Easy Japanese Recipes

When 36-year-old Miki Noriyuki, on a month long touring trip to the United States, yearning for a morsel of back home, walked into an inviting looking Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles, she was horrified to find what she considered culinary ‘satsujin’, or murder – sushi being served on the same menu as barbecued beef made in Korean style. And the seaweed rolls she ordered came stuffed with smoked salmon and cream cheese! To her mind, such a thing was simply unimaginable. Whatever they may call it, she decided as she walked out of the restaurant without eating anything, this certainly was no Japanese restaurant. And this was not the first time that her delicate sense of Japanese culinary culture had been dismayed.

With so-called Japanese restaurants mushrooming all over the States (and around the globe) actually serving what can best be called Asian fusion food, or simply just bad food, which they pass off as authentic Japanese cuisine, such as phony sake and sloppy sashimi, Miki decided that she had to educate her American friends, Ron and Suzanne, with whom she was putting up, about the real beauty of unadulterated Japanese food.

When she got back to their condo, and recounted her disappointing culinary experience, she explained, "What people must understand is that authentic Japanese food is an art that is highly developed. It engages all the senses – it should use genuine ingredients and be presented beautifully."

Ron, who liked experimenting with various cuisines, and had a particular penchant for the Japanese food he often ordered from the little Japanese restaurant nearby, was intrigued. "So, does that mean that the food I get from Shogun down the road is sham?"

"Well, I must taste it first to know if it is," she replied. "But, according to what I have experienced, the Japanese restaurants that I have been to here, and even in Paris and Hong Kong, although they claim to offer Japanese food, actually serve Chinese, Filipino or Korean food. Our Japanese food culture must be protected," she continued, feelingly.

"In Japanese culinary art," she went on, "The aesthetics of the meal, such as elegant serving bowls and delicate flower arrangements, are as important as the food that is served. It’s not the quantity of the food, but the quality that is prized. The preparation of our Kaiseki-ryori, for instance, can take days, and is presented on plates in small courses, and in combinations of colors that are designed to amuse and delight.

Suzanne, who had been listening with rapt attention, butted in, "So, Miki, why don’t you give us some authentic traditional Japanese food recipes, Ron and I would love to try them out."

Miki thought that was a very good idea, here are some of the easy Japanese food recipes she gave her friends:

Tsukimi Soba

4 Servings of soba noodles (traditional Japanese noodles made of buckwheat)
4 Eggs
1/4 Negi onion (Japanese green onion, similar to leeks)
6 cups Dashi soup (basic Japanese soup stock)
1/3 Cup of soy sauce
2 tbsp Mirin (a type of rice wine, similar to sake, but with less alcohol content)
1/2 tsp Salt

Chop the negi onion finely. Put the soy sauce, salt, mirin, and dashi in a pan and heat them all to make the soup. Boil the soba noodles in another pan, according to the directions given on the package. Once the noodles are cooked, put it into serving bowls, and pour the soup over it. Then, break an egg into each bowl, and spread the onion slices over it all. Serve immediately.

Oyako-Donburi

1/4 Cup chicken breasts
1/2 Cup chicken broth
4 Shiitake mushrooms, soaked
1 Onion
1 Carrot
4 tbsp Soy sauce
2 tbsp Sugar
1/4 Cup green onions, chopped
4 Eggs, beaten
Salt, according to taste

Cut the chicken and mushroom into strips, and slice the onion. The heat oil in a pan and fry the onions and chicken until the meat is tender. Add the chicken broth and cook on low heat. Now add the carrots and mushroom, and a cook for a few more minutes, stirring. Add soy sauce, salt and sugar and pour the beaten eggs into the chicken mixture. Continue cooking on low heat until the eggs are cooked. This goes very well with rice.

Yakitori

1 lb Chicken thighs, boneless
1 1/2 Cups of Mirin
3/4 Cup soy sauce
4 tbsp sugar
1 Clove of garlic, crushed (optional)
1-2 Green onions, cut in inch-long pieces (optional)
8 Bamboo skewers

Take a medium sized saucepan and put the soy sauce, mirin, garlic and sugar into it and cook them over a medium heat, until the sauce reduces to half its quantity. Allow it to cool a little while you prepare the chicken. Chop the chicken into small pieces (it is usual in Japan to keep the skin on). Skewer the pieces of chicken, alternating each piece with green onion. Start grilling the chicken without the sauce at first. When the meat starts to change color, brush the sauce evenly all over, and continue to grill, turning the skewers and continuing to brush with sauce, until done.

Matsutake Gohan

2 1/2 Cups of Japanese rice
1-2 Matsutake mushrooms
2 1/2 Cups of water
1 Abura-age, fried tofu
4 tbsps Sake, rice wine
4 tbsps Soy sauce

First, wash the rice well in a bowl of cold water. Then, draining all the water out, put the rice with the 21/2 cups of water in a rice cooker and put it aside for half an hour. Next, slice the mushroom lengthwise and the abura-age into strips. The add the sake, soy sauce, abura-age and the matsutake into the rice cooker and turn on the switch and cook until done.

Chi Chi Dango Mochi

1 lb of Mochiko, glutinous rice flour
2 1/2 Cups of sugar
1 tsp Baking powder
2 Cups of water
1 Can of coconut milk, (14 ounce)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Red food color
1 1/2 Cups of potato starch

Begin by preheating the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F). Then grease a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Whisk the rice flour, baking powder and sugar together, and put it aside. Then, in a medium sized bowl, mix together the coconut milk, water, vanilla and red coloring, and then blend in the rice flour mixture. Pour this batter into the greased baking pan, cover with a foil and bake for one hour. Then let it cool completely. Next, dust a clean surface with the potato starch and turn the pan of mochi on it. Use a plastic knife to cut the mochi into bite size pieces. This is a delicious Japanese dessert.