japanese

Japanese Cooking 101: List of required ingredients and equipment

Food package from Japan (2)

As promised, here is the list of ingredients and equipment you will need for the Japanese Cooking 101 course.

Type:  handbook Filed under:  japanese ingredients washoku japanesecooking101

Japanese Cooking 101: The Fundamentals of Washoku

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Announcing a new, free, online course that will teach you the fundamentals of Japanese cooking, conducted right here on JustHungry. Your teacher? Me!

Type:  feature Filed under:  japanese washoku cooking courses japanesecooking101

Doraemon's favorite snack

When I wrote about dorayaki, the sweet pancake-sandwich that is cat-robot Doraemon's favorite snack for the Japan Times back in October, I promised to post a recipe for making the little pancakes. Well finally here it is!

Filed under:  japanese sweet manga snacks japan wagashi japanese culture anime

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About kamaboko, the humble, rubbery fish cake that is ubiquitous at this time of year, but is also eaten year-round.

Filed under:  japanese ingredients fish washoku

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Fish that get on in life, plus a super-simple recipe for teriyaki fish made in the oven.

Filed under:  japanese ingredients fish japan washoku

I get asked a lot of questions by email, Twitter and on Facebook (as well as on Quora, although I am taking an extended break from that at the moment). Sometimes the answers may be of interest to a broader audience, like two I received recently. I've taken out any personal details and so on in the questions. This week's questions are about miso and learning Japanese.

Filed under:  japanese ingredients miso answering questions

Basics: Japanese soy sauce - all you need to know (and then some)

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I'm still working on getting my sites organized in the background, not to mention my kitchen operational. In the meantime, please enjoy this updated and revised look at Japanese soy sauce. An exhaustive look at Japanese soy sauce. Originally published in December 2011.

Type:  feature Filed under:  basics japanese ingredients washoku

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[Note: I am reposting this article from the archives because of this paragraph. Several people have said in the comments that a Danish Æbleskiver or ebleskiver pan would be a good substitute for a takoyaki pan. You also see this mentioned on other sites. I finally got a chance to hold a real ebleskiver pan in my hands, and the bad news is that I am not sure it really would make a good substitute. The pan makes round cakes shaped similarly to takoyaki, for sure, but they are maybe 5 to 6 times the size of a takoyaki. So what you'd end up with are huge dumplings, which would need to be cooked a lot longer than takoyaki do. One of the main features of a takoyaki is the contrast between the slightly crispy outside which gradually softens under the sauce, and the just-cooked, piping hot creamy interior. I really don't think you can get that with a huge er, ball. But if you have tried it for yourself, please let me know.

Another note: The video I mention below that was so great has been withdrawn due to copyright violation from YouTube. I'll replace it with more complete instructions as soon as I can, but in the meantime you can still make takoyaki from the recipe.

This was originally published in July 2007.]

Filed under:  japanese party food

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Back to basics.

Filed under:  japanese dashi japan washoku writing elsewhere japan times

Different kinds of umeboshi

This month's Japan Times article is about umeboshi, the sour-salty pickled fruit (usually called a pickled plum, though it's actually more related to an apricot) that's practically a national symbol.

I've written quite a lot about umeboshi on these pages before of course, including how to make your own if you can get a hold of the fresh ume fruit, following my mother's instructions.

Filed under:  japanese preserves and pickles summer washoku writing elsewhere japan times

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