I really like her, she simplifies Japanese food to the shreds for the home cooks. As usual, her tuna donburi looks delicious and simple enough to make.

The most common Japanese pickle we know off are Umeboshi which is a plum pickle often served with rice and gari, pickled ginger used as palate cleansers to accompany sushis and sashimis. Japanese pickles are different from the western pickles which uses vinegar as a preservative agent. Also, ingredients used in picking in the west seems a little more palatable than the ingredients used in Japanese pickles.

In Japan, pickling does not stop at fruits and vegetables, pickling goes way out to rice bran, soybean to even fish. The purpose of tsukemonos is to offer color, texture and aroma to meals in Japan. It is even a good appetizer to start the meal with. The most common ingredient used for pickling in Japan are soy sauce, miso, vinegar, rice bran (nuka), salt, brines and sake lees (sake kasu).

Read here for more info about Tsukemono

I found a really nice website that offers some good recipes to start you off with making your own Japanese pickles. There are three recipes (all vegetarian) of pickling used in the site and they are Salt pickling, rice bran pickling and miso pickling that you can use.

Here’s one of the recipes to check out:

KYABETSU TO NINJIN NO ASAZUKE (pickled cabbage and carrot)

1 small head of regular cabbage (3/4 pound),
the leaves cut into pieces about an inch square
1 medium sized carrot, cut into matchstick slices about an inch long
1 Japanese cucumber, unpeeled and cut into matchstick
slices about an inch long
4 tablespoons of salt

Method:
Place vegetable slices into the pickle press (or jar) and add one teaspoon of salt, mix well by stirring with your hands. Add the second teaspoon of salt and mix again. Add the final tablespoon of salt and mix well. Clamp on the top of the pickle press and screw down the lid until it pushes down tightly on the top layer of vegetables. Leave under pressure overnight or for at least 10 hours. Remove the pickles from the press and place them in a colander, wash them well to remove salt, pat them dry and serve.

I would like to introduce you to a really, really cute and informative site about making your own bento boxes called Just Bento. The pictures and ideas are really awe-inspiring. It makes ME want to make a bento and eat off it right now.

Just look at some of the bento boxes you can find there:

What’s awesome about this site is it even does a calorie count for you.

I’ve only had the opportunity to eat Daifuku once and I must say, I prefer this to plain mochi because the filling always gives a wonderful surprise when you take a bite. I found this really useful video on how to make daifuku:

Rice for breakfast in Japan is not an unusual thing. In the west, eating rice for breakfast may seemed a bit weird because it’s just not the same as bacon, eggs, toasts or cereal and milk. But look at it this way, people eat healthy carbs for breakfasts, the Japanese does too - with rice.

Tamago kake Gohan is essentially piping hot rice with an egg broken into it. The concoction is usually stirred and the hot rice will semi-cook the egg. It is not unlike softboil egg on rice except it is all mixed together.

What you need is:
1 egg
1 bowl of hot rice
soy sauce

Method:
1. Crack egg in a plate, season with some soy sauce to taste. Stir to combine.
2. Take out the bowl of hot rice, make a center in the middle and pour the egg mixture in. Stir well and eat it with your favorite Japanese pickle and a side of miso soup.

This is the easiest, most nutritious breakfast on the go if you think about it. If you have left over rice from last night, just heat it up in the microwave with a sprinkle of water and crack and egg in. Hey, Rocky drank eggs every morning, i don’t see why we can’t eat eggs and rice. Seems like a yummier version, if you ask me :)

I wrote about Niigata and the sake festival that’s coming up but one thing I would like to point out is the quality of rice that comes out from that prefecture. You see, rice is an integral, if not most essential, part of cooking in Japan. It’s importance is unsurmountable although modern day foodies have claimed that the importance of rice has dwindled in the generation. What I mean by insurmountable is the fact that, despite it’s supposed dwindling importance, rice has managed to remain in the modern day Japanese’s lifestyle in more ways than one — it is here to stay.

For example, the rice cakes (onigiri) that so many love as snacks daily regardless of age or trend. Or mochi, that sweet chewy stuff everyone loves and cannot do without during the New Year? Or sake, a drink that is importantly popular and unique to Japan and sushi, the mother of all Japanese food to the commercial world. All of these foods need rice and the best rice comes from the Niigata region, touted as the rice capitol of Japan.

