ingredients

Miso Basics: A Japanese miso primer, looking at different types of miso

maki — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:58:53 +0200

[From the archives. This miso primer was published here last September (2008). I’ve added some notes about miso-based blends, especially sumiso or miso with vinegar.]

This is a post that has been a long time coming. I kept on holding it off until I had a good variety of miso on hand to show photos of. I can’t say I have a comprehensive selection to show you, but I hope you will find this article useful anyway.

Miso　（味噌、みそ), as you probably know already, is a naturally fermented paste made by combining cooked soy beans, salt, and often some other ingredient such as white or brown rice, barley, and so on. The texture can range from smooth to chunky, and the color from a light yellow-brown to reddish brown to dark chocolate brown, and the flavor ranges from mildly salty and sweet to strong and very salty. It is packed with umami and protein, not to mention all sorts of nutrients.

Miso-like fermented bean products and pastes exist all over Asia, but here I will mainly limit myself to the most commonly used Japanese misos.

Some general rules of miso

The color can be a fairly good indicator of the strength of flavor and saltiness of the miso. Generally speaking, the lighter in color, the sweeter it is. There are exceptions to this rule, but if you are confronted with a selection and don’t know which way to go, it’s useful to remember.

The longer a miso is aged, the deeper in flavor it gets, though it can get a bit odd if aged too long. Commercially available miso is usually aged from 6 months to 2 years. (Note: Many misos made by health-oriented companies (e.g. Eden Foods in the U.S., Clearspring in the UK) do not seem to be aged too long, and therefore lack depth of flavor. If you’re just eating miso for health reasons you may not care, but otherwise you are forewarned.)

You can keep unopened miso at room temperature indefinitely. Once opened, store well covered in the refrigerator - though it won’t go ‘off’ that fast really. Ideally you want to consume it within a year of purchase. (I’ve kept miso for 3 years in the fridge without any ill effects, but I don’t really recommend you do that!)

Major types of miso by color

Shiromiso (白みそ）or ‘white’ miso is the generic term for golden-yellow to medium brown miso. It is milder than other kinds of miso, with a slight sweetness. It’s the most versatile one for cooking purposes - you can use it for miso soups, miso marinades, and so on. If you can only afford one kind of miso budget-wise or space-wise, get a good shiromiso that is labelled ‘medium sweet’.
Akamiso （赤みそ）or ‘red’ miso is the generic term for miso that is a dark reddish-brown in color. It is usually (but not always!) more salty and assertive in taste than shiromiso. If you see a red-brown miso that is labelled a inakamiso (田舎味噌）or ‘country’ miso, you can be pretty sure that it will be strong in flavor and fairly salty.
Awasemiso (合わせ味噌）or ‘blended’ miso is just that, miso that combines two or more different types of miso together. This is also a good general choice if you don’t want to assemble a miso collection.

With or without dashi?

Since miso is so often used in conjunction with dashi stock, some misos already have dashi added to them. These are usually labeled dashi iri （だし入り）. If you want to add your own homemade dashi, or you are a vegan and want to avoid any fish products in your miso (see vegan dashi), look for additive-free or mutenka (無添加）miso. If you can’t tell from the label whether it has dashi or not, look at the ingredient list - an additive free miso should only have soy beans, salt, rice or barley if they are used, and perhaps some fermentation ingredients (usually listed as koji (麹)).

Organic/not-GM?

If you want to be sure to get miso that is made from soy beans that are organically grown and not genetically modified, look for ones that say yuuki (有機）. Most if not all miso that say mutenka (無添加）or additive-free are also non-GM . You may also encounter miso that says it’s made from kokusan (国産）or domestic (Japanese) soy beans; this usually (thought not always - so check!) means it’s made from non-GM, happy soy beans. (See above note about misos made by Western health-oriented companies.)

Gluten free?

Unless the miso contains barley (麦、mugi) or wheat (小麦、komugu) it is gluten-free, unless it has some not-traditional additives.

Some misos to look for by name

You may see a number of ‘brand’ names for miso, such as Shinshuu, Yamato, etc. Most of these names don’t really mean much except to indicate where the miso comes from - the differences are too subtle except for a diehard miso connoisseur. There are a couple that stand out though.

Hatcho miso （八丁味噌）is a type of miso made in the Tokai region (now the 3 prefectures of Aichi, Mie and Gifu). It was traditionally said to have been served to the emperor and is held in high regard. It’s an all-soybean miso, which is about medium on the sweet/strength/saltiness scale, and is a good general purpose miso.
Saikyo miso (西京味噌) is a golden yellow miso that was traditionally made in the Kyoto/Kansai region. It is naturally sweet - the sweetness comes from the sugar produced as a byproduct of the fermentation process, similar to amazake (甘酒). Makes a good dipping sauce or condiment, and is used as a sweet flavor in baked goods and so on by some Japanese vegan cooks. Does not keep as well as other miso types since it’s lower in salt, so you must refrigerate it. It’s very expensive! (I noticed that the Nobu restaurant group has a recipe online for ‘saikyo’ miso, but it uses white sugar! That’s just sweet miso sauce, not Saikyo miso.)
Moromi miso (もろみ味噌）is a mildly salty, chunky miso, usually with added grains of rice or barley that is meant to be eaten as a condiment rather than in cooking. It’s used rather like a dip on raw vegetables and things like that. (One of my teachers used to insist that moromi miso on raw cucumbers would make us smarter.)

Miso based sauces or blends

These are not pure misos, but are sauces or blends with miso.

Sumiso (酢みそ）is miso with added vinegar, sugar and mirin. It’s used as a condiment, marinade, and so on.
Miso blend for marinade, or misozuke (味噌漬け）is miso with added mirin, soy sauce, konbu seaweed, and so on. Commercial blends often have MSG or “flavor enhancers” in them.

How to get a good miso?

As with many things in life, generally speaking the more expensive a miso is, the better it’s going to taste. Do be sure you are comparing like-to-like when looking at prices though. Generally, special misos like Saikyo miso, or ones with special additives like brown rice miso, tend to be more expensive than general white, red or blended miso. Also, organic/additive-free misos tend to be a bit more expensive.

The only way to really know if a miso is good or not is to taste it. So, if you are trying out a new to you miso, try to get the smallest package possible and try it out.

You may think me prejudiced, and I probably am, but I do think that miso made in Japan generally tastes better than miso made elsewhere. Not to name names, but I’ve tried some non-Japanese brands, and they are lacking in depth of flavor, even if they are sometimes more expensive!

Making miso at home

I have not tried this myself yet, so I have nothing to show you, but you can make miso at home. All you need is soy beans, salt, some ko-ji (麹）(a sort of fermented rice starter), a big bucket, space, and patience - since you need to age the miso for 6 months to a year. You can find instructions on the interweb. (Maybe one day I will try making my own…)

What I have in my kitchen now

The top row shows the three misos I use the most: two types of shiromiso, and an awasemiso. One shiromiso is a big chunkier in texture and has brown rice in it; the other shiromiso and the awasemiso are both all-soy bean types. I use any of the three for most if not all the recipes here on Just Hungry or over on Just Bento. There’s no good reason for me to have two shiromisos and an awasemiso - I just like trying out stuff.

The second row shows misos I use a lot less. On the left is a Saikyo miso, and in the middle is some quite salty-strong akamiso. I use Saikyo miso in some baking experiments and as a sauce to go with stewed daikon radish and such. The red miso is used for some marinades and some miso soups. Lastly, since I had a square to fill and I only have 5 kinds of miso on hand at the moment, I’ve included some Korean kochujang - which as you can see much redder than the ‘red’ akamiso - since I use it almost as much as miso. (Kochujang is also a fermented soy bean paste with added wheat, spices and so on.)

The basics of Japanese cooking and all that

What actually prompted me to finally post this was an article I saw elsewhere that was titled What Is Miso Paste? It stated that miso and rice for Japanese people are like ‘meat and potatoes for Americans’. Heh?

Sure, miso is part of Japanese cuisine. But you do not always eat miso, or always have miso soup, with a meal, if that was the analogy they were trying to use. Sure, soup is often served with a meal in Japan, but it can just as well be a clear soup as a miso soup. The real basis of Japanese cooking is rice, dashi and sa shi su se so. If you whittle it down to the bare essentials, a bowl of plain, white rice and something salty to go with it makes me feel Japanese through and through.

But enough of my whinging. If you have any questions about miso that I haven’t answered here, ask away!

Konnyaku and shirataki FAQ: The almost zero-calorie, weird wobbly food from Japan

maki — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:23:24 +0200

From the archives. For some reason I've been getting several email questions about konnyaku recently, so here is my definitive (I hope) guide to preparing konnyaku and konnyaku noodles, or shirataki, with a small update. Originally published in January 2007.

The quintessential Japanese foods that (may) help you lose weight, are konnyaku and shirataki. Both are made from the same substance, the corm of the konnyaku or konjac plant, also known as the Devil's Tongue plant. Shirataki is also known as konnyaku noodles, to further confuse things, but I prefer to call it shirataki, which means "white waterfall". It's basically konnyaku shaped like long thin noodles.

Konnyaku is about as close to a zero-calorie food as you can get. No wonder, since it's about 97% water. The remaining 3% is mostly fiber in the form of a viscous substance called glucomannan, plus some traces of protein, starch and minerals like calcium. It's the glucomannan that makes it so interesting as a weight loss food though. A big block of konnyaku has about 10 calories, but it's very filling. It's long been called a 'broom for the stomach' (胃のほうき） in Japan because of that.

While there are several kinds of konnyaku available in Japan, outside of Japan we can usually only get ita konnyaku, basic slabs of konnyaku. Some konnyaku are white and translucent, and some are grey. Transclucent/white konnyaku is plain konnyaku made from dessicated konnyaku powder, while the grey kind is usually grey because of the addition of a powdered seaweed called arame.

