Today,there are more and more people getting interested with Japanese recipes. Why?  Because they aren’t only taste good, but they are also comparatively healthier than their American counterparts. So, if you have always think of trying Japanese food but find that taking raw meat is a bit repulsive, now below are Japanese recipes that you might wish to try out.

Yakitori (焼き鳥)

Main dish: Yakitori
This is the popular Japanese recipes especially among the children because of its sweet sauce.

Ingredients:
-    Chicken parts such as thigh meat or liver
-    Negi *
-    4 tablespoons of Japanese Soy Sauce
-    Japanese cooking wine or Japanese Sake
-    3 tablespoons of sugar
-    Honey-    Bamboo skewers

*Substitute Negi with leeks or green onion if not available

Preparation:

1.    Cut and divide the chicken into small cubes size about 2 to 3 centimeters.
2.    In a saucepan, pour in all the liquid ingredients and mix with sugar then simmer with low hear. Wait until the sugar is completely melted.
3.    Marinate the chicken with the sauce and set aside for about 30 minutes. 4.    Cut the Negi into 3 centimeters long while waiting for the marinade to seep in.
5.    When the chicken gets ready, alternately skewer chicken with leeks.
6.    Grill to perfection. Be careful not to burn them.

Gomaae (胡麻和え)

Side Dish: Gomaae
This spinach based Japanese recipes complements Yakitori.

Ingredients:

-    Fresh Spinach
-    2 tablespoons sugar
-    1 tablespoon of Japanese Rice Wine
-    2 tablespoons of ground sesame seeds
-    2 tablespoons of Miso (Soybean paste)

Preparation:

1.    Blanch the spinach.
2.    Dry out the leaves by patting them with dry kitchen cloth or paper towel.
3.    Once dry, cut them approximately 3 centimeters long.
4.    Mix with other ingredients in a different container.
5.    Toss the spinach to the mixture and serve.

Congee or porridge is a healty food for Chinese. We like to start our day off with a  hot bowl of congee for breakfast. A plain congee works well with fried dough (油条 you tiao) and others Chinese pickled dish.

In this post I am going to combine Chinese porridge with a Japanese style bonito flakes broth. And we go a bit luxurious rather than having a simple plain congee, by using Crabs as main ingredients.

Look at the picture, mouth-watering Japanese-Chinese combination with wonderful aroma from the sea. YUM

Check out the ingredients and TRY this gourmet dish at your own kitchen!! 

Ingredients :
2 cups rice.
2 crabs.
1 cup cold water, for soak rice.
1 stalk of coriander leaf, chopped for garnish.
1 spring onion, chopped for garnish.
Pepper to taste.
Low sodium soy sauce to taste.

Seasoning:
1 tsp fine salt.
1 cup Japanese rice wine.
1 tsp MSG.
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce.

For Bonito Flakes Broth:
2 litre water.
60g bonito flakes.
40g dried kelp (konbu), soak until soft.
30g ginger, crashed.

Preparations:

To prepare bonito flakes broth

Bring the water to a boill in a saucepan, pour in bonito flakes, kelp and ginger. Stop the heat immediately.
Filter off any foam and allow the bonito flakes to settle on the bottom of the pan. Strain the broth through a fine sieve paper towel. Remove from the heat.

Clean crab with a brush. Remove shell and inner organs. Chop off legs and cut the crab into 4 pieces.
Soak the rice in a saucepan with 1 cup of cold water overnight or at least 1 hour to get a softer and fluffier texture of rice.
Heat the saucepan, add prepared bonito flakes broth and bring to a boil. Add the crabs and reduce to low heat.
Continue to simmer until the rice break, thick and smooth.
Return to a boil over high heat and add all seasoning to taste. Remove from heat.
Ladle the porridge into a bowl, garnish with coriander, spring onion and pepper before dish out.

Ingredients:

1 radish (daikon)

Miso paste seasoning:

300g miso paste
135g fine sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup Japanese sake

Preparations:
Wash and rinse radish, halve and slice into 3cm thick pieces. In a medium bowl, combine the seasoning sauce and mix well until the sugar had dissolved. Place radish slices in a bowl and sprinkle with some salt. Gently toss well and press them with heavy object for 8 hours, stir often to release the excess moisture. Remove and dry with kitchen towels. Spread a layer of miso sauce in radish slices, top with another layer of miso sauce mixture. Set aside and let rest for 16 hours, mix often. Remove miso sauce from radish. Chill them in refrigerator. Rinse with some water, drain and cut into bite size then serve.

It is really convenience nowadays if you just visit an Asian market, you can get more of these instant ingredient easily. All the ingredients needed and instructions of how to prepare are included. So, you’ve only got to prepare some fresh ingredients like pork or chicken, tofu and other vegetables depending on your needs. Then enjoy cooking and have you food Done in just 15 minutes or less !!

Some of my favorite instant dishes

Stir-fry Pork with Miso

Easy Step by Step Instructions

Season Limit Product:

Chicken & Vegetables in Cream —YUMm:)

Step by step instructions on how to cook..

Cook you dish in just 15 minutes or less.

So, do some shopping first and store some of your favorite Japanese ingredients then..  Enjoy the Free and Easy Instant Japanese dishes.

Enjoy it!!

