Ikura Pasta

This recipe incorporates both the wild sockeye salmon and its gorgeous roe. Sockeye salmon eggs are smaller and redder in colour than other salmon eggs. They provide a beautiful contrast to the green shiso and seaweed. Also, because of their smaller size, the sockeye salmon eggs mix well with the pasta.

Ingredients:

noodles (spaghetti or linguine)

shizo leaves

dried seaweed

cooked sockeye salmon

sockeye salmon eggs

soy sauce

sake

mirin

butter

olive oil

salt and pepper

Method:

If you are fortunate to have caught a gorgeous sockeye salmon for dinner, you must de-bone and carefully remove the egg sac. Rinse the egg sac lightly and carefully open up and remove the eggs by using your fingers to rub gently over a mesh surface. Do not break the eggs. Place the eggs - ikura - in a bowl with a marinade of soy sauce, sake, and mirin. Marinate overnight. Broil or barbecue a side of the salmon to your liking and separate into flakes. Place the dried seaweed in water and strain after a few minutes. Strain the marinated ikura and put some aside as the garnish. Cook the pasta and strain. Add a small amount of butter and olive oil to a pan and saute the noodles quickly. Turn off the heat and mix in the strained ikura (do not cook the ikura), flaked salmon, chopped shiso and seaweed into the pasta. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish each dish with a whole shiso leaf and a spoon of ikura. Gochisosamadeshita! (Bless this food!)

Cohi Jello (Coffee Jello)

Cohi Jello is a culinary paradox: made from humble ingredients, it is the epitome of an easy, elegant, and exquisite dessert. Relatively fat-free, it is perfect on a sultry summer day after a luncheon or dinner party. As you can imagine, cohi jello is insanely popular throughout the hot and humid summer months of Japan.

Ingredients:

4 cups good quality coffee

4 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp gelatin powder

8 Tbsp water

whipped cream for topping

chocolate coffee beans for garnish

Method:

Mix gelatin powder and water in a small bowl. Mix coffee, sugar, and gelatin in a medium sauce pan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Strain mixture and pour into 8 fancy crystal glasses or 8 humble jam jars, depending upon the mood and the occasion! Chill. Before serving, add a dollop of whipped cream on top of each jello and garnish with chocolate coffee beans. Serves 8 lucky people.

Kimpira Gobo

Burdock is a widely used Asian vegetable; its humble appearance hides an excellent source food source. With its long thin woody root and bark like skin, it is crunchy and filled with fibre and nutrition. Burdock can be prepared in a variety of ways including soups, stir fries, curries, stews, salads, and marinades. This recipe is a favorite Japanese side dish, steeped in tradition, that is usually served at wedding celebrations.

Kimpira Gobo (Sauteed Burdock and Carrot) - serves 4

Ingredients:

1 medium burdock root

1 medium carrot

1 ½ tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp sake

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 ½ tbsp white sesame seeds

dried Japanese red chili pepper

Method:

Scrub skin of burdock root.
Cut into julienne strips and soak in water for 10 minutes.

Cut carrot into julienne strips.

Saute carrot and burdock in sesame oil for 3-4 minutes til tender.

Add sake, sugar, soy sauce – cook over medium heat til most of liquid has been absorbed. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and chili pepper.

Variation: Try adding lotus root or celery. Can add leftover beef or chicken – just chop into small bits and sauté with carrot and burdock.

Japanese Herbs

Herbs are used for flavour and for aesthetic appeal in Japanese cuisine. Some of the most common Japanese herbs are shiso, chrysanthemum leaves, mitsuba, kaiware, and sansho.

Shiso consists of large aromatic leaves, either purple or green in colour, that have a distinctive scent and flavour. When served raw with sushi or sashimi, shiso is said to prevent food poisoning because of its antiseptic qualities. Other medicinal tendencies include anti-inflammatory powers with illnesses such as allergies, colds, and arthritis. Otherwise, shiso leaves are used with pickled plums or in tempura and soups. Try adding this lovely herb to salads, sandwiches, or in sauces such as pesto or gremolata.

Mitsuba is a flavourful type of parsley with a crispy texture and a refreshing scent. Added as a garnish to savory custard dishes, soups, and sashimi, it is also used whole in tempura or salads. Mitsuba can be used whenever a stronger tasting parsley is needed.

Kaiware is a type of radish sprout with a hot peppery flavour like watercress. Useful as a spicy garnish, it is excellent in sandwiches, stirfries, and sushi.