True konnyaku made from raw ground up konnyaku corms, called nama-konnyaku (raw konnyaku), is actually quite grey, and the seaweed-added grey industrial konnyaku is meant to look like that. (It's still made in some areas of Saitama prefecture and other places. My mother is from Saitama and I remember those grey, rather rough konnayku showing up a lot for dinner at my grandmother's house.) Other types of konnyaku mostly seen just in Japan include sashimi konnyaku, which is konnyaku with various flavorful additives in it like powdered nori or citrus skin (mostly yuzu, but other citrus too), ito konnyaku, thick noodle-shaped konnyaku similar to shirataki but slightly thicker, and tama konnyaku, ball-shaped konnyaku. This Japanese page on a konnyaku manufacturer's site has pictures of these.

There is very little difference in flavor or texture between industrial white and grey konnyaku, so it's mostly a matter of aesthetics. I like the grey kind myself, but that's probably because I grew up eating the real grey kind.

Konnyaku itself has very little flavor. It's the texture that will either be interesting or completely off-putting to the eater. It's gelatinous and firm, rather like agar-agar (kanten) but firmer and a bit rubbery. Since it has little flavor of its own, and because it's almost all water, it takes on the flavor of whatever it's cooked in. So, if the texture is okay for you you can add it to all kinds of food for the added almost-no-calorie bulk to fill up those spaces in your belly.

Shirataki has been getting some attention in the U.S. recently because it's noodle-shaped, and there seems to be this obsession with finding noodle and pasta-shaped food that isn't so high in calories and carbs as the real thing, like spaghetti squash strands (which are nothing like pasta either). A lot of people are disappointed when they actually try the shirataki because the texture is nothing like pasta and noodles made from flour. But again - it's a matter of getting used to it perhaps.

[Edit:]Note that there is something called "Tofu Shirataki" or "Noodle Tofu" sold by House Foods America - this is made from tofu and konnyaku yam. It's a little bit higher in calories. They're not the shirataki I'm talking about here, which are called "Yam Shirataki" or "Yam Noodles" - these say they have 5 calories or so per 100g. "Tofu Shirataki" is not very traditional, but shirataki has been around for centuries. You can however use "Tofu Shirataki" in most recipes that call for plain shirataki.

I happen to like konnyaku better than shirataki, because shirataki is often so thin that it's almost not there. Konnyaku is substantial enough to get your teeth into.

More recent konnyaku innovations include sweet konnyaku jellies, chewy gummy-like konnyaku chips, and grain shaped konnyaku to mix in with rice so that you are fooled into thinking you're eating rice while taking in less calores.

How to prepare konnyaku and shirataki for cooking

Both konnyaku and shirataki come packed in water - no wonder, since they are mostly water anyway. Open the package in a bowl or over the sink. The water will smell a odd; drain it all away. Drain away the liquid in the bag, rinse the konnyaku or shirataki briefly under cold running water, then blanch in boiling water for about a minute, or until the water comes up to a boil and drain well before using. This step cannot be missed, or that 'odd' flavor will linger on your konnyaku or shirataki! If you can let the konnyaku or shirataki sit for a while to dry out more, it will taste better.

Shirataki may need to be cut up into manageable lengths. Konnyaku can either be cut up into cubes or slices, or torn apart into rough chunks with your hands. The torn chunks are good for putting into soups or stews, since the rough surfaces help to absorb more flavor. For stir-frying, sautéeing and such the cubes or chunks allow for more surface to be in contact with the hot pan.

The longer konnyaku cooks, the more it takes on flavors. It's really like a sponge in that sense.

The easiest way to try konnyaku is to put some small pieces into a well flavored soup or stew. Putting some chunks into miso soup is a good place to start - just be sure to cook the konnyaku in the dashi stock for a while, so the flavors can penetrate. Traditionally shirataki is put into sukiyaki and mizutaki, both of which are flavorful sort of stews. It's also put into small bags made from fried tofu (aburaage) which are put into an oden, another kind of stew with lots of fish cakes, root vegetables and so on in it.

Some caveats

Since konnyaku is almost zero-calorie, high fiber and very filling. But since it has no significant nutrients other than fiber, be sure not to overuse it. A well known Japanese journalist and writer in the 1960s called Soichi Ohyake was rumored to have died of malnutrition after attempting to lose weight by eating excessive amounts of konnyaku!

If you're serving konnyaku to kids (if they'll eat it...) make sure that the pieces are small enough, and that they chew it well, before attempting to swallow. This was a problem a few years ago with sweet konnyaku jellies that could get stuck in the throat - since konnyaku is so glutinous it was considered to be a choking hazard. (Konnyaku jellies nowadays are manufactured in smaller or different shapes to avoid this, but they have been banned in the United States and Canada.)

Recipe: Stir-fried konnyaku with tuna and garlic chives

I rather like konnyaku that's been stir-fried or sautéed. It will brown up a little bit in whatever oil you are using, and take on the flavor of the oil besides. I've used a combination of sesame oil and even butter. Here I have used a can of tuna instead of bonito flakes, which I might use normally, but you can use any kind of flavorful protein instead (ground beef may be good..) The garlic chives (nira), which are available at Asian groceries, add a lot of flavor too.

This whole thing is about 400 calories in total, very low-carb, and yields at least 4 servings. It's very filling indeed, and a great one-dish lunch. (Since I'm not following a low-carb regimen I add a cup of rice or something to this.)

1 1lb or 450g pack of grey or white konnyaku, pre-prepared following the directions above
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. dark sesame oil
1 small can of water-packed tuna
1 large bunch of garlic chives (nira), or substitute green onions and add a couple of cloves of garlic
About 2 cups of bean sprouts
Dried red pepper flakes
Soy sauce
Salt and pepper

Cut up the konnyaku into slices, and dry the surface well with a paper towel. Cut the garlic chives into approximately 10cm/4 inch pieces. Drain the can of tuna very well and flake. Wash the bean sprouts.

Preheat a wok. Once it's very hot add the konnyaku to the dry pan. It will make squeaky noises as it dries up on the surface. Add about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and half the butter and sesame oil, and sauté until the pieces are a bit brown on the ouside and the liquids are absorbed.

Add the red pepper flakes (as little or as much as you like), and the rest of the butter and sesame oil. Add the tuna, then add the vegetables. Stir fry until the vegetables are done. Season with salt, pepper and a bit more soy sauce to your taste.

Links and resources

As mentioned above, there are several recipes using shirataki in particular on Just Bento, such as this vegetable-rich one.
Sukiyaki is a classic 'hotpot' type of dish that uses shirataki. Here's my recipe, or rather my mother's recipe!
Konnyaku Day has links to several konnyaku recipes (mostly with a traditional Japanese bent)
A few konnyaku recipes are on the House Foods America web site. You're most likely to encounter this brand in groceries, especially in the U.S.
Japan Konnyaku Association site (Japanese)

Take a look at this spicy Korean flavored shirataki recipe, and this konnyaku gyuudon (beef bowl). Both are perfect for bento!

June 2009 update: Noodles in a can?

I picked up this little can recently at a Japanese grocery store:

It's a can of what they claim to be curry udon noodles. It's actually not real udon, which are made from wheat flour, but shirataki noodles in a curry-flavored broth. The shirataki noodles do remain chewy, unlike those very soft canned pasta products that you may be familiar with.

Unfortunately, the soup they used tasted and looked like crap. But I did think it was an interesting idea to use shirataki noodles in a can. Think about it: very low-cal, potentially gluten-free 'cup' (or can, anyway) noodles!

Japanese food shopping in Lyon, plus different Asian stores as sources for Japanese food

maki — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:43:42 +0200

This is a continuation of my series on Japanese food shopping, and frugal eating, in Europe. Previously I visited Paris and Düsseldorf’s Japantown.

Lyon, the third largest city in France and arguably the second most important one after Paris, does not have a large Japanese expat or immigrant population. However, there are some Japanese corporations that have factories or offices in the area, not to mention a large university population. So in terms of the availability of Japanese groceries in France, it ranks second to Paris, although it trails behind by a large margin.

The main reason I’ve been interested in Lyon as a source for Japanese food is that we are seriously considering getting a house in the Provence. Lyon is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from the Haut-Provence (northern Provence), the area we’re looking at, so it would be my closest source. (Marseille, which has a Paristore but no Japanese groceries, is about the same distance away, and Avignon, about a 45 minute drive, has two tiny Chinese groceries.) I could order non-perishables from the stores in Paris such as Workshop Issé, or from Japan Centre and so on, not to mention have stuff sent over or bring them back from Japan, but that doesn’t work for things like tofu, konnyaku, produce and frozen foods.

It also gives me a chance to talk a bit about where exactly you can find the Japanese ingredients that are mentioned here, regardless of the town you’re in, because the shopping options in Lyon are limited yet straightforward.

Option 1 - Kazuki: The Japanese-owned Japanese grocery store

Kazuki (storefront pictured above) is a tiny, jewel-like boutique. In terms of presentation, it has a lot in common with Workshop Issé, but where Workshop Issé is selling high-end food and alcohol, Kazuki is at its heart just a regular Japanese grocery store. Things like cans of wasabi peas, ochazuke packets and run-of-the-mill furikake which only cost a few euros at most are displayed as if they were Hermés scarfs on sleek shelves. This is the Japanese aesthetic and penchant for neatness gone to the extreme.

Everything about Kazuki is beautiful and well presented, even their takeout bentos, which are neatly wrapped up in ribbon:

With a few exceptions, Japanese grocery stores tend to be rather neat and tidy places (though I’ve never seen one as pretty as Kazuki). They also tend not to carry any other Asian ingredients, though they may have a few Korean items.

Obviously a Japanese grocery store should be the first place to look for Japanese ingredients. If you want things like Japanese soy sauce from Japan, real mirin (hon mirin) rather than mirin-flavored cooking liquid (mirin fuumi choumiryou), go to a Japanese store, However, they can be a bit more expensive than other options, and because many Japanese grocery stores are small, the selection can be limited, especially when it comes to fresh produce.

Option 2 - Kimchi: The Korean-owned Korean grocery store

Kimchi, which is just a few blocks away from Kazuki, is a tiny yet fairly typical Korean grocery store. Korean stores always carry a large amount of Japanese items; usually the selection runs around 50/50 Korean/Japanese. Older Korean people often speak some Japanese.

I really liked Kimchi, because it also carries some ‘biologique’ items such as nigari (used to make tofu) and kuzu or kudzu powder (used to make kuzumochi, goma dofu and other things).

