Niku Jaga is a Japanese style meat and potato stew that’s quick, easy, and reheats well. It’s a soy sauce-based stew, so this dish is packed with that umami flavor Japanese food is so well known for. You can also make this dish with pork, chicken, venison, bison, or turkey. It’s very flexible and versatile.
Nabe is not so much one specific recipe as it is a style of eating. The entire family sits around a table laden with cut veggies and meats, a burner, and a very large pot of boiling broth. Each person has rice and their own dipping sauces, and everyone selects what they would like, adds it to the pot, and starts eating. It’s a very interactive meal; great for cold winter nights or dinner parties.
Ebi Fry, AKA Japanese fried shrimp, is a Western style shrimp tempura dish created in the early 1900s. It’s most popular in bento boxes because it tastes wonderful both warm and at room temperature. It also holds up well to being frozen and defrosted, like many bento boxes are. I like this dish because it’s crunchy (who doesn’t love crunchy food!?) and showcases the subtle flavors of the shrimp.
I’m going to preface this post with a simple statement; I love Chinese food, all kinds of Chinese food. Japanese style, American style, Korean style, authentic… it’s all deliciously bold and flavor packed.
Age Dashi Tofu is a classic Japanese side dish that is positively heavenly. When I was living in Japan, I used to eat this weekly at the Waseda Dining Hall, where they have perfected the art of this subtle dish.
To all my faithful readers, I’m sorry I missed this past week. I try my best, but sometimes I just can’t get something posted in time. The good news is, I don’t plan to skip posts for the holiday since I missed two already. Alright, back to the food…
Tonjiru is a Japanese classic comfort food. It’s that meal people make when camping or on cold winter nights to warm up while they sit under the kotatsu. It also happens to be a favorite food of mine and is super easy to make.
The name of this dish directly translated from the Japanese is more like Ginger Stir Fry, but shouga-yaki (しょうが焼き) is usually made with pork, so I tweaked the English translation.
I love food, but Tonkatsu is probably my favorite food ever (although every food I cook is probably a “favorite”). Why do I love it so much? Well, it is both a Japanese AND German food, although I’m sure it was German first 🙂
Karaage is by far one of my all time favorite foods. While I was living in Japan, I stopped at Lawson everyday to get a stick of Karaage to satisfy my never-ending craving for this Japanese-style fried chicken.
Kabocha nimono is a staple for any Japanese diet. It’s one of those dishes that goes well with everything and is just as good when reheated. Usually when I make this dish, I just Google it. This particular time I used the recipe from Kanako’s Kitchen, which came out really well. Although to be honest, recipes don’t really vary much.
MY UMAI 