Posts under "Cuisine"

Pickled Food

Posted by Ginny 1 Comment
Oct 3 2011

Pickled food is often a side dish in Japanese cuisine but it’s one of the must-have items that many Japanese households have for meals. Almost anything can be pickled. (Here’s a previous post on some pickled foods: http://www.transparent.com/japanese/pickled-food/) For example Rakkyōzuke (ラッキョウ漬け) is a type of pickled onion that is used as a side dish to curry. The rakkyōzuke is consumed to offset some of the spiciness of the curry.

Kasuzuke (粕漬け) refers to a type of pickling method whereby fish or vegetables are pickled in the yeast of sake (酒). The picture on the left is an example of a fish that has been pickled in sake kasu (酒粕). Sake kasu is a type of yeast that can be found in sake that serves as a powerful pickling agent. When fish is pickled in using sake yeast, there is a pungent to mild taste. However when vegetables are pickled in this way, they can taste sweet or mild.

Nukazuke (糠漬け) is a type of pickling method where vegetables are fermented in nuka (糠) or ‘rice bran’. Some people use cornflakes or wheat bran as an alternative to rice bran, but whatever is used, it is mixed with kelp, salt, water and sometimes wine, beer or ginger. Then vegetables like radish, cucumber, carrots, eggplants are placed in this mixture and left for a few days to ferment. For a strong flavor some people even ferment the vegetables for a month.

Asazuke (浅漬け) is a type of pickling method where vegetables are pickled for a very short time period. Due to the short time period, asazuke vegetables are less pungent and contain some of the original freshness of the vegetable. The vegetables commonly used for asazuke are cucumbers, carrots, daikon (大根) or radish, eggplant and hakusai (白菜) or white cabbage. The vegetables are pickled in salt or vinegar that range from an hour to several hours.

Japanese Mushrooms

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Sep 29 2011

Eating mushrooms is good for the health and tasty too! It’s a good thing that there are many varieties of mushrooms used in Japanese cuisine! Probably the most internationally known Japanese mushroom is a type of mushroom called Shiitake (シイタケ) Mushrooms. Shiitake Mushrooms are sometimes used as garnish for misoshiru or miso soup (味噌汁). They are also good to buy if you have a tight budget because they are relatively cheaper than other mushrooms.

The Enokitake (エノキタケ) mushrooms are easily obtainable mushrooms that you buy at your local supermarket. The ones in the supermarket are cultivated mushrooms. The cultivated variety is long, thin and white colored, but the enokitake mushrooms that grow in the wild are often shorter and darker in color. Enokitake mushrooms are often used in Japanese soups. Studies show that enokitake mushrooms possess antioxidants and may even boost the immune system.

Matsutake (松茸) mushrooms are hard to obtain. That’s part of the reason why they are very pricy. One of the reasons why matsutake mushrooms are so sought after is its smell. Matsutake mushrooms have this spicy, fragrant smell that provides a pleasant odor for soups and stir fried dishes. The demand for matsutake mushrooms is so high in Japan that some Japanese people are willing to buy imported matsutake mushrooms.

 

Maitake (舞茸) mushrooms are fan shaped mushrooms with multiple layers that grow in clusters. This mushroom can be found growing in great quantities in the northeastern part of Japan. It’s especially prized for its medicinal properties and used in Japanese dishes like nabemono (なべ物), which is like a kind of steampot dish. Research shows that maitake contains a wealth of minerals and may even help regulate insulin, glucose and blood pressure.

Japanese Dried Confectionary

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Aug 17 2011

Higashi (干菓子) is a broad term for Japanese confectionary that is dry and sweet tasting. One of the confectionary items that fall under Higashi is Hanakazura (花かずら) is a type of confectionary that is usually cut into rectangular blocks with sweet bean paste on the inside. The sweet bean paste is not very gooey and the outside is made of sugar. The most common filling is sweet bean, but recently I’ve seen a coffee bean version and a sweet soybean version of this kind of confectionary.

Nininsuzuka (二人静) is similar the vanilla wafers that the Nabisco company makes, but is softer. Nininsuka can come in various colors, but the most common colors are white and pink. They are usually wrapped in a type of paper foil that looks a lot like a candy wrapper. Nininsuzuka is a wonderful, sweet snack to have at tea ceremonies. They also don’t rot easily when left opened because they contain very little moisture.

 

Shigure no Matsu (時雨の松) is typically green colored and cylindrical in shape. They are soft and are sometimes coated with a sweet, white flour powder. Due to the dry nature of this confectionary, they are sometimes semi crumbly in texture. Shigure no Matsu looks similar to how a green bamboo stalk would look. Due to the fact that this confectionary looks traditional, it’s often served at traditional tea parties events.