If you are lucky enough to have a large Korean market near you, it may be your first stop in a quest for Japanese foodstuffs, since they are likely to have most of the fresh produce used in Japanese cooking too. (Kimchi is too small to have any fresh produce unfortunately.)

Option 3 - Supermarché Asie: A Chinese owned Chinese grocery store

In terms of larger Asian grocery stores, there are ones that try to cover all of eastern and southern Asia, and ones that just concentrate on a particular region. Supermarché Asie, which is in the same general neighborhood as Kazuki and Kimchi, clearly concentrates on east Asia: China, Korea and Japan. And, although I don’t speak a word of Chinese I can sort of tell apart Cantonese vs. Mandarin and different dialects/pronounciations (well, just aa bit), and I did get the impression that the store is owned by people from Taiwan. Taiwan has much stronger ties to Japan than mainland China, so a Taiwanese-owned store is much more likely to stock Japanese things.Of course, it’s difficult to tell apart a Taiwanese store from any other kind of Chinese store just by reading labels, so you’ll just have to look around.

The good thing from the standpoint of someone interested in East Asian cooking in general, is that a store like this can be a one-stop shopping destination.

Option 4 - Paristore: A general Asian/Exotic Food grocery store

Paristore is a chain of Asian supermarkets that has stores throughout France. I’ve only been to the one in Lyon so far, so my impressions are of this store.

Paristore is ostensibly a Chinese supermarket, but it also carries many other ‘exotic’ foodstuffs, from African to Middle Easten to Indian, Thai and so on. This does mean that the selection of Japanese products is quite small. While I did see Japanese-style rice (from Spain, Italy and California) and a few Japanese condiments, there were little else. However, many Chinese ingredients can be used in Japanese cooking, so it’s not a total waste of time to go to a store like this.

What you have to look out for (and this holds true of Supermarché Asie too) are products that may look Japanese, with Japanese writing on them, which really aren’t Japanese at all. For example, canned green tea is never sold with sugar in it in Japan, but it seems that green tea meant for the southeast Asian market often is. I also spotted some Chinese snacks (manufactured in Taiwan) with fake Japanese writing on them, in the way that many Japanese products have fake English, or Engrish, on them!

From the standpoint of Japanese ingredient availability, I think you can categorize most Asian markets in European and North American areas into these four categories. Three other categories are: Chinese stores catering to people who came from mainland China or Hong Kong (they carry very little if any Japanese food items); Thai/Malaysian Southeast Asian stores (these also carry very little if any specifically Japanese things); and south Asian/Indian stores (again not many Japanese ingredients if any at all, but may have vegetables that are used in Japanese cooking such as okra, taro root/satoimo, bitter gourd and sweet potatoes.) There are stores fitting all of these categories in Zürich, incidentally.

Special thanks to Céline, who has been great about keeping the Lyon and Provence sections of the Japanese Grocery Stores in France listing so up-to-date! That page is where you will find all the addresses and other pertinent information for the stores described below.

Survey: What Japanese ingredients can you get where you live?

maki — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:51:50 +0200

(The survey is now closed. Thank you for everyone who took the time to comment/answer!)

In connection with a project I’m working on at the moment, I’d like to take a short 5-question survey of Just Bento and Just Hungry readers.

I assume you are here because you have at least some interest in Japanese food and cooking. My questions are as follows.

1. How easy is it for you to get Japanese ingredients without having to resort to extraordinary measures?

By ‘extraordinary’, I mean things like:

Ordering food by mail order. I know ordering ‘gourmet’ or special food by mail is not quite extraordinary, but in my mind ordering everyday food items by mail is a bit much.
Asking friends or family to send/bring stuff from Japan.
Going way out of your way, or traveling a long distance, to get to stores that carry Japanese foodstuffs.

2. Can you get Japanese ingredients locally, and if so, where?

Regular (non-Asian) supermarket? Asian market? Health food/natural food store? Somewhere else?

3. What kinds of things can you get easily and locally?

For instance, where I am now (southern France) I’ve seen that things like soy sauce, nori, sushi rice, rice vinegar etc. are available at regular supermarkets. Fresh fish is a problem, though I did find a small fishmonger that has really fresh fish. What can you (and do you) get easily locally?

4. Does the unavailability of ingredients that are mentioned in Japanese cookbooks or websites deter you from trying a recipe?

And, finally…

5. Where do you live?

Please tell me your location (city/country - I don’t need your exact address ^_^), so I can get a good idea of what is available where and so on.

So, to repeat, here are the five questions:

How easy is it for you to get Japanese ingredients without having to resort to extraordinary measures?
Can you get Japanese ingredients locally, and if so, where?
What kinds of Japanese ingredients can you get easily and locally?
Does the unavailability of ingredients that are mentioned in Japanese cookbooks or websites deter you from trying a recipe?
Where are you located?

Thank you so much! Your answers will be very helpful to me.

Workshop Issé: Purveyor of the finest Japanese food and sake in the heart of Paris

maki — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:22:20 +0200

From the outside, Workshop Issé looks like just another unassuming little Japanese grocery and gift store. There are quite a few stores of this nature scattered about Europe these days. But inside this little boutique in the heart of the Japanese quarter in Paris, you can experience something quite special: A crash course on top quality artisanal Japanese food and drink.

Inside the tiny store, sleek modern shelves are filled with what, to the untrained eye, might seem like the normal Japanese cooking ingredients - soy sauce, vinegar, spices, sake and other alcoholic beverages. Look closer though, and you soon see that these are no ordinary products. There’s a soy sauce that’s been aged for 2 years in ancient barrels; a pitch-black sweet miso that’s been aged for 3 full years; finely sliced and dried battera konbu seaweed for making marinated mackerel. There are salted cherry blossoms that have been matured for six months, so no trace of bitterness remains. There are gardenia seeds (kuchinashi no mi), used as a natural yellow colorant - I’ve never seen these for sale outside of Japan, anywhere. There are what seem like dozens of fine sakes and shouchuus, and vinegars of all flavors and colors. This is a store with some seriously high end foodstuffs for sale.

The variety and quality of the selection is a little overwhelming, even for someone like me who at least knows what the products are. This store would be quite intimidating to someone not familiar with Japanese cuisine. But the Workshop part of Workshop Issé’s name is a clue to their selling approach. Here, you can do a sampling of products, a degustation in fact (the method normally used to by a wine maker or merchant to sell wines), gently guided by a knowledgeable staff member, at least one of whom is a sake sommelier.

I had a chance to sit down and chat with with Monsieur Toshiro Kuroda, the owner and president of Workshop Issé. Having owned and run a Japanese restaurant in Paris for nearly 4 decades, he started Workshop Issé two years ago. His main reason, he said, was simply because he couldn’t get a hold of the high quality ingredients he wanted from Japan through existing channels, so he decided to import them himself. There are no mass produced products here. All are of the highest artisanal quality; a typical supplier has 20 employees or less, and has been in business for more than 200 years. Here’s M. Kuroda with his dog Pii-chan.

Besides selling via their web site and the boutique directly to customers, they also supply some of the best professional kitchens in France. For instance, if you’ve had the yuzu-flavored macaroons from Pierre Hermé, the yuzu juice and powder came from Workshop Issé. They also sell to the Michelin three star restaurant Troisgros.

I asked M. Kuroda about his marketing approach. He said that his mainly French customers take very well to the concept, since they are after all used to buying wine this way. They also don’t blink an eye at the prices for their Grand Cru equivalent sakes, which can cost up to €250 per bottle and more.

It’s obvious that M. Kuroda, not to mention his staff, take great pride in what they are doing. And no wonder - their product lineup would be impressive even in Tokyo. I don’t know of a store like it anywhere, certainly not outside of Japan.

My budget that day was not up to buying a Grand Cru sake, so I picked up a few things that intrigued me. Here are a bottle of ume vinegar, and aged soy sauce. I love the classic labels, and the simple list of ingredients - for the soy sauce, just soy beans, salt, wheat. The ume vinegar is made from organic ume plums.

And here’s some stone ground yuzu powder. Now I usually have this sent to me from Japan (or I buy it there), but it’s nice to know it’s available on this side of the world. The fragrance of this slightly coarse powder is wonderful, and the slightly bitter citrusy taste is addictive.

Is Workshop Issé worth a detour in Paris, even if you go to Tokyo regularly? I would say absolutely yes, unless you are thoroughly familiar with Japanese cuisine, speak and read Japanese fluently, or have a Japanese gourmet guide at your side. The combination of the carefully selected range of products and the knowledgeable staff, who speak Japanese, French and English, make this store a real winner. And if you aren’t going to Tokyo on a regular basis and live anywhere near Paris or are visiting, and love Japanese food and cooking, it’s a must stop.

I guess the only negative things about Workshop Issé are: They don’t really have much in the way of fresh ingredients. There is a small refrigerated section with a limited supply of things like tofu and vegetables, plus real grated wasabi in a tube (€15, but worth it). Also, their prices are not cheap by any means, but you are paying for top quality.

Workshop Issé: 11 rue Saint Augustin (Paris 2); Tel: 01 4296 2674; Open 7 days, 11:00 - 19:30 with no lunch break. Closed on national holidays.; French and Japanese website. Mailorder within France and throughout Europe (but verify if they can ship something to your destination first).; Besides food and alcoholic drinks, they also have a small selection of dinnerware and gift items (they did have a couple of nice bento boxes).

You may also want to check out the rest of the Issé & cie. Japan-in-Paris mini empire: Bizan, a high end kaiseki restaurant; Issé, a ‘tempura and tapas’ restaurant; Momonoki, a tonkatsu and obento restaurant; and O-bento, a bento delivery service. All are described on this page (French). You can buy some readymade foods (osouzai) from the last three establishments at Workshop Issé too.

For a look at cheap Japanese eats in Paris, see A Frugal Eats mostly Japanese blitz through Paris.

(Merci beaucoup to Clotilde of Chocolate & Zucchini for telling me about Workshop Issé!)

Kouya Dofu or Kohya Dofu, Freeze Dried Tofu

maki — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:04:12 +0100

I’ve talked a little about kohya dofu or kouya dofu (高野豆腐）in the past, but I thought I’d describe it in detail so that I can refer back to it when I use this very versatile Japanese pantry staple in recipes.

