You can’t go wrong with caramelized onions, even in muffin form—even in muffin form with no eggs (!). The recipe is from an (almost) vegan Japanese cookbook titled, “Meal-like Cakes and Muffins You’ll Want to Eat Everyday,” which is very wordy when loosely translated by me. Despite the skepticism I had about the lack of […]
When we have dinner guests, this Beer Beef Stew with Bacon and Shimeji is often on the menu. I didn’t think twice about including it in this month of recipes until my husband pointed out that he didn’t know it was Japanese. What makes a recipe Japanese? The source? The technique? The ingredients? The cook? […]
Kakiage tempura is a mixed vegetable tempura, usually with carrots, onion, and gobo. I didn’t have any gobo on hand, so I made it with just the 2 ingredients. Instead of preparing a variety of vegetables and shrimp, what I like about kakiage tempura is its quick and versatile. We had tempura soba the first […]
Hamburger steak is essentially Japanese meatloaf in patty form. Many of the ingredients are the same—softened onions, breadcrumbs, milk, egg, etc. The only difference is meatloaf takes an hour in the oven and this is cooked on a stovetop in minutes. I usually make a sauce that combines tonkatsu sauce, ketchup, and sake, but lately […]
Have you ever had hayashi rice? It’s a beloved dish, right up there with omuraisu and curry rice, but doesn’t get as much attention here in the U.S. I ate it growing up, but it fell off my radar until our last trip to Japan. Quickly, it’s become one of our favorites so I knew […]
I’m going to make this short and sweet. I sprang into action with a kabocha I had in the fridge after watching Mark Bittman’s latest video. I had other plans, but quickly changed course after I saw jammy caramelized onions being smashed into roasted kabocha and layered with fresh ricotta on toast. And wow. I […]
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 […]
