chinese restaurants. There are more Chinese seasonings like oyster sauce and other flavorings in it. That is very good too, but it is a bit more elaborate than what we eat everyday. Here we’d like to recreate a very typical home cooking version.
Udon are Japanese wheat noodles. They are made from all purpose flour, water and salt. Very simple affair, so it seems. Japanese Udon artisans make Udon that look like the ones made by machines. You can see those artisans making Udon noodles through the window at the front of good Udon restaurants. It is actually pretty amazing to watch. Udon is sometimes eaten hot in seasoned broth, but other times, it is eaten cold and dipped in sauce. It is an extremely popular lunch food in Japan and also in the US. A lot of Japanese restaurants in the US serve Udon and stores sell the noodles for home cooking, but you can make it at home. And not just the dish, I mean you can really make the Udon noodles themselves.
The preview of our upcoming Teuchi Udon video! This week, we are hosting #AsiaEats, a collaboration between Tastemade and Google + dedicated to sharing and discovering amazing food from across Asia. This week’s theme is Cold Noodles, and we are showing everyone how to make Udon noodles from scratch. Stay tuned, this Wednesday 10/23/2013, for the new recipe video!
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Share your photos of your favorite cold noodle dish from your own country for the weekly photo competition, by posting them to Google + using the hashtag #AsiaEats, followed by the hashtag #noodles. The winner gets to join our cookalaong Hangout at the end of the month, have their picture feature on the +page, and more!
There are a lot of western (mostly French) cake shops everywhere in Japan. Some cake shops sell more delicate and sophisticated concoctions, and others simpler, everyday snack types. Wherever you go, though, you will definitely find Purin (プリン) in most shops in Japan. There are often millions of new cakes and other desserts to choose from there, but people always come back to something they ate in childhood. Purin is exactly like that. It is a comfort dessert for Japanese people.
Saba Shioyaki is grilled mackerel with salt, and it is a very common everyday kind of seafood dish in Japan. It is a very simple dish, with a flavor that comes only from salt and the fish itself, but you never get tired of it.
Hamburgers are a very popular fast food in Japan just like in the US. However, Japanese people like adding their own flavor to this western favorite. Sweet Teriyaki sauce goes well with grilled (or pan fried ) beef and tangy Japanese mayo. The Teriyaki Burger is a popular Japanese spin on the American classic.
Yakitori is grilled skewered chicken dipped in a Teriyaki-like sauce. It is a very popular appetizer at Yakitori bars and other bar-type restaurants in Japan.
Yakitori could be a dish at your dinner table, but it is more like the food you eat with drinks at bars. A lot of Yakitori bars grill their chicken on a charcoal grill, and the tasty smells of grilled meat and smoke come out to the street to attract customers. People in Japan like to go out to drink after work, and Yakitori bars are one of the most popular places to have a drink.
Green tea flavored desserts are so widespread all over the US today, and it seems like Green tea Ice Cream is as popular here as in Japan. Because green tea goes so well with milk products Green Tea flavor is understandably a delicious choice for ice cream. Green Tea Ice Cream is a Japanese dessert everyone knows in the US even outside Japanese food.