By Azusa | Published:
October 26, 2011
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.
Posted in Contemporary Recipes, Vegetables | Also tagged avocado, bake, gratin, japan, lemon, mayonnaise, panko, shoyu, tomato, vegetarian, wafu, wasabi |
By Azusa | Published:
May 27, 2011
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 [...]
By Azusa | Published:
February 13, 2011
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 [...]
By Azusa | Published:
January 30, 2011
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 recipe [...]
By Azusa | Published:
January 13, 2011
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 [...]
Posted in Recipes, Traditional Recipes, Vegetables | Also tagged aburaage, carrots, chikuwa, dashi, green beans, hijiki, lotus root, shiitake, stew |
By Azusa | Published:
September 28, 2010
There’s no escaping the record-breaking 113 degree weather in Los Angeles. It wouldn’t be so bad except my husband and I are all about gaman. That means we’re the only crazy people on our street to tough it out and not turn on our air conditioning. I had to figure out a dinner plan that [...]
By Azusa | Published:
September 18, 2010
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 [...]
By Azusa | Published:
January 28, 2010
Recently, when my mom visited LA, we took her to some of our favorite spots and she liked Shin Sen Gumi Yakitori and Shabu Shabu the best. The restaurant is on the second floor in an outdated Asian mall-like structure on the corner of Atlantic and Garvey in Monterey Park. I remember passing it countless [...]
By Azusa | Published:
January 20, 2010
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 was [...]
