Savory rice with mushrooms and just a hint of ginger. My mom made this when we visited over the holidays and it reminded me how much I love this dish. There are 3 types of mushrooms used here: shimeji, shiitake, and eringi. First, the mushrooms are cooked in dashi and strained. Then, you take this […]
For my first Foodbuzz Project Food Blog challenge (please head over here—voting starts September 20!), I decided to take on a favorite of mine, inari zushi. We make it every year when we visit my husband’s family for Oshogatsu (Japanese New Year) in San Juan Bautista. I’m there with the aunties, cousins, and neighbors, year […]
As a kid I called it “suki yucky” because I was tickled by the oxymoron (suki means like or love in Japanese). Sukiyaki was a treat growing up. My mom would plop the portable electric stove on the dining table and the meat, vegetables, and tofu would bubble as we filled our bowls, then dipped […]
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 […]
We sunk our teeth into a juicy piece of stewed daikon and savored the sweetness of the slow-cooked daikon, the rich saltiness of the miso, and the zesty citrus. The preparation is a little obsessive, but I guess you learn to expect that with Japanese cooking. After peeling the skin of the daikon and cutting […]
I made takikomi gohan for my roomate when I was in college and she thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. She raved about it, but I was a little embarrassed since all I did was pick up a package at the store, wash the rice, empty the pouch of prepared vegetables, and […]
This is what they mean when they say umami. I say this surprisingly because the recipe was relatively simple. Slices of pork loin (I used kurobuta from the Japanese market) goes in a quick 5 minute marinade, gets a coat of katakuriko (potato starch), then pan fried and cooked in a shoyu, mirin, and sugar. […]
If you don’t have nimble fingers, no matter. This gyoza is simple to assemble—the most low-maintenance version I’ve seen. The gyoza skin is filled, folded in half, and the top section is pinched at one point. No laborious crimping, no fear of air pockets, no mending needed when the filling pokes out. The filling is […]
Fall has been slow to arrive in Los Angeles, but that didn’t stop me from making this milky miso soup. The salty miso, sweet kabocha, and creamy broth were nothing but a recipe for comfort. I liked it so much I might switch to making milk misoshiru in the fall and winter months, and back […]