Kouya dofu is freeze dried tofu. It’s a long lasting pantry staple of most Japanese households. It comes in plastic packaging, usually 5 to a pack, like so:

Each square is about the size of a business card, and about 1cm or 1/2 inch or so thick. Each kouya dofu square is about 90 calories. They look like dehydrated squares of bread, or one of those sponges that you soak in water to reconstitute and use. The packets require no refrigeration.

Indeed, it is a sponge - a block of tofu that’s been reduced to its cell structure. It’s a very old traditional preserved food, that probably got invented by accident when someone left out some tofu in the winter and it froze solid. It’s made by repeatedly freezing and thawing tofu, until all the moisture can be extracted.

Usually, kouya dofu is used by reconstituting it first. The easiest way is to soak it for a while in boiling water to cover. When the water has cooled down enough for the tofu to be taken out and genty squeezed, it’s ready to use. It swells up to about 3-4 times its original size.

From here, you can just cut it up and use it in soups or stews. You can also marinate it. It has a more dense and firm texture than regular tofu, and like regular tofu it soaks up any flavor it is soaked or cooked in. It’s usually stewed in a standard japanse soy sauce - mirin - sake - dashi - sugar mixture.

Here I’ve cooked some reconstituted kouya dofu in the same way that I cooked frozen tofu cutlets, to make kouya dofu nuggets. But I didn’t have to take the time to freeze and defrost regular tofu. The results are much ‘meatier’ than nuggets made with frozen regular tofu. You might even be able to fool some unsuspecting people into think it’s some sort of meat….

Another interesting way of using kouya dofu is to turn it into a powder by grating it or whizzing it in a food processor. The powder can be used instead of breadcrumbs, as a filler or binder in burgers and meatballs. This can be a good thing for celiacs and gluten intolerant people. The spongy texture soaks up any excess moisture and flavors. And of course, it provides and extra protain boost.

In Japan, kouya dofu is very cheap. Outside of Japan it can be more expensive, but the packet of 5 in the photo above was only $1.99 at Nara Foods in Port Washington, Long Island. So, look for it next time you are in a Japanese grocery store and give it a try, especially if you or someone you cook for has gluten allergies, or are vegan or vegetarian.

The Japanese Food and Cooking Lexicon

maki — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:42:01 +0100

This handbook leads to articles about Japanese food and cooking terminology. I think that it may be even more necessary now that Japanese food has become popular outside of Japan.

100 Japanese foods to try

maki — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:52:27 +0200

Ever since I completed The Omnivore’s Hundred, I’ve been thinking about this: What 100 Japanese foods would I recommend people try at least once? I’ve been mulling over the list for days now, and I’m more or less satisfied with what I’ve come up with below.

I tried to keep away from foods that are only available in certain regions, or even certain restaurants or homes (e.g. my aunt’s homemade udon) and stuck to foods that are widely available in Japan. I’ve also tried to include foods from all categories and all price ranges, from wildly expensive matsutake mushrooms to el-cheapo snacks. I also did not limit the list to ‘genuine Japanese’ foods (純和風), but include Western-style yohshoku dishes and a sprinkling of chuuka (imported Chinese) foods that are so ingrained in Japanese food culture that most people barely think of them as Chinese any more. And of course, I have eaten all of the foods listed at least once - in most cases many, many times. I like them all!

The list is not numbered in order of preference. It’s just how I happened to list them.

[Update:]

I’ve now added descriptions and links to recipes if they are on the site, as well as the food names in Japanese - now with all 100 descriptions completed! I’ve made it so the descriptions are hidden initially, so you can have fun guessing what they are or trying to remember. Just click on the ? mark after each item! And I will keep adding descriptions gradually.

And no, nigiri-zushi and the most common types of sushi are not on the list, because I am assuming that if you are reading this, you’ve already had sushi. (Though… are you sure you’ve had great sushi at a top notch sushi-ya? See Judging a good sushi restaurant.)

I did not intention this to be a meme, but rather as a list of quintessentially Japanese foods that you might want to try. If you would like to post the list to your blog and play along though, please do so! Actually it would be even more fun if you make your own 10, 50, or whatever list of favorite foods if you dare. (It takes a whole lot more time and thought that you might think.)

