Eating Japan!

I love taro root (satoimo), and I love finding new ways to use it. This furry, starchy tuber has a wonderful texture when simmered. This makes a good bento side, but is excellent served hot as well. Most of the recipes I’ve seen for this involve a lot of sugar, [...]

So to continue with the kinpira theme, here is a konnyaku kinpira with shiitake and sesame. Konnyaku, konjac, yam cake, devil’s tongue jelly… all names for a unique, yet versatile, Japanese ingredient. Konnyaku is a firm, gelatin substitute made from the corm of the konjac plant. It has very little [...]

Happy Halloween! I know everybody loves the sweet, spicy, earthy kinpira gobo recipe I posted back in August, but I have another one to share with you. It is less sweet, more salty, quicker to make and perfect for the upcoming holiday season (erm, if you observe Japanese New Years [...]

I love shiitake dashi, and I use it all the time. Dried shiitake are very flavorful and full of umami. This dashi is 100% vegetarian/vegan and very flexible. As with all dashi, there is no one established “right” way to make it. This is simply the base I use for [...]

Okay, a really quick one! I love tsukemono (pickled things), especially fast recipes that I can throw together five minutes before bed and have delicious pickled veggies with my breakfast. Hakusai no sokuseki-zuke is just that. Slightly spicy, sweet and delicious cabbage pickles go great with steamed rice, grilled fish, [...]

Ekiben, or “Railway bento” are a particular type of bento that I really hadn’t heard of until I went to Japan the first time. Ekiben are simply bento served at train stations and on trains. When trains started to be a big deal in Japan, and a lot of people [...]

Tsukune is so awesome and simple to make. Everybody loves these things. Tsukune is, simply enough, a Japanese-style chicken meatball usually served in izakaya and yakitori restaurants. I’ve seen them (and eaten them) made in so many different ways that there doesn’t seem to be one “correct” way to do [...]

Nikujaga is a simmered, sweet Japanese meat and potato stew. All my Japanese cookbooks proclaim “Men love this dish!”, but it really appeals to anyone who is a meat-and-potatoes lover. You want to make sure to use starchy potatoes and fatty meat for this dish. I found some perfect fingerling [...]

Saba shioyaki time! Okay, so you’ve already learned how to make salmon shioyaki, and you’ve all learned how to clean and cut saba (mackerel), now we can combine those two techniques to make the incredibly easy and delicious dish. saba shioyaki. This is a really simple recipe, so let’s get [...]

Black cod kasuzuke very delicious, very popular in the U.S. and surprisingly easy to prepare. Black cod can be a bit pricey, but I assure you; it’s worth it. I had this dish for the first time at Maneki in Seattle’s International District years ago and I fell in love [...]

Hey Sparkeysf! Thanks for the questions... When I got my tsukedaru (wooden pickling bucket) home, I made sure to wash it ...

Hello, I just noticed that you used a Japanese wooden container for your miso. I just finished making a ...

Oooh, thanks for the heads-up on the Reply button thing... I think I got it working now :P Good luck with ...

Hey Matthias, The reply button is not working but thanks so much for the fast reply. I've got a better ...

You *absolutely* can, VT. In fact, most American Japanese restaurants use only katsuobushi dashi. My post on making this dashi ...

Hey, instead of using iriko, can you use Katsuobushi? Is one or the other better or are either fine to ...

That sounds really good... thanks for sharing! Shoyu is really just Japanese soy sauce... there are differences in the two, ...

That's a good question! You totally *can* use fresh shiitake, however, bear in mind that they will not be nearly ...

Can't we substituted dried shitake with the fresh one? Coz I prefer the fresh one.. :<

cheers, just made this and it's tasting pretty awesome. I didn't do chunks though, i did thin strips - konyaku, carrot, ...