Niigata is known throughout Japan as the home of Koshihikari rice, sworn by many to be the best in Japan. The region is also known for its severe winters and heavy snowfall. The Echigo Plain, sometimes referred to as Japan’s rice belt, stretches far and wide around the city of Niigata, home to around 810,000 people. Niigata’s abundant harvest of high-grade rice yields some of the most sought-after sakes and rice crackers in Japan.

Read more…

You can read more about the region in the link above but there is one recipe that I would love to share with you. It’s a specialty from west of Niigata called Sasazushi. It’s bamboo leaf wrapped sushi and it’s especially similar to it’s South East Asian counterpart called Lemang, glutinous rice cooked in bamboo casing. In any case, it looks something like these although there is no set ways of making it and recipe varies from family to family.

Nigiri is another type of sushi where the rice is hand pressed instead of rolled out with a nori sheet. While it may seem like the simplest thing to do, it is actually not so simple. Correct pressure and size of the rice roll is crucial in making the perfect nigiri. And some sushi chefs takes years to perfect this skill.

If you apply not enough pressure while pressing your rice, your nigiri sushi will fall apart before you could even pick it up, but if you apply too much pressure, you’ll feel like you’re eating mochi. Either way, it just wouldn’t do.

Here’s a very useful video of making Nigiri demonstrated by some very generous people who put it up on YouTube.

Enjoy!

Watching them making mochi the traditional way is entertaining and educational. It looks hard but that’s how Japanese ancestors have been making mochi to celebrate the new year for hundreds of years. And as always mochi = happy faces :)

Futomakizushi is a specialty in Chiba. The sushis are rolled and designed with flowers or auspicious characters which makes the eating experience a unique one :)

A local specialty of Chiba Prefecture, futomakizushi (large sushi roll), brings together Chiba’s best ingredients from the land and the sea. Cherished at special occasions and gatherings for generations, rolled sushi (makizushi) from Chiba is a sumptuous work of art that, when sliced, reveals a splendid array of colors. Even today, communities and families in the Chiba region proudly carry on the tradition of making this culinary delight.
photo

Chiba Prefecture’s official flower, the rape blossom.

People across Japan are fond of makizushi (sushi roll) which generally comes in two sizes, large futomakizushi and thin hosomakizushi. Makizushi is made by placing cooked white rice mixed with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt on nori (a sheet of dried laver). Thin cucumber sticks, tuna, or other fillings are then placed in the center of the rice, and the nori and rice are rolled around the fillings.

Chiba-style futomakizushi is made by laying down a sheet of nori or a thin layer of omelet, over which is spread cooked white rice. Then reddish or pink rice that has been colored with red shiso (beefsteak leaf) and umezu (plum vinegar) is laid over the white rice, along with kanpyo (dried gourd strips) flavored with soy sauce or sweet rice wine. Popular fillings include asari no tsukudani (Manila clams simmered in soy sauce, sweet rice wine, and sugar), shiitake mushrooms, and green vegetables. The fillings are arranged in a uniform way over the length of the roll so that when it is cut, each slice has the same appearance.

Futomakizushi can be made so that when cut, the fillings reveal vivid patterns including seasonal flowers, animals, kanji characters, cartoon characters, or even people’s faces. Skilled futomakizushi artisans in Chiba are able to create designs of almost anything. Fun as well as tasty, futomakizushi is a food of celebration that brings joy to many people.

read entire article here…

I love chicken rice porridges. I believe rice cook into a congee is called Okayu in Japanese and it’s usually served to those who are malaise and unwell. Well, I believe that porridges are good for you - it gives your digestive system a break and it warms your body’s core, especially on cold winters day. Here’s a Chicken Porridge recipes that is so simple, you can make it every week :)

Ingredients:
1 cup of rice
10 cups of water/ broth
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
100gram of dried oysters, washed and soaked for 15 mins
2 century eggs, quartered
5-8 thin slices of ginger

Topping:
Chopped Spring Onion/Chives
Sesame oil
Pepper

Method:
1. Cook rice and water in a pot for about 30 minutes, until every grain of rice breaks down, rendering the mixture into a thick consistency.

2. Add your dried oysters and ginger slices. You can also start adding your seasoning now too; salt, pepper, oyster sauce and sesame oil.

3. Cook for another 10 minutes. Stirring constantly. It would be easier if you have a rice cooker but otherwise, you would need to lookout for your pot of congee from burning at the bottom of the pot.

4. Now, add your century eggs and let the congee cook for another 10 -15 more minutes before serving.

5. Top it off with some chopped spring onions, a splash of sesame oil and some pepper.