A List of 100 Japanese Foods To Try At Least Once

Properly washed and cooked, top quality new harvest white rice (shinmai　新米) ?
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of rice in Japanese cuisine. The ultimate rice for most Japanese people comes from famed rice growing areas such as Niigata prefecture or Akita prefecture; famous varieties include _koshihikari_ and _sasanishiki_. And the best tasting rice is held to be new harvest rice or _shinmai_　新米.　The older rice gets, the less desirable it is. This differs from some other rice cultures where aged rice (e.g. basmati rice) is held in high regard. See also How to cook Japanese rice.
Freshly made tofu, as hiyayakko or yudofu ?
Tofu used to be sold by mobile street vendors, who would go around neighborhoods in the evening (just before dinnertime) tooting a loud horn. Housewives would rush to the vendor cart, bowls in hand, to buy fresh tofu. Nowadays mobile _tofu-ya_ have virtually disappeared in Japan, but small independent tofu stores do still exist. Most people just buy tofu from a supermarket or _combini_ though. See how to make your own tofu; how to make hiyayakko and agedashi dofu (another great way to enjoy tofu). Yudofu (湯豆腐）is a piping hot version of hiyayakko.
Properly made misoshiru and osumashi ?
Misoshiru 味噌汁　is miso soup, an osumashi おすまし　is clear soup, both fundamental parts of a traditional Japanese meal. Some people have a bowl of miso soup or clear soup at every meal. The difference between a miso soup made with proper dashi stock and good miso and an ersatz ‘instant’ one is like night and day. See Miso and miso soup basics and A week of miso soup.
Properly made homemade nukazuke ?
Nukazuke 糠漬け are vegetables pickled in a fermente rice-bran (nuka 糠）bed or nukadoko (糠床）. The vegetables are only left in the pickling bed for a few days. The care and feeding of a good nukadoko is a complex, much discussed matter, similar to the cult surrounding sourdough. The housewife or restaurant that has a top notch nukadoko is much respected. Unfortunately, nuka pickling at home seems to be a slowing dying art.
Very fresh sanma (saury), sizzling hot from the grill, eaten with a drizzle of soy sauce and a mound of grated daikon radish ?
Simply grilled fresh fish is a keystone of Japanese meals. Smaller fish such as sanma or the higher-class aji (horse mackerel) are grilled whole with their skins on, heads intact and innards left in, including sperm sacs or eggs. All parts of the fish are considered edible, and the innards are considered to be delicacies. Blue/oily fish or hikarimono （ひかりもの） are at their best in the colder months when they have more fat. Sanma used to be considered to be poor peoples’ food since it was so cheap.
Homemade umeboshi ?
Umeboshi (梅干し）- salted, dried then pickled ume (梅）, a fruit that is a relative of the plum and the apricot. Very salty-sour, and acquired taste. Used in small quantities, it’s a great flavor enhancer and appetite stimulant. Homemade is usually the best, and despite the effort it requires a lot of people still make their own umeboshi every year (including my mother). An acquired taste. See New rice and pickled plum and Oba-chan’s pickled plums.
Freshly made, piping hot crispy tempura. I prefer vegetable tempura like shiso leaves, eggplant and sweet potato. ?
Tempura 天ぷら is considered to be a quintessential Japanese foo these days, but it’s actually an early imported food, introduced by Portuguese and/or Spanish missionaries in the 16th century. (See Wikipedia.) Good tempura must have crispy, light-as-air, greaseless batter coating. The usual dipping sauce is a mixture of dashi stock, soy sauce and grated daikon radish called tentsuyu （天つゆ), not, as you might think from the way tempura-like fried foods are served in pan-Asian restaurants, sweet and sour sauce! (yeah yeah, I still haven’t posted a tempura recipe here! Someday I’ll fix that…)
A whole grilled wild Japanese matsutake ?
Matsutake (松茸）is a very fragrant, highly saught after, and __expensive as all heck__ mushroom. In Japan it grows near matsu (松）trees, which are supposed to greatly enhance their aroma. Matsutake are as highly regarded in Japan as truffles are in Europe. Japanese matsutake prices can reach four figures (in U.S. dollars) per kilo; imported matsutake are held in much lower regard, and are often sprinkled with ‘matsutake essence’ while cooking. The best way to eat a matsutake is to simply grill it over a hot charcoal fire, and sprinkle with a tiny amount of soy sauce and so on.
Freshly made sobagaki with sobayu ?
Soba (蕎麦）or buckwheat is best known in the noodle format. But the best way to enjoy soba in my opinion is as sobagaki (そばがき）, a chewy-soft dumpling of sorts made out of fresh buckwheat flour, boiled in water. The cooking water is called sobayu (そば湯）and is sipped along with the sobagaki. This is a warm dish by the way.
Mentaiko from Fukuoka, or tarako ?
Mentaiko （明太子）and tarako （たらこ）are both marinated/salted pollack roe, even though the name tarako means “child of cod”. Mentaiko is a spicy version, which originated in Korea and crossed the sea to the southern island of Kyuushuu. Fukuoka, the largest city in Kyuushuu, is famous for its mentaiko. Both tarako and mentaiko can be eaten as-is with plain rice, or used as a paste or sauce - see tarako and ponzu pasta. Tarako is often used griled until firm as an onigiri filling. (Mentaiko onigiri is not that common, probably because it’s pretty expensive!) Tarako or mentaiko mixed with a bit of butter and spread on hot toast is delicous. An acquired taste.
Onigiri with the three classic fillings: umeboshi, okaka, shiozake ?
Okaka (おかか）is bonito flakes mixed with soy sauce; shiozake （塩鮭）is salted salmon. See Onigiri FAQ.
Assorted fresh-as-possible sashimi ?
Sure sushi is great, but the ultimate indulgence at a sushi-ya for me is a selection of fresh sashimi; it’s beautiful to behold and a treat for the tastebuds. Be adventurous and try everything form raw (live) shellfish to raw squid to slices cut from a still live fish! (This is called ikezukuri （活け造り or 生け作り）Yes I know, it’s cruel, but it’s very Japanese.)
Saba oshizushi ?
鯖押し寿司　is sushi you won’t often encounter in sushi restaurants, though some Japanese restaurants do have it on their menus. It is a speciality of Okayama prefecture, but is popular all over Japan. Very fresh mackerel or saba (鯖）is fileted, salted and marinated, then pressed firmly onto a block of sushi rice; the whole is then left to rest for a few more hours. It’s a style of sushi that is much older than the nigiri-zushi you are probably familiar with.
Mugicha ?
麦茶. See Mugicha article.
Kakifurai ?
牡蠣フライ - breaded and deep fried whole oysters, a yohshoku dish. You may not think this is that Japanese…but that crispy, slightly bitter, creamy-seafoo flavor, eaten with Bulldog sauce, is very Japanese to me, an is something I really miss! (Oysters in Switzerland are Way Way Too Expensive.)
Morinaga High-Chew candy, grape flavor ?
I know I’m biased, but I think Japanese confectionery companies make the best tasting candies. I didn’t say chocolates or candy bars - I mean candies, or sweeties if you are of British inclination. Morinaga’s High Chew line of soft chewable candies are among the best and most popular, and of these the grape flavor is my favorite.
Karasumi ?
からすみ　is salted and dried mullet roe. It has a very dense, sticky yet waxy texture (sort of like a salty-fishy an not sweet fudge), and is very salty. It’s one of the 3 great delicacies, or chinmi (珍味）of Japan; the others are salted sea urchin (shiuni) and sea cucumber innards (konowata), both of which are sort of stomach-turning for me, but karasumi is an oddly addictive substance. You traditionally eat tiny slices of it to accompany your sake. Very much and acquire taste.
A pot of oden, preferably with homemade components especially ganmodoki, boiled eggs and daikon radish ?
おでん - see oden article and recipe.
Ika no shiokara ?
いかの塩辛　is cuttlefish squid that is salted and fermented in its own innards. It has a slimy sort of texture, and a very intense sea-flavor. Great on hot rice. An acquired taste. Easily obtainable in jars at larger Japanese grocery stores; if you can get very fresh squid with the innards you can make your own at home. This recipe on Chowhound should work well, but use a non-reactive, glass or ceramic container; this is powerful stuff that will at the very least stain and odorize a plastic container forever, and may even eat through thin plastic (I’ve had this happen…)
Calpis ?
カルピス is a sweet fermented milk beverage. It’s most commmonly sold as a concentrate, which is mixed with cold water or plain at a 1:5 or so ratio. It’s also used straight as a syrup over shaved ice (kakigouri かき氷), and as a mixer in some cocktails. Because of its fermented flavor, cloying mouthfeel and (for English speakers) rather unfortunate name which sounds like ‘cow piss’, it hasn’t seen a whole lot of success in the West, though as “Calpico” in already diluted or soda form it is sold in some parts of Asia. An acquired taste. Japanese people love fermented-milk flavor (see Yakult below). (Switzerland also sells a fermented-milk beverage called Rivella, which tastes a bit like Calpis/Calpico soda.)
Ankou nabe ?
あんこう鍋 - monkfish hotpot or stew. Tabletop cooking is very popular in Japan. A small portable gas burner is placed in the middle of the dining table, a variety of cut up vegetables and some kind of protein are made ready, and they’re cooked in a pot (in which they are called nabemono 鍋物 or simply nabe 鍋）of simmering water/broth, on a grill or shallow pan. Everyone at table picks out the pieces they want. Ankou is monkfish, a rather slippery, chewy fish with tons of flavor; together with lots of vegetables it makes a delicious nabe on cold winter days.
Unadon ?
うな丼 is unagidonburi （うなぎどんぶり）shortened; it’s eel filets with a sweet-salty sauce on a bed of rice. A very rich, high calorie dish that’s popular in the summer months, since all those calories in eel are supposed to keep your strength up!
Komochi kombu or kazunoko ?
Kazunoko (数の子) is brined herring roe, and komochikonbu (子持ち昆布）is the same herring roe pressed onto konbu seaweed. Both have a distinctive crunchy texture and the salty flavor of the sea. An acquired taste.
Yamakake, grated yamaimo with maguro (red tuna) cubes (or just tororo with a raw egg) ?
Japanese people love food with a slippery, slimy texture, and the slimiest of them all is grated yamaimo (山芋) or nagaimo (長芋), a type of yam. This is called tororo (とろろ, not totoro!). My favorite form of tororo is when it’s combined with cubes of fresh tuna, which is called yamakake （山かけ), but the ultimate slimy experience is tsukimi tororo (月見とろろ), a bowl of grated yamaimo with a raw egg which is supposed to look like a full moon.
Properly made gyokuro shincha ?
玉露の新茶、new-crop Gyokuro green tea. How to brew a perfect cup of green tea.
Milky Candy ?
ミルキーキャンディー is a classic candy, with a character called Peko-chan who has graced the packaging since 1950. It is made by Fujiya (不二家). It tastes like condensed milk in candy form, and is another example of how Japanese people like that sweet, rather curdled milk taste.
Wanko soba ?
ワンコ蕎麦 or わんこそば. I’m breaking my ‘no regional food’ rule a bit, though you can get wanko soba outside of the region where it’s a speciality (the Iwate prefecture in the north). Wanko soba is served in small bowls filled with a very strong tsuyu or soba sauce (cold) with various condiments (see Cold soba with dipping sauce). The customer holds the bowl out, into which the servers throw in a few strands of soba noodles. The customer slurps these up rapidly, and more strands are thrown in. This is repeated until the eater is full. An average male eater can consume about 60 servings. It’s a gimmick, and encourages rapid eating. Wanko soba eating contests are the precursor of extreme eating competitions which are so popular in Japan.
Omuraisu with demi-glace sauce　?
オムライス　is another example of yohshoku. The best place to have an omuraisu is at a small restaurant that specializes in yohshoku and makes their own demi-glace sauce. Failing that, a quick homemade version with ketchup is almost as nice. It’s a big favorite with kids in Japan.
Handmade katayaki senbei ?
煎餅 - せんべい　- means rice cracker, but the little snack-sized rice crackers that are now as common as potato chips around the world are at the bottom of the rice cracker quality scale. At the top are hand-crafted 堅焼き煎餅 (katayaki senbei); round rice crackers the size of your palm or bigger, made of pounded rice that is formed by hand, dried under the sun, and toasted over a charcoal fire until the rice patty pops and forms crunchy air pockets. It is then painted with dark soy sauce. The sweet version is then sprinkled with big grains of salt caled ざらめ　(zarame).
Yohkan (yokan) from Toraya ?
羊羹　- ようかん - is a dense, fudge like cake of sweet azuki beans; sometimes it contains chestnuts or other ingredients. To be eaten in slowly, in tiny mouthfuls, with green tea. The best yohkan is widely held to be from the old wagashi maker Toraya (とらや); a gift in a Toraya bag has much cachet throughout Japan.
Ishi yakiimo ?
石焼き芋　(いしやきいも)　are sweet potatoes cooked in hot stones, available from street vendors; a fixture on cool fall evenings. See Hoku-hoku is fall.
Natto ?
納豆（なっとう）- fermented, sticky/slimy soy beans. The quintessential ‘eww’ Japanese food item. Definitely an acquired taste. See Natto article and The Great Natto Diet Rush.
Fresh seaweed sunomono (can also have some tako in it) ?
酢の物（すのもの）- a salad of sorts, usually with seaweed and/or seafood, with a slightly sweet, oil-less vinegar dressing. Very low in calories and very refreshing. The best is made with fresh seaweed, tasting of the sea; some chunks of fresh tako (タコ) or octopus are a nice addition. See wakame no sunomono recipe using dried wakame seaweed, which is all we can get here in landlocked Switzerland…(cries)
Ikura or sujiko ?
Sujiko - すじこ　is salmon eggs still encased in the egg sac, while ikura - いくら　is the eggs removed from the sac membrane. Both are cured in salt or soy sauce and eaten raw. The best way to enjoy either is to just mound it on top of a bowl of rice, perhaps with a little grated fresh wasabi. A speciality of Hokkaido.
Tonkatsu ?
トンカツ　or 豚カツ　is a breaded and deep-fried pork cutlet, a typical yohshoku dish. See Tonkatsu recipe.
Goma dofu ?
胡麻豆腐 is an example of shoujin ryouri (精進料理), the refined vegan cuisine developed by Zen Buddist monks. See goma dofu recipe.
Chawan mushi or tamago dofu - the same dish either piping hot or ice cold ?
Chawanmushi - 茶碗蒸し　is the hot version of tamago dofu - 卵豆腐; both are delicate, smooth, savory egg custards. See Tamago dofu recipe.
Freshly made mochi, with kinako and sugar, grated daikon and soy sauce or natto ?
Mochi - 餅　or pounded sweet rice, is available in many forms. As a symbol of bounty a tier of two or three rounds of mochi are placed in front of the Shinto altar in the home for the New Year (called kagami mochi). The best mochi is freshly pounded, eaten with brown sugar and kinako (toasted soy bean powder), or with grated daikon radish and soy sauce, or even with natto and green onions. That’s the way they were served at my grandparents’ house when I was very little.
Gindara no kasuzuke ?
銀ダラの粕漬け　is gindara, or silver cod, marinated in sakekasu (酒粕), sake lees mixed with other ingredients such as salt or soy sauce, mirin, and so on. The fish is marinated for a day or more, then grilled. The sweet-salty taste of the marinade permeates the firm fish and the result is heavenly.
Hoshigaki ?
干し柿　are dried persimmons (kaki). Bitter persimmons (渋柿　shibugaki)　are hung outside to dry slowly; the bitter liquid drips out as the fruit dries, leaving a densely sweet delicacy. The bitter liquid is saved and used to lacquer wooden bowls and boxes.
Inarizushi ?
Sushi rice stuffed into fried bean curd (油揚げ　aburaage) pockets. Typically a homemade sushi, rather than one served in a sushi restaurant. See Inarizushi recipe.
Chikuzen-ni ?
筑前煮ちくぜんに　is a homely dish in which cut up chicken, lotus root, carrots, taro root, burdock root, shiitake mushrooms etc. are stewed together in a dashi broth. It is made in large quantities for the New Year’s period, when it’s heated up daily and eaten during the holidays (giving the cook of the household a break from daily cooking). It can be eaten at any time of the year though, especially the cold months. Filling and healthy!
