Cooking Japanese Food

We are eating well when we go out. The Sushi and sashimi are so fresh and delicious they melt in our mouthes. The bowls of Udon and Soba noodles just hit the spot. I have tried Takoyaki or octopus balls which are an egg and flour mix with the octopus and devil’s tongue in the middle cooked in egg carton-like iron and eaten with sauce. They are really good. We have also had the best Gyoza (taken from a Chinese dumpling) I have ever had so far in my life.

As we cannot eat out all the time it is a good thing I brought a cookbook along with me or I would never have known what to do with all the items in the grocery stores.

The cookbook is called ‘The Japanese Kitchen’ by Hiroko Shimbo and it has been such a handy resource. The first part of the book is a reference guide to the Japanese names, uses of all the different foods and the history of vegetables, herbs, seaweeds and soy products in Japan. 

According to the book, most of the vegetables and fruits used in Japanese cooking were imported from other countries. Over time they were adapted to the soil and climate and to the tastes of Japanese people. Renkon or lotus root was introduced to Japan from India by way of China almost two thousand years ago. Sweet potatoes were introduced by Spanish conquistadores to the Philippines and to China before reaching Japan. The Japanese have improved the quality and the reddish purple outside contains a very sweet and creamy yellow inside when cooked. (stay tuned as I will be digging up a bunch of these from the kindergarten garden on Thurs.) Noodle dishes such as Ramen also were perfected from a Chinese dish.

As so much of the food is foreign this cookbook has really helped me obtain what I need on my shopping list when I ask for it in the stores. The book also covers implements such as different graters and techniques such as how to make a floral-cut carrot which Tim does with perfection.

The recipes are exciting to read and I have attempted to make several of them. However Japanese kitchens are basic. They don’t have ovens but they do have microwaves with an oven function.  I don’t like cooking with them though so I am not taking the time to figure it out. I have been learning to cook with a two-burner stovetop, a small grill drawer and a rice cooker. It is a challenge especially when it takes half the evening just to plan what gets cooked in what order so it will all be ready to serve at the same time.

I am sure these recipes would be a lot easier for those of us with our massive western kitchens having four burners and an oven at our disposal but women have cooked, as I am learning, in these little basic kitchens for many years without complaining. At least we haven’t heard about it if and when they did. It really is a trade off though as the Japanese women get ingredients we only dream of having.

So, I am persevering and have turned out some great tasting dinners.

A staple is Miso soup with various ingredients; shitake mushrooms, daikon (Japanese radish), little potatoes, carrots and wakame seaweed.

Our favourite vegetable dishes are Kinpira-gobo  (burdock and carrot stir fry with sesame) and Gomae (cooked spinach with sesame  dressing).

For Tim’s birthday I made the festive Sekihan- red bean rice. Azuki beans don’t need to be pre-soaked but they need to be boiled with several water changes one that you keep to add to the rice when you cook it with the beans. This was a delicious pink rice dish and Eleanor ate a lot of it. She even requested it be made into Onigiri (see below) for her lunch the next day.

Chikin-katsu is loved by all of us. These chicken cutlets require a special bread crumb called Panko to make them really crispy. They are served with tonkatsu sauce, shredded cabbage and rice.

Stir fries that include the delicious Gingko nut and grilled fish from salmon steaks to mackerel are also on our house menu as are Soba noodles in hot broth.

Three days a week I make lunch for the kids to take to school. Obento refers to a box of food items in little compartments. I have been making Onigiri as it is their favourite. These rice balls contain sesame and nori (seaweed) and Ella likes smoked salmon in the middle. For the first month I was using a small cup and my hands to form the balls.  This is messy and sticky even though I used salted warm water to try and keep the rice from sticking. Then Eleanor’s favourite cooking show for kids taught us how to drop the rice onto a sheet of saran wrap so it is less messy. Now the kids make their own balls and they love it. They also help make grilled cheese fingers, edamame (soy beans) and cucumber bits.

A popular dish in the fall is called Oden. There is a whole section of the supermarket dedicated to providing all the necessary ingredients. I didn’t recognize one type of food in the packages provided. (When I got home Tim told me they were all chikuwa- processed fish cake). My friend said I had to try making it for the family as it is a delicious warm soup. So she encouraged me to choose some packages and go for it.  I chose some pink, yellow and brown balls, some white stars, a few triangular fish cakes and kombu seaweed. At home I made the broth and the hard boiled eggs and added the rest. The Japanese seem to love experiencing textures in the food they eat. After not loving the bouncy texture of the Mochi (see Equinox blog) I wasn’t sure about the contents of the Oden. We tried it and the broth was good but the balls and stars had a bouncy texture that made it a bit like trying to chew rubber balls. That was too much for our western mouths to handle (except for Tim who is better trained). Oden was not to be had again.