If you need a new way to eat vegetables, this sesame sauce is versatile. Here, I tossed it with steamed carrots cut into matchsticks, but you could also use this on green beans, asparagus, or broccoli. I imagine cooked chicken would be just as delicious. I keep a jar of it in the refrigerator and [...]
I’m always asked for the recipe when I serve this salad. Always. It comes from the Hawaii Soto Mission Cookbook, a spiral bound community book that my husband brought back from one of his business trips. I’ve cooked from it before, but I’ve made this salad more than anything else. The key is the ramen [...]
The sweet and bitter juices of a grapefruit are refreshing on their own, but when doused with a dressing of olive oil, simple syrup, shiso, and wasabi, it’s magic. I know the wasabi may strike you as odd, but trust me on this. The flavor is not overpowering, but just adds to the feeling of [...]
On our trip to Japan in 2010, we visited Togakushi with my dad’s family and friends. The region is known for their soba, so on the last day we went to a soba making class at a restaurant. We were divided into 3 groups and proceeded with the process of vigorous kneading and rolling. I [...]
I stop at the Little Tokyo Public Library from time to time and go through stacks and stacks of food magazines and cookbooks. And this recipe keeps popping up. Harumi Kurihara’s books are my favorite and I noticed this carrot and tuna salad recipe making an appearance in a couple of her books, some Japanese, [...]
Anyone who knows my mom, Yoko, knows she can cook. Her Japanese beer beef stew, crab cream croquettes, chirashi, and spring rolls are some of my absolute favorites. She sets the bar ridiculously high that, because of her, I’m often disappointed when I eat out at Japanese restaurants. Recently my mom sent me this simple [...]
I need to ease back into things here. I’ll start with this simple, delicious salad—a recipe I’ve set aside for a long time. My mom grew these beautiful tomatoes this summer and I carefully carried them with me on the plane, hoping not to bruise them. This isn’t a complicated recipe and I think it [...]
I love the idea of taking an American classic and reinterpreting it with Japanese ingredients. The use of tofu instead of mayonnaise was interesting! The miso, rice vinegar, and mirin all sounded promising! Even the photo looks like it delivers, no? No, something was missing. The recipe was on the right track, but the flavors [...]
Tofu salad usually comes either with a refreshing shoyu-based or a creamy sesame-based dressing. I tend to prefer sesame, but this recipe popped out at me when I was perusing my mom’s collection of Japanese cooking magazines. The colors were beautiful and the combination of textures—the soft tofu, juicy tomatoes, shaki shaki lettuce, and the [...]