Surume ?
するめ　is salted and dried squid’ it’s chewy, rather like squid jerky. It is usually eaten shredded into fine strips; you can get it like that, or the whole squid (better quality surume is usually sold whole, to be grilled briefly at home). A standard snack to accompany sake (おつまみ　otsumami - see Yakitori below). My stepfather loves freshly grilled surume with a little mayonnaise and chili pepper (ichimi or nanami tougarashi).
Yakinasu with grated ginger?
焼き茄子　やきなす　- grilled eggplant, with しょうが shouga (ginger) and a bit of soy sauce, is a summertime favorite. The slim eggplants are grilled whole, without any oil, until they soften and the skin bursts; the charred skin is then peeled off, leaving the flower bract. The peeled eggplant is eaten ice cold.
Tamago kake gohan ?
卵かけご飯　たまごかけごはん　is just hot, freshly cooked white rice with a raw egg plus a little soy sauce. To make this, mound a rice bowl with rice, and make a hole in the middle. Drop in a fresh egg an add soy sauce; mix. A breakfast favorite.
Kabuki-age ?
歌舞伎揚げ is a round, deep fried rice cracker that has a distinctive crackly surface. It originated as a snack served at 歌舞伎　かぶき　kabuki theaters, allegedly. Nowdays it’s a cheap and rather fattening snack.
Nikujaga ?
肉じゃが　- Japanese meat and potatoes, quintessential お袋の味　おふくろのあじ　ofukukuronoaji (“mother’s cooking”). See my mom’s nikujaga recipe.
Spinach gomaae ?
ほうれん草のごま和えほうれんそうのごまあえ　hourennsou no gommae - more “mother’s cooking”. Spinach, and other dark green leafy vegetables are always served cooked in traditional Japanese cuisine, usually quickly blanched as a side dish. Besides sesame dressing, a simple お浸し　おひたし　ohitashi (dashi stock and/or bonito flakes and soy sauce sauce) is also very popular. See how to blanch spinach, and gomaae and ohitashi recipes.
Fuki no tou ?
ふきのとう　- butterburr shoots, blanched and de-bittered and cooked in a typically Japanese sweet-salty sauce. Since butterburr shoots are only available in the spring, this is a very seasonal dish. Other highly treasured spring vegetables include わらび　warabi - bracken fern (shoots), よもぎ　yomogi - a type of chrysanthemum, and 筍　たけのこ　takenoko - bamboo shoots.
Okonomiyaki ?
お好み焼きおこのみやき　- popular street food, originating in Osaka but now popular all throughout Japan and beyond! Often erroneously called Japanese pizza, I think it’s more aptly described as a savory pancake. See Osaka style okonomiyaki recipe.
Yakitori ?
焼き鳥　やきとり　- skewered and grilled chicken bits. Very popular street food and 酒の肴　さけのさかな　sake no sakana - drinking snack. (Competition between Japanese 居酒屋いざかや　izakaya - traditional pubs for the quality of their sake no sakana (also called おつまみ　otsumami) is fierce, just like tapas in Spain.)
Ohagi ?
お萩　おはぎ　- a traditional sweet, eaten in the fall. Very similar to ぼた餅　botamochi. See Ohagi/botamochi recipe.
Japanese style curry, with rakkyo and fukujinzuke as condiments ?
カレーライス　kareh raisu　is different from other curries! See recipe and a bit of the history of ‘curry rice’ in Japan.
Kenchinjiru ?
けんちん汁　けんちんじる　is a clear yet hearty vegetable soup. It is one of the most famous 精進料理　しょうじんりょうり　shoujinryouri (a refined vegan cuisine developed by Zen Buddhist monks in the Kansai region) dishes. A variation of kenchinjiru with bits of pork in it is called 豚汁　とんじる　tonjiru.
Yakult ?
ヤクルト is a sweet, slightly fruity, fermented probiotic milk drink that is supposed to be good for your digestive system. It’s sold all around the world now, with plenty of imitators. Included here because it is really very post-war-Japanese. Also see Kalpis above (which doesn’t make probiotic claims, but has a similar taste).
Kakipea ?
A snack made up of spicy little rice crackers called 柿の種　かきのたね　kaki no tane (literally: persimmon seeds) and roasted peanuts. See needlessly long and obsessive article.
Takoyaki ?
たこ焼きたこやき　- another popular street snack that originated in Osaka. Puffy creamy doughy balls with a piece of octopus inside, served with a sauce. Best eaten piping hot. Frozen takoyaki are a pale, sad approximation of freshly made takoyaki. See takoyaki recipe (the video referenced is no longer available, but you can still follow the instructions I hope!)
Sakura mochi ?
桜餅　さくらもち　is a traditional sweet that is eaten in spring, to coincide with the cherry blossom season. Sticky rice that is half-beaten and dyed a pale pink is wrapped around 餡　あん　an - sweet azuki bean paste. The whole thing is then wrapped with a preserved cherry tree leaf, which is slightly sour-salty.
Buta no kakuni ?
豚の角煮　ぶたのかくに - braised pork belly. Similar to a Okinawan dish called ラフテー　- rafuteh. Japanese people eat a lot more pork than beef (other red meats are not eaten much). The butcher in my grandparents’ town in Saitama prefecture (right next door to Tokyo) didn’t even carry beef until the 1980s. See Buta no kakuni recipe.
Daigaku imo ?
大学芋　だいがくいも　literally means “university potato”, probably because this hearty sweet snack is sold at the big university festivals that are held in the fall. Sweet potato chunks are deep fried then dipped in sugar syrup, which forms a hard, caramel-flavored coating, then sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Kappa Ebisen ?
かっぱえびせん　is a puffy, crunchy shrimp flavored snack, manufactured by Calbee. Yes, Japanese cuisine purists will turn their noses up at this selection no doubt! But I love Kappa Ebisen, it’s very Japanese, and it’s here. It actually has ground up shrimp in it, so the maker claims that it’s a good source of calcium!How Kappa Ebisen is made (Flash page in Japanese).
Tori no tsukune ?
鶏のつくね　とりのつくね　- soft stewed chicken dumplings. Another example of ‘mother’s cooking’. Fish tsukune (mainly made of oily fish like herring or mackerel) are also popular. Chicken tsukune recipe.
Hakusaizuke ?
白菜漬け　はくさいづけ　is salt pickled nappa or Chinese cabbage, a pickle for the cold winter months. (This is turned into kimchi in Korea.)
Hayashi raisu ?
ハヤシライス　is Japanese beef stew. See recipe and main article.
Goya champuruu ?
ゴーヤチャンプルー　is perhaps the best known dish of Okinawan cuisine. Its main feature is the use of bitter gourd, which is stir-fried with pork, egg and tofu to make a hearty dish. It’s supposed to give you lots of energy yet cool your body at the same time, making it perfect for the tropical climate of Okinawa.
Dorayaki ?
どら焼き　どらやき　is another traditional Japanese sweet (wagashi). Sweet azuki bean paste is sandwiched between two small pancakes.
Ochazuke ?
お茶漬け　おちゃづけ　is rice with various salty/savory toppings, over which hot green tea is poured. It’s often served as the last course in a formal Japanese meal, and it’s also a popular midnight snack. See main ochazuke article.
Sakuma Drops ?
佐久間ドロップ　or サクマドロップ　are fruit flavored hard candies manufactured by Sakuma Seika. (Seika means ‘confectioner’; there are actually two companies called Sakuma Seika, both manufacturing hard candies, run by rival members of the same family!) The candies are coated with powdered sugar, which prevents them from sticking together, and come in a reclosable can. This candy bridges the gap between traditional Japanese sweets and postwar ‘modern’ sweets; while hard candies existed previously, the fruit flavoring was quite new at the time. Sakuma drops featured prominently in the Studio Ghibli movie Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓). Sakuma Drops are on this list to represent the many delicious hard candies available in Japan! See also Meiji Chelsea.
Stewed kiriboshi daikon ?
切り干し大根　きりぼしだいこん　- shredded and dried daikon radish. There are many dried foods in Japan, which are still eaten regularly even if drying as a method of food preservation is old-fashioned. See Dried vegetables.
Takenoko gohan (or in fall, kuri gohan) ?
竹の子ご飯たけのこごはん　is rice cooked with fresh bamboo shoots; 栗ご飯　くりごはん　is rice cooked with sweet chestnuts. One signifies spring, the other fall. More ‘mother’s cooking’!
Cream or potato korokke ?
コロッケ　korokke is the Japanese version of croquettes. While you barely see croquettes much these days in the West outside of restaurants, in Japan they are an everyday food, part of yohshoku. You can buy them frozen or freshly made at any supermarket or convenience store, and many people make them from scratch at home too. クリームコロッケ　kureemu korokke　- cream croquettes - are made of stiff bechamel (white) sauce, usually with crabmeat or shrimp in it, and ポテトコロッケ　- poteto korokke are made of mashed potatoes plus something else (ground meat, corn, etc). Usually served with the ubiquitous Bulldog Sauce.
Fresh yuba ?
湯葉　- is a Kyoto speciality. Thin films of tofu are scooped off the top of vats of warm soy milk. It’s available in dried form and is usually used in soups and such. Fresh yuba made from fresh warm soy milk is considered a great delicacy and is usually eaten with a litle soy sauce, yuzu juice and such. Yuba is part of shoujinryouri.
Real ramen ?
ラーメン　is imported from China, but has been adopted wholeheartedly by Japanese people. One only needs to watch the movie Tampopo once to see how obsessed Japanese people can get about good ramen.
Monaka ?
最中　もなか　is another traditional sweet. A crispy waffle-like casing is filled with sweet azuki paste (an), a sweet custard-cream, or ice cream.
Ekiben of all kinds ?
駅弁　えきべん　are bento lunches served at train station. They are one of the best ways to sample local delicacies around Japan fairly economically. If you can’t travel around on trains throughout Japan, you can try the ekiben sold in department store food halls. A bit more about ekiben here.
Edamame ?
枝豆　えだまめ　- the quintessential summertime beer snack, now famous around the world. Addictive, more-ish yet healthy - how can you go wrong with edamame?
Chicken karaage ?
とりの唐揚げ　とりのからあげ　tori no karaage. Another imported-from-China and adapted to Japan food. My favorite kind of fried chicken! See recipe.
Kuzumochi ?
葛餅　くずもち　- a cool summer sweet made from kuzu powder. See recipe.
Mitarashi dango ?
みたらし団子　みたらしだんご　- yet another traditioan snack: sticky mochi rice dumplings coated in a salty-sweet sauce. Mitarashi dango recipe.
Konnyaku no dengaku ?
こんにゃくの田楽　こんにゃくのでんがく - Konnyaku served hot on a skewer with a salty-sweet dengaku sauce, which is made with miso, sugar and other things. Barely any calories! See more about konnyaku.
Yukimi Daifuku ?
雪見大福　ゆきみだいふく　is a daifuku (mochi dumpling) filled with vanilla ice cream rather than the traditional sweet bean paste. A fairly recent invention, it’s not-too-sweet and very nice on a hot day.
Sukiyaki ?
すき焼き　is a dish from the Kanto/Tokyo area. Thin slices of beef are cooked in a shallow pot, usually on a tabletop gas burner, in a sweet-salty ‘sauce’ made in the pot by combining sugar, a bit of sake and soy sauce. After the meat gets going, vegetables, tofu, shirataki noodles and udon noodles are added to the pot. The ‘dipping sauce’ is a raw egg. At-home family cooking at its finest!
Nama yatsuhashi ?
生八つ橋　なまやつはし　is a traditional refined sweet from Kyoto flavored with nikki or cinnamon. See yatsuhashi recipe.
Panfried hanpen ?
はんぺん　is a airy-light fish cake, made of ground up white fish, yamaimo and egg white. It’s commonly available readymade in any food store, but I think it has a refined flavor and texture to rival any French quenelle or the like. It is used in soups, stews, and so on, but my favorite way to eat it is to just panfry it in oil or butter until golden brown. It’s also good stuffed with a ground meat mixture.
Nozawanazuke or Takanazuke ?
野沢菜漬け　のざわなづけ　and 高菜漬け　たかんづけ　are a traditional preserved mountain food: freeze-dried greens that are salted down. Very nice as onigiri wrappers.
Kiritanpo ?
きりたんぽ　is a traditional food from the north of Honshuu, especially Akita prefecture. Pounded rice cakes are formed around a skewer and grilled. These are the eaten as-is with a little soy sauce or miso, or put into soups and stews. Chewy, doughy and very Japanese.
Amanattoh ?
甘納豆　あまなっとう　- unlike regular natto, amanatto (sweet natto) are not sticky or fermented; they are just beans with a crystallized sugar coating. A traditional sweet snack, eaten especially around the end of the year.
Narazuke　?
奈良漬け　ならづけ　could be the oldest known pickle in Japan. A speciality of Nara, the first capital of a unified Japan, various vegetables like gourds and cucumbers together with ginger are pickled in sake lees. The sake lees are changed several times before the pickles are ready. The resulting pickles are semi-transparent and sweet. Related: wasabizuke, vegetables pickled in wasabi mixed with sake lees.
Aji no himono ?
アジの干物　- 干物　ひもの　himono means dried fish. Dried fish in Japan is usually not dried to a cardboard-hard state, but rather eaten when still a bit soft. Aji or horse mackerel is delicious dried or semi-dried, cured with just salt or with a sweet mirin coating (this is called mirin boshi).
Baby Ramen ?
ベビーラーメン, or officially ベビースターラーメン　is a salty snack that looks like little dried bits of instant ramen - it probably is bits of instant ramen, deep fried for good measure. It comes in little packets which are all connected in one long strip, useful for hanging up in a small store. Small snack and confectionary stores called 駄菓子屋　だがしや　(dagashiya) used to exist in every neighborhood, selling homely snacks like Baby Ramen and Botan Candy, but they are now sadly a thing of the past, existing only in Showa-era ‘amusement parks’ and the like. The good news is that Baby Ramen still survives.
Kobucha ?
昆布茶　こぶちゃ - also read kombucha, but do not confuse it with the drink from the mystery Russian mushroom. This is a ‘tea’ made with salty pieces of soft konbu seaweed. It is drunk as a tea, even though it ‘s salty - rather like British people drink Bovril dissolved in hot water. It can also be used as an instant dashi.
Kasutera ?
カステラ　- a Japanese spongecake that came via Portugal from Spain in the 17th century. Sweet and airy, usually with a honey flavor. See kasutera recipe.
Tazukuri ?
田作り　たづくり　is a traditional dish that is part of お節料理　おせちりょうり　- osechiryouri, New Year’s feast cooking. It consists of tiny little dried fish that are cooked in a sweet-salty sticky caramel like sauce. Sesame seeds are added too. The numerous little fish signify a wish for a good harvest　and prosperity (little fish like this apparently used to be used as fertilizer in the rice fields.) In old Japanese tazukuri is called ごまめ　gomame.
Karintou ?
かりんとう　is another traditional Japanese snack. Bits of flour dough are deep-fried, then coated in dark brown sugar caramel. Karintou is here because my mother told me that this was the main snack of her childhood, made at home by her mother. I used to hate karintou when I was younger, because they were so hard and looked like poo, but now I crave it…
Sauce Yakisoba ?
ソース焼きそば; yakisoba is of course derived from Chinese lo mein, but the Japanese version made with Bulldog sauce is well, very Japanese. A typical street stall snack.
Kamaboko ?
かまぼこ　is a rather rubbery firm fish cake, rather like a fish sausage in texture. It is usually formed on a small wooden board. It’s often dyed pink on the outside, and pink and white alternating slices of kamaboko are a part of お節料理　おせちりょうり　- osechiryouri, New Year’s feast cooking. Kamaboko is eaten year round as a side dish.
Oyako donburi ?
親子丼ぶり　おやこどんぶり　- literally ‘parent-child bowl’. A donburi is both the name of the container (bowl) as well as the name of the food which is served in it - various things on top of a bed of plain rice. An oyako donburi consists of chicken pieces and vegetables encased in half-scrambled egg. Other donburi include gyuudon (beef donburi), tendon (tempura donburi), katsudon (tonkatsu donburi), tekkadon (raw tuna cube donburi), and so on and on. Typical lunch food.
Atsuyaki tamago ?
厚焼き卵　あつやきたまご　- thick, slightly sweet Japanese omelette, a fixture in bento boxes and on sushi. See Tamagoyaki recipe which uses a frying pan (traditionally it’s made in a special square pan, but I don’t have one!)
Kuri kinton ?
栗きんとんくりきんとん　is another part of お節料理　おせちりょうり　- osechiryouri, New Year’s feast cooking, consisting of whole chestnuts cooked in sugar syrup in a sweet potato paste　that is dyed yellow with a gardenia seed. The golden colors of the dish signify a wish for good fortune in the coming year.
Japanese potato salad ?
Japanese potato salad (ポテトサラダ）is made with plenty of Japanese mayonnaise (which is rich and slightly sweet) and is served cold, often as an accompaniment to a hot dish like grilled fish. Japanese people love mayonnaise. See Japanese potato salad recipe.

