Japanese love mayonnaise. They bake it on toast, on pizza, toss it straight up with sliced cabbage, and mix it with mentaiko (spicy cod roe). Here, it’s combined with shoyu and wasabi, poured over sliced avocados and tomatoes, and baked. Maybe it sounds strange, but I was immediately drawn to this recipe.
This is a classic Japanese recipe. It’s one of those sides you see tucked into a corner of a bento. Easily overlooked, but one of my favorites. You could also use black sesame, which also is delicious and looks more dramatic. I used a Japanese mortar and pestle to grind the sesame, but I’ve seen […]
Have you eaten a cooked radish? Lately, the recipes I’ve come across all seem to use them in raw form. I love the crunch of a raw radish in a salad or tea sandwich, but there’s something more exciting about a radish that’s been slow simmered. Cooking it brings out a mellow sweetness with a […]
The texture of gobo (burdock root) is like no other because of its fibrousness. When stir fried, it has an interesting crunch and when simmering in a stew, it becomes soft, but always retains its unique woodsiness. Deep frying it, however, is another matter. The edges of the fritter become light and crisp while the […]
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’ve decided to be a pescatarian for a month, just to see if it will make me feel any different. I’m not a huge meat eater, but I consume it out of habit, without thinking. This month, I want to be deliberate about what I put into my body and part of this is making […]
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 […]
This curry stands out for its variety of textures and flavors: the firm and sweet kabocha, the tangy and squishy tomatoes, the velvety eggplant, the amazingly crunchy renkon… every bite, coated in a robust curry, is different and interesting. But before I get into that, I have to mention I’ve fallen into a slump. I […]
Happy Thanksgiving! I never had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner growing up, so I can’t offer a tried-and-true turkey or stuffing recipe. The closest thing I have to offer is a classic Japanese pumpkin dish. My grandmother is big on kabocha, saying it prevents cancer. She’s from Hiroshima, which means she calls kabocha “nankin” and says […]
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 […]