Here is the free and easy recipe  for those who love Japanese style salad – Pumpkin with almond salad. Mayonnaise , fresh cream and sugar play the main role here. Just prepare more to keep in the freeze. The next day, you will get the tasty mixture of 3 ingredients mixed into the pumpkin. Try this out, and let me know if you like the cool Yummy taste then!

Almond Pumpkin (kabocha) salad

Ingredient : ( 4 servings):
-   250g pumpkin squash
-    3 tbsp mayonnaise
-    2 tablespoons fresh cream
-    1/2 teaspoon sugar

Preparations:
Peel the hard skin from the pumpkin, cut it into large bite-size pieces. Boil the pumpkin pieces with hot water until tender. Drain and allow to cool. Combine mayonnaise, fresh cream and sugar in bowl then add the pumpkin & toss well. Transfer the pumpkin to the serving plate and sprinkle with some almond slices if you preferred.

As for me, I like to prepare more to keep in the freeze and take the next day. The mixture of mayonnaise and creame into pumpkin squash is somehow… “Yummy” as the time goes..

Shabu shabu is one of the Japanese hot pot dishes and most enjoyable winter dishes. The array of ingredients is prepared in advance. Ingredients such as thinly sliced meat, vegetables and other ingredients are cooked in a skillet on the table making it possible for hosts to relax and enjoy a convivial meal with theiï½’ guest.

Japanese beef with Shabu-shabu:

Ingredients: (Makes 4 servings)

700g sirloin beef, thinly sliced
15 spring onions (scallions), diagonally and thinly sliced
3 carrots, cut into thin round slices
400g button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 Chinese cabbage, chopped to bite-sized
1 block cotton tofu, cut into bite-sized cubes
2 litres chicken stock
Japanese short-grain rice, cooked
ready made shabu shabu sauce

Preparations:

Arrange the prepared vegetables, tofu and meat in separate piles on a serving platter. Cover with kitchen wrap and refrigerate before cooking. Position the serving platter and electric wok so they are within easy reach of each diner. Pour the stock into the electric wok, cover and bring to a simmer. Each diner then picks up an ingredient or two with thier chopsticks and places it in the simmering stock for about 1 minute or until cooked. Do not overcook, the vegetables should be just tender and the beef still pink in the centre.Skim off any foam and repeat cooking. The food is then dipped into the sauce and eaten with the rice. The remaining stock can be served as soup at the end of meal.

I Wish you A Very Happy New Year 2009.

新年、明けましておめでとう御座います。 旧年は大変御世話になりました、本年も宜しくお願いします。m(_)m

Today is the 1st day of year 2009. Let’s talk about the Japanese Osechi-Ryori.

Osechi (御節) originally referred to a season or significant period. New Year’s Day was one of the five seasonal festivals (五節句 gosekku) in the Imperial Court in Kyoto. This custom of celebrating particular days was introduced from China into Japan. These days are called Jinjitsu (人日, January 7), Johshi　(上巳, March 3), Tango　(端午, May 5), Tanabata (七夕, July 7), and Choyo (重陽, September 9). Japanese celebrated these seasonal festivals (節句) with the special dishes ’Osechi’.

But, nowadays Osechi ryori is taken over as the special New Year cuisine eaten from January 1 through January 7 (Jinjitsu 人日). Osechi are easily recognizable by their special boxes called jūbako, which resemble bentō boxes. Like bentō boxes, jūbako are often kept stacked before and after use. The most common is a stack of three boxes.
The dishes that make up osechi each have a special meaning celebrating the New Year.
Some examples are:

• Daidai (æ©™), Japanese bitter orange. Daidai means “from generation to generation” when written in different kanji as 代々. Like kazunoko below, it symbolizes a wish for children in the New Year.

• Datemaki (伊達巻 or 伊達巻き), sweet rolled omelette mixed with fish paste or mashed shrimp. They symbolize a wish for many auspicious days. On auspicious days (晴れの日, hare-no-hi), Japanese people traditionally wore fine clothing as a part of enjoying themselves. One of the meanings associated with the second kanji includes “fashionability,” derived from the illustrious dress of the samurai from Date Han.

• Kamaboko (蒲鉾), broiled fish paste. Traditionally, slices of red and white kamaboko are alternated in rows or arranged in a pattern. The color and shape are reminiscent of the rising sun, and have a celebratory, festive meaning.

• Kazunoko (数の子), herring roe. Kazu means “number” and ko means “child”. It symbolizes a wish to be gifted with numerous children in the New Year.

• Konbu (昆布), a kind of seaweed. It is associated with the word yorokobu, meaning “joy”.

• Kuro-mame (黒豆), black soybeans. Mame also means “health,” symbolizing a wish for health in the New Year.

• Tai (鯛), red sea-bream. Tai is associated with the Japanese word medetai, symbolizing an auspicious event.

• Tazukuri (田作り), dried sardines cooked in soy sauce. The literal meaning of the kanji in tazukuri is “rice paddy maker”, as the fish were used historically to fertilize rice fields. The symbolism is of an abundant harvest.

• Zōni (雑煮), a soup of mochi rice cakes in clear broth (in eastern Japan) or miso broth (in western Japan).

       Japanese Food Ramen Clip.

Cool..Ya! Stay Tune for more.