More lists?

Also see Diane’s 100 Chinese foods to try before you die on Appetite for China!

Want more lists? The Big List of Must Eat Lists.

Looking at tofu

maki — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:16:56 +0200

There are several tofu recipes both here in Just Hungry as well as on Just Bento, and I’ve even shown how to make your own tofu. However, up until now I have never really tried to explain the differences between types of tofu, when to use them and how to store them. Well now is the time to fix that.

Fried tofu type 1: Aburaage

Aburaage （油揚げ）is deep fried tofu, where almost none of the soft white tofu remains. It’s also called tofu skin or tofu pocket sometimes. When the tofu is deep fried, an air pocket is formed inside which can be stuffed, as in inarizushi or eggs in treasure bags. Besides stuffing it, you can use aburaage sliced up and put into soups or stir-fries, gently cooked whole in a broth as in kitsune udon, and more.

To get rid of the excess oil on the surface, blanch aburaage in boiling water for a couple of minutes, then drain away. To loosen it up so that it’s easier to stuff, roll a round chopstick over the surface several times after blanching to loosen it up, then cut open.

The best way to store aburaage for longer than a few days is to freeze it. (The bag in the photo is actualy frozen.)

Japanese aburaage is always a rectangular sheet, but you can get small puffs or squares in Chinese markets.

Fried tofu type 2: Atsuage or namaage

Atsuage （厚揚げ）or namaage （生揚げ）is a block of tofu that has been slowly fried in oil until it forms a slightly crinkly pale brown skin. It’s stil white tofu inside though, unlike aburaage. You can get rid of the excess oil on the surface just like with aburaage, by blanching it in boiling water. Aburaage is a very versatile food, that can be pan-fried or grilled like a steak, cut up and used in stir-fries or stewed, put into soups and so on. I like using aburaage in bento recipes a lot - because it has less moisture than non-fried tofu, it keeps longer.

The two main types of plain tofu

Finally we get to plain tofu. Plain tofu can be divided into two main types: silken or kinugoshi （絹ごし）, and firm or pressed. In Japanese firm tofu is called momen （木綿）or cotton tofu. Here are a block of each: silken on the left, and firm/cotton on the right.

Here are the blocks from the side:

As you can see, the silken tofu is smoother and more watery, while the firm/cotton tofu is well, firmer and denser. Since silken tofu is much softer (higher water content), it is harder to handle if you want the tofu pieces to not fall apart. So if you are a tofu beginner and you want to use it on stir-fries or things like bacon wrapped tofu, you will want to use firm tofu. Firm tofu is less liable to fall apart, especially if you drain off the water a bit. Some recipes call for extracting even more water from the tofu (see using tofu for bento friendly recipes). On the other hand, silken tofu is more suited for recipes that call for it to be pureed, such as quick tofu pudding and baked squash and apple pudding, or in smoothies. I prefer silken tofu in miso soup, though firm is fine too.

Some other tofu types not pictured here

I don’t have these on hand so pictures are missing…

Yaki dofu （焼き豆腐）is firm tofu that’s been grilled on the outside, giving it a nice flavor.