Sansho is a pretty herb with a dainty balanced design that is a good seasoning for soups and fish dishes, in particular eel specialties. With its refreshing mint like flavour, sansho is a popular flavour enhancer in Japan. Although somewhat bitter in taste, chrysanthemum leaves are often added to hot pot dishes and stirfries. The flowers are infused to make a celebratory herbal tea served on special occasions like weddings.

Chrysanthemum leaves are used to season Hot Pot or stirfry dishes. Its buds are used for celebratory tea at weddings or other occasions.

Mizutaki Hot Pot

Mizutaki Hot Pot

It's a blustery rainy day, and I have a bad cough and cold, so my husband is making Japan's favourite version of "chicken soup" to help me feel better. Brimming with phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals, a steaming hot bowl of Mizutaki is perfect for strengthening the immunity system and clearing the sinuses. Served often during the chilly days of autumn and winter, this comforting chicken, tofu and cabbage soup is typically served as a communal hot pot. Its health giving benefits are re-enforced with a sprinkle of shichimi togarashi (7 spice chili pepper) or a dab of kanzouri (a citrus flavoured chili paste) – chili is said to relieve muscle aches and provide extra vitamin C.

Mizutaki (Chicken Hot Pot) -(serves 4)

2 lb chicken thighs

1/2 chinese cabbage

2 leeks, sliced thinly and rinsed thouroughly

2 carrots, sliced in flower shapes

1 bunch spinach/chrysanthemum leaves

8 shitake mushrooms

2 cups dashi stock

5 inch piece of konbu kelp

1/4 cup sake

one inch slice of ginger

1 block of Tofu, rinsed

Individual Dipping Sauces:
1/2 cup soy sauce/1/2 lemon juice/1/4 cup broth from pot/small dab of kanzouri chili paste

Method:

Cut first six ingredients into bite-sized pieces and place on large plate.

Make dipping sauce according to taste.

Add stock/kelp/ginger and chicken to communal pot and bring to boil.

Add sake and simmer gently until cooked.

Remove kelp. Add other ingredients and simmer.

Tofu may also be added if desired.

When cooked, dip ingredients into individual dipping sauce and eat with rice.

*After all the ingredients are eaten, rice can be cooked in leftover broth to make a delicious and nutritious rice porridge.

*Kanzouri paste is a refreshing spice made from chili and seasoned with uzu (Japanese citrus).

Kaki Fry

I was first introduced to Kaki Fry in Miyajima, which is a world famous heritage park outside of Hiroshima. It is also an area famous for its delicious oysters. It was November and the weather was sunny and cold. My husband and I were starving after having taken the ferry across the bay to tour the beautifully preserved shrine and park. We had fed the deer and dutifully looked for the wild monkeys, and now it was time to eat lunch.

When I ordered Kaki Fry I had no idea what to expect. Two enormous deep fried oysters, drizzled in tonkatsu sauce, were balanced on top of a shredded cabbage garnish: crisp and crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth taste sensations. I am now a kaki fry addict. Every September, as soon as summer is over, my husband rescues our deep fryer from the bottom of our storage tansu (chest of drawers) and races out to our favourite fish market to buy fresh delicious oysters. We gorge on them for several weeks and then put away the deep fryer until the New Year.

Deep Fried Oysters (serves 4)

Ingredients:

2 dozen fresh shucked oysters

3-4 eggs

tempura flour

panko bread crumbs

salt and pepper

tonkatsu sauce

shredded cabbage salad

cooked rice

lemon wedges

Method:

-rinse oysters in running water, pat dry

-season oysters with salt and pepper

-dredge in tempura flour

-dip in beaten egg

-dredge in panko crumbs

-deep fry until golden brown

-serve with rice and cabbage salad and lemon wedges

-drizzle tonkatsu sauce over oysters

*I mix shredded cabbage with slivered carrot, chopped green onion, and cooked corn, and dress with vinaigrette dressing

*I don't cook white rice anymore because of my husband's high sugar levels (borderline diabetic). Instead I mix 1/3 white rice, 1/3 brown rice, and 1/3 barley and cook together in rice cooker

Yoshinoya - Japanese Fast Food

My family and I were in southern california this August attending the Surf Cup, an annual soccer tournament for aspiring soccer players who want to be spotted by university scouts....Anyway, my Japanese husband was delighted to introduce us to Yoshinoya, a popular fast food restaurant chain in Japan which is popping up in California. For approx. $25.00 US, a family of four can feast on a side salad each, and an ample portion of rice, sukiyaki style beef, and vegetables. Not bad for fast food....