 

Rakugan (落雁) is the most well known confectionary among the many different types of higashi. Rakugan is a type of confectionary that contains rice flour, starch and sugar. Rakugan come in many colors and designs. The really expensive kind of rakugan is made from wasanbon (和三盆), which is a kind of high quality, fine-grained sugar made from the sugarcane plants of Shikoku (四国). The rakugan made from wasanbon is sometimes given as gifts to guests.

Japan’s World Expos

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Jul 10 2011

The ‘World Expo’ is an exhibition that is used by nations to feature their best works in art, architecture and technology. Over the years the Japanese have gone far and beyond in displaying their prowess in many fields. The first World Expo that was held in Japan was in 1970. This Expo is called Osaka Banpaku (大阪万博) because it was held in Osaka. The theme of Expo ’70 was “Progress and Harmony for Mankind”. One of the most famous exhibitions from this Expo was:

Taiyo no to or “Tower of the Sun” (太陽の塔) has three faces that represent the past, present and future.

In 1985, Japan hosted another World Expo called the Kokusai Kagaku Gijutsu Hakurankai (国際科学技術博覧会), also known in English as “The International Science Technology Exposition”. This time the theme was “Dwellings and Surroundings- Science and Technology for Man at Home”. The Expo took place in Tsukuba (つくば市), which was a city in Ibaraki Prefecture (城県). One of the most memorable attractions was the Technocosmos, which at the time was the world’s tallest ferris wheel.

The Technocosmos was modernized and installed with solar panels with air conditioning.

ASIMO

The World Expo in 2005 took place in Aichi Prefecture (愛知県) mainly in the town of Nagakute (長久手町). The theme of this Expo was “Nature’s Wisdom”. One of the major attractions was ASIMO (アシモ). ASIMO was a 130 centimeter robot that could walk. It was made by Honda (本田), one of Japan’s major car manufacturers. Another popular attraction was a recreation of a setting in Hayao Miyazaki’s famous movie “My Neighbor Totoro” (となりのトトロ).

Recreation of "My Neighbor Totoro"

Even though Japan did not host the 2010 World Expo, the Japan Pavilion was still a hit in Shanghai, China. The Japan Pavilion was nicknamed the “Purple Silkworm Island”. The structure resembled a live cell or organism. After WWII, Japan was a country torn by postwar famine and disease. However, in a matter of decades Japan has become of the most creative and industrialized nations in the world!

Japan Pavilion

 

 

Japanese Ramen

Posted by Ginny 2 Comments
Jul 7 2011

There are certain places in Japan that are famous for its ramen. For example, Sapporo Ramen (札幌ラーメン) is a type of miso (味噌) ramen. Miso is a type of thick paste used to flavor soups and sauces. If you like your ramen salty, then you’ll probably like Sapporo Ramen. Sapporo is a city up in the north, so the winters can get quite cold. The locals tend to eat Sapporo Ramen for its hearty and protein rich soup, which is ideal for combating the cold months in Sapporo.

Hakata Ramen (博多ラーメン) is a type of ramen made with tonkotsu (豚骨) broth. Tonkotsu broth is a type of broth made from pork bone. The pork bone is boiled in water for several hours and used as soup broth. Additional toppings like sesame seeds, spring onions, hard-boiled eggs and beni shoga (紅生姜) are also commonly served with Hakata Ramen. Beni shoga is pickled ginger that is typically served in several thin slices of red or pink, over the noodles of the ramen.

Yokohama Ramen (横浜ラーメン) has a flavor that is a mixture of soy sauce and pork bone broth. The Yokohama Ramen is distinctly known for having nori strips as one of its toppings. Nori (海苔) is the Japanese word for seaweed. The nori strips typically stick out from the ramen bowl. Other toppings include spinach, a hard boiled egg, roasted pork slices and negi (葱). The soup is typically quite oily, with noodles that are rather straight and thick.

 

While the noodles for Yokohama Ramen are normally thick, the noodles for Tokyo Ramen (東京ラーメン) tend to be thin. The flavor of the broth is a mixture of chicken stock broth, soy flavored broth and dashi broth. Dashi (出汁) is a type of soup stock made from kombu (昆布) and katsuobushi (鰹節). Kombu is a type of dried kelp and katsuobushi is a type of fermented tuna skipjack. Tokeyo Ramen is known for its menma (メンマ) or bamboo shoots. These bamboo shoots are brown and served in thin slices.

Kitakata Ramen (喜多方ラーメン) is from the island of Honshu (本州). The soup broth is a combination of pork and niboshi (煮干し) broth. The niboshi broth is made by boiling miniature sardines in a pot of boiling water over extended periods of time. The dominant topping of Kitakata Ramen is the pork strips. Usually around four or five pork strips are placed on top of the noodles. Speaking of noodles, the noodles are typically thick and curly.

 

Back to the Top