Kouya dofu （高野豆腐）is freeze-dried tofu that is sold in the dried food section. It looks like little dried beige sponges. This is reconstituted in water before stewing. It can be a good pantry staple because it keeps indefinitely.

Yuba　（湯葉） is a Kyoto speciality. Thin films of tofu are scooped off the top of vats of warm soy milk. It’s available in dried form and is usually used in soups and such. Fresh yuba made from fresh warm soy milk is considered a great delicacy and is usually eaten with a litle soy sauce, yuzu juice and such.

How to keep tofu fresh

Once you open the vacuum sealed pack the tofu comes in, any leftovers must be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, immersed in water. You will need to change the water every day too, but in any case don’t keep opened tofu for more than 2 or 3 days. (With homemade tofu the shelf life is even shorter - a maximum of 2 days.) If you leave tofu out of water for more than a day in the fridge, it will take on a sour taste, not to mention picking up stray refrigerator smells! It is possible to freeze tofu (see frozen tofu cutlets) but the texture will change.

As mentioned above, aburaage can be frozen. Firm atsuage can also be frozen, though the inner texture will change a bit.

Calories in tofu products

Per 100 grams or about 3.5 oz:

Aburaage: 386 calories (one piece is about 20-25g) This is the calorie count before getting rid of the surface oil, so after it’s cooked it would be a bit lower in calories.
Atsuage: 150 calories - (one piece is anywhere from 100 to 200g, depending on the brand etc.) This is the calorie count before getting rid of surface oil.
Silken tofu: 56 calories
Firm/cotton tofu: 72 calories
Yaki dofu: same as firm tofu
Kouya dofu (dry weight):　590 calories
Kouya dofu (cooked weight): 130 calories
Yuba (cooked weight): 150 calories

What about those stories I hear about soy being good for you/bad for you?

Whenever I write about soy or tofu products here, I usually get some comments or emails about how soy products are either bad for you (the current trend - makes men grow breasts and so on) or good for you (prevents certain types of cancer and what have you).

My attitude about these types of reports is this: Tofu has been eaten for hundreds or thousands of years. Generally speaking soy products are a great source of vegetable based protein and fat. And in any case, no one should be eating massive quantities of any one food product every day of the week, as seems to be the case with those reports of body builders taking lots of soy protein powder and sprouting boobies and such. Even the most die hard tofu fan in Japan, like my mother, does not eat tofu every single day. (For what it’s worth, she has IBD and finds tofu to be one of the few easily digestible proteins.) Variety is the spice of life, and your diet! See also: A problematic report on the dangers of soy.

Hopefully most if not all of your tofu related questions have been answered here. If not, ask away in the comments!

About Japanese ingredients and substitutions

maki — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:28:08 +0200

[Updated to add Substitution section.]

I haven’t exactly counted it up, but of the thousands of comments left on Just Hungry, not to mention Just Bento, probably at least a quarter are questions about ingredients or ingredient substitutions. So I thought I might put down what my criteria are for what kind of ingredients I choose to feature in the recipes on either site, especially when it comes to Japanese recipes. [Update added on August 15th, 2008]: I’ve also added some suggested, and acceptable, substitutions.

Can I get a hold of it?

In case you didn’t know, at the moment I live in a country with a fairly miniscule Japanese expat or immigrant population (the last I heard there were less than 2000 Japanese people living in the Zürich area). There is only one real Japanese grocery store near me, and it is quite small with a limited selection of products. There’s also an equally small (though slightly better stocked) Korean grocery store, and a couple of Chinese grocery stores. (See Where I shope for Japanese/Asian ingredients in Zürich.) I supplement what I can get locally by placing an order with Japan Centre a few times a year.

My point is, that what I can get is fairly limited compared to many people, though more generous than others. So by sticking to what I can get here, I think that I’m in a good middle ground for people trying to cook anything Japanese. If you live in a region (e.g. most of California, New York City, or Hawaii) with big Japanese expat/immigrant populations, you have a much bigger selection available to you than I do!

(My mom also sends me things from Japan periodically, but I do not include the more exotic things in the recipes here, though I might mention then in passing.)

Is it available by mailorder?

I also periodically check to see if certain ingredients are available online. Some online merchants don’t have very comprehensive listings on their web sites, but by emailing them they can tell you if they have something in stock.

Where to look for Japanese ingredients

In order of the likelihood of finding Japanese ingredients:

Japanese grocery stores, including online stores. This is obvious. Please consult the Worldwide Japanese grocery store list for your area, and go to your nearest store to see what they have! That’s the best way to get acquainted with unfamiliar ingredients.
Korean grocery stores. A lot of Japanese ingredients are used in Korean cooking.
Chinese grocery stores and general Asian grocery stores. Chinese grocery stores tend to stock less Japanese ingredients than Korean grocery stores, but you can still find a lot of things.
Health food stores, including online stores. Many dry and/or vegan ingredients, such as rice flour, kuzu powder, agar-agar, miso and so on can be found at health food stores.
South East Asian grocery stores (Thai, etc.) These stores don’t stock Japanese ingredients per se, but some of the fresh product and things can be used.
South Asian grocery stores (Indian, Sri Lankan, etc.) These can be a surprisingly good source for ‘exotic’ vegetables and such that are used in Japanese cooking.

Is it a widely used ingredient in Japanese cooking?

In general, I try to stay away from any ingredient that might be considered to be too regional or esoteric in Japan, and stick to ingredients that are likely to be in any Japanese kitchen.

Is the recipe something that is normally made in Japan?

When I do traditional Japanese recipes here, I try to stick to ones that are commonly made in Japanese homes (vs. something exotic, regional or so complicated it’s only available in restaurants).

The exception to this rule is when I try to make something that is readily available in Japan, but not necessarily elsewhere. An example of this is really fresh tofu. The hard work required is worth it for the results.

Ingredient substitutions

In certain cases, you can make substitutions without a problem. I try to include substitution recommendations whenever possible, or when I am fairly sure it would work. For instance, many Japanese recipes call for katokuriko （片栗粉）which is a flour made from potato starch, but this is hard to get outside of Japan in most places. Cornstarch (or cornflour) has a very similar texture and performs the same function, so that is an easy substitute. Using honey or syrup instead of maple syrup will change the flavor a bit but also works.

In some cases though there is no substitution. If you are making kuzumochi, you really can’t use anything other than kuzu powder if you want the same texture.

Sometimes you just need to try out a substitution to see if it works. For instance, when I call for a specific rice flour like shiratama-ko or joushinko, but you can’t get it, try substituting a rice flour you can get and see how it goes. (I ‘ve made rice dumplings with red rice flour from Sri Lanka, and it turned out fairly well.) The worst that can happen is that you end up with an inedible dish that you have to throw away, but that’s not the end of the world. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes!

Some acceptable substitutions

[This section added on August 15, 2008]

Mirin and sake. I think more people ask about substitutes for these two ingredients than anything else put together. Both are alcoholic beverages (though mirin is never drunk and is only used in cooking). Mirin is stronger and sweeter than sake. Sake can be used as a substitute for mirin (with an added pinch of sugar), and vice versa. If you cannot get a hold of either, you can use sweet sherry or Chinese shiaoxing wine. If you cannot use alcohol for religious or other reasons, even though most of the alcohol will evaporate after cooking, just leave it out - it will affect the flavor, but there’s no reasonable non-alcoholic substitute that I can think of. See also: The role of alcohol, onion and garlic in Japanese meat dishes (also applies to fish dishes in many cases) (Vinegar is not a good substitute. Vinegar makes things sour. I can’t believe there are people saying that vinegar is a substitute for sake. Is vinegar a good substitute for wine in a recipe? Please.) Mirin style seasoning or mirin choumiryou (example here) has less than 1% alcohol content, so it can be used as a mirin substitute in terms of flavor. However, mirin style seasoning often has additives like MSG and sugar, so I’m not a fan of it. If you do leave out mirin from a recipe, you can add a bit of (or more) sugar to the recipe to compensate for the sweetness at least.
Japanese-style or sushi rice. Keep in mind that ‘sushi rice’ is a name given by non-Japanese sellers to Japanese style or japonica medium grain rice. Medium-grain Italian rices that are used for risotto, such as vialone and arborio, are acceptable substitutes for Japanese rice; long grain rices including basmati and jasmine rice are not.
Dashi stock. Japanese stock is usually made from kombu seaweed, dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi), dried fish called niboshi, or a combination of all or two of these. (See basic dashi recipe.) You may find it difficult to find these ingredients, or they may be too expensive. Powdered or granular dashi stock is similar to stock cubes, and can be used instead of made-from-scratch dashi; keep in mind that dashi granules are saltier and often contain MSG. See also vegan dashi stock made with dried shiitake mushrooms and kombu seaweed. If you can’t get a hold of any of these, you can use a basic vegetable stock instead - it won’t taste that Japanese but it’s better than plain water at least!
Miso and soy sauce. There are no substitutes for these. As to whether you should stick to Japanese soy sauce or use other kinds - I do believe that Japanese soy sauce tastes quite different from, say, Chinese soy sauce, but your palate may not be able to detect a big difference. Kikkoman is the most famous Japanese brand, and is available worldwide.
Japanese tonkatsu sauce or okonomiyaki sauce, or “bulldog” sauce. Bulldog is the brand name of a popular line of barbeque-type sauces that are used in a lot of dishes, from panfried noodles (yakisoba) to deep fried pork cutlets (tonkatsu) , okonomiyaki, takoyaki and more. If you’re in the U.S., you can use A-1 Steak Sauce, maybe tempered with a little added sugar and/or ketchup. Elsewhere, you can use Worcestershire sauce for the flavor if not the texture.
Rice vinegar. White balsamic vinegar is the best substitute, but that’s rather more exotic I think than rice vinegar! You can use also use a mild white wine vinegar instead, with a pinch of sugar to mellow it out.

In the vast majority of recipes here on Just Hungry as well as on Just Bento, I try to stick to these flavoring ingredients, plus universal ones like salt, pepper and sugar, so hopefully you won’t run into too many problems around here at least.

Are there any other ingredients you’d like to know possible substitions for? Let me know in the comments.