cooking

Coming to a new country with unfamiliar products in an unfamiliar language can make cooking a challenge - especially if you weren't too adventurous with cooking in your home country.

Here we will outline some simple recipes, explanations of common ingredients, and give you a base of how to cook in Japan.

japanese terms

Not familiar with Japanese or kanji yet? Check this website out. There's 150 Japanese vocabulary words that you'll see in the grocery store as well as a recipe for Ginger Pork at the end. YUM!

Ingredients

Soy Sauce:

It seems like such a simple ingredient, but there are so many types of soy sauce to choose from. Let's talk about some of those kinds and how to use them.

Dashi Soy Sauce

This has a mild, easy to eat flavor. It's great for using as a general seasoning on cooked foods or in tamago-kake-gohan. This is my number 1 go-to soy sauce.

Sashimi Soy Sauce

This is specifically made for raw fish. It's a great pairing with sushi or sashimi.

Regular Soy Sauce

There are two types of regular soy sauce, usukuchi and koikuchi. There's not much difference aside from personal preference. Usukuchi is a bit saltier, though. These can be used in regular recipes.

B0nito Flakes

Kochi is famous nationwide for our delicious fish, especially slapjack tuna. Bonito flakes are made from this fish and can be a great addition to many recipes!

This site describes 20 different sauces and seasonings that you should know about. Available in English.

Simple Recipes

Tamago-kake Gohan

This just means "rice with egg." And it's so easy to make! Just cook some rice, crack an egg into a small bowl, beat the egg with some dashi soy sauce, and pour it over the rice. Then mix it all together until it's shiny and delicious looking! Easy and tasty. It can be topped with other ingredients after it's done, too, like fish, bacon, or sausages.

Hiyayakko Tofu

Well, tofu is just an ingredient, but you can serve it up very simply with some bonito flakes, ginger, green onions, and dashi soy sauce for a simple side to your meal. Learn more about the different types of tofu here.

Pizza Toast

I'm sure you've heard of it before, but it's one of the easiest recipes out there. Just spread some pre-made pizza sauce on a piece of bread, top with other toppings (should be cooked slightly since you'll only cook this long enough to melt the cheese) and shredded cheese, and then toast in your toaster oven or toast function on your microwave. Fish grills can also do the trick!

Wanna learn how to cook various Japanese dishes? Check out this YouTube channel! Available in English and Japanese.

Ever wanted to recreate the dishes from your favorite TV shows/movies? Head over to this YouTube channel! This guy does it all.

Check out this website/app for Japanese recipes! It's all in Japanese, but their are videos and pictures available. Learn how to utilize the various sauces at the grocery store!

Techniques

Did you know that there's a right way to wash rice? First of all, why do we wash rice? The husks are already removed, so what's the purpose? Well, we want to remove some of the bacteria that is stuck on it. So we should wash it thoroughly, right? Well, we need to keep in mind that rice can crack so we have to be gentle, and over-washing will remove the good flavor of the rice. There is a balance.

Step 1: Quick rinse

Add some cold water to the bowl of rice and swirl it once before tossing out that water. This removes any leftover husks that were mixed in with the rice.

Step 2: Massage

At this step, you'll want to rub the rice in between your hands without any water in the bowl. This will loosen up the things you want to clean off without damaging the rice. Do this for about 30 seconds.

Step 3: Rinse and Repeat

For this step, you want to add some cold water to the bowl of rice. Swirl the rice around a few times after you've turned the water off. Toss out this water and repeat steps 2 and 3 a few times.

Step 4: Cook

Now you just need to add the water and turn on the rice cooker! Make sure that you have the right proportion of water for how much rice you're cooking.

Appliances

Microwave

Your microwave can be a great tool, especially since most Japanese people and households don't have an oven. Many microwaves have an オーブン or oven feature on them which can be used similarly, but won't work for every recipe. Click here for a list of meanings of the words on your microwave oven.

Fish Grill

You may have noticed the tiny oven below your range. This is the fish grill! Check out this website for ways to cook things other than just fish in it and make it a multipurpose appliance.

So, maybe you've never used a rice cooker before. Maybe you don't even want to make rice, now. But did you know that your rice cooker can be used for more than just rice? Check out more recipes here.