Sashimi (Sliced Raw Fish) is a dish of sliced raw fish, and is a simple dish with no cooking involved. It just requires slicing. All you need is a fresh fish, soy sauce, and wasabi (Japanese horseradish). There are a couple of rules for slicing the fish fillet, but once you get the idea, it’s so easy to make Sashimi. Japanese people say that almost all the fish you catch you can eat as Sashimi. The best Sashimi is the fish you just caught in the sea. You fillet, slice, and serve it on the spot. Nothing can beat Sashimi made like this! Unless you can catch a fish yourself, you need to buy fres ..read more

Karaage Chicken Lollipops are a fancy form of Karaage Chicken. They are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. As the name suggests, a chicken lollipop comes with a bone as a stick, attached to the meat that is shaped into a ball. My Karaage Chicken Lollipops are made with chicken wingettes by pushing the meat and skin down to the end of the bone. By removing one bone (wingettes have two thin bones), it becomes a lollipop-like shape. In Japan, it is not called chicken lollipop, but called tulip chicken (チューリップチキン) because it resembles a tulip. Different ways of making chicken lollipop ..read more

Simmered Bamboo Shoots with Wakame Seaweed is one of a representative spring dishes in Japan. Cooked in a lightly seasoned simmering broth, you can enjoy the original flavours of these two ingredients. As mentioned in my post How to Prepare Fresh Bamboo Shoots, bamboo shoots are a seasonal vegetable and new shoots come out in spring. Similarly, wakame seaweed harvested in spring has the best taste. It is a little bit early to post a spring recipe for the readers in northern hemisphere and it’s almost autumn in the southern hemisphere. But I am currently in Japan and I felt spring is around th ..read more

In today’s post I would like to show you how to pack a Meatball Bento. Meatball Bento is a popular bento box, perhaps because it looks somewhat cute with the small meatballs inside the bento box. Meatballs also freeze well, which is perfect for a bento box. School lunch in Japan often includes meatballs as they are easy for children to eat, and you can make them ahead. There are many variations to the ingredients and the flavours of meatballs, so that you don’t feel like you are eating the same bento again and again, even if you often pack meatballs in a bento box. You can have meatballs made ..read more

My Home-Made Chicken Ham has a simple flavouring, but it is so juicy and tender that you won’t want to buy sliced chicken ham from supermarket anymore. This Home-Made Chicken Ham is called ‘tori hamu’ (鶏ハム) in Japanese. The word ‘tori‘ (鶏) means chicken and ‘hamu‘ (ハム) is ham. It originated in Japan from a recipe posted on an anonymous Internet bulletin board in 2001. Tori hamu is not like a pressed chicken ham. It is made from chicken breast fillet, and the process of making tori hamu is completely different from the commercial chicken ham. It is rather a sous vide chicken, but Japanese peop ..read more

My Summer Vegetable Salad comes in a dashi-flavoured jelly, which has a smooth but firm texture. The small pieces of colourful vegetables scattered in the jelly look like little jewels in a glass. It brings coolness to the table. I decided to post Summer Vegetable Salad in Jelly even if half of the globe is in the middle of winter. It might be even snowing outside, but there is no reason why you can’t eat such a refreshing salad in a warm and cosy room. In most jelly recipes, people use either gelatine or agar (also called agar-agar) as a gelling agent. I used a Japanese equivalent of the gel ..read more

Ham Katsu is a deep-fried, panko coated cutlet made with thinly sliced ham. It is made the same way as Tonkatsu, but a thick slice of pork is replaced by a very thin, round piece of processed ham. This is one of my nostalgic foods that I occasionally get an urge to eat. I must say the authentic Ham Katsu contains a very small amount of protein compared to the coating that consists of flour, egg, and panko breadcrumbs. But this unbalanced proportion makes the cutlet extremely crunchy. About Ham Katsu Ham Katsu originated in Japan after WWII. It is said that pressed ham was created after t ..read more

Taco Rice is a popular Okinawan dish and a modern fusion of Tex-Mex and Japanese cuisines. Instead of putting taco toppings on a corn shell, toppings are put on a bed of cooked rice. It sounds a little bit strange to have taco toppings on rice, but it is surprisingly delicious. The bright colour combination of the toppings is appetising. My taco toppings consist of beef mince, salsa, shredded lettuce, diced avocado, and shredded cheese. The combination of spicy meat, rich and tasty cheese, crispy lettuce, and the sourness of the salsa creates an exquisite harmony in your mouth. Taco Rice – a ..read more

Sushi Canapés are the simplest form of sushi, and they are a pretty finger food. Simply by putting your choice of sushi toppings on rolled rice, you can create a stunning crowd-pleaser. I can guarantee you that everyone will be very impressed with how pretty (and tasty, of course) they are.   It is not very easy to make nigiri sushi properly. Similarly, you need to apply a bit of technique to make neat and tidy Sushi Rolls (Noroimaki) with the fillings in the centre. But you can easily make Sushi Canapés without any trouble at all. The beauty of today’s Sushi Canapés is that it looks as ..read more

Bamboo shoots are in season in Australia, so I thought it would be good to show you How to Prepare Fresh Bamboo Shoots before they disappear from the shops. You simply boil bamboo shoots, but you need to prepare and boil them in a certain way to remove the bitterness in the fresh bamboo shoots. You will be surprised to know how good the flavour of the boiled fresh bamboo shoots is. In Sydney, fresh bamboo shoots only appear in spring at some Asian grocery stores. They are not yet commonly available at supermarkets, but if you find them at a shop, I strongly recommend getting some. The flavour ..read more