In Japan, there are some seasonal dishes which are almost iconic. This dish is one of them.‘Furofuki Daikon’ is a classic winter dish. Very simple to cook but it takes time to simmer daikon absolutely tender. It is traditionally served with sweet miso sauce. You can use white miso, dark colour miso or whatever type …
When cabbages are in season, I often make coleslaw with different dressings or sauces. I tried to create an Asian flavour slaw. When you follow this recipe, you might think the amount of the cabbages is too much for 4 servings but it will decrease in volume and the flavour will become stronger. I use …
‘Sumiso (Su-Miso)’ is Vinegared Miso Dressing. This dressing is so good with boiled Octopus or Squid, and also fresh Konnyaku. Of course it is great for salad! My mother used to make iceberg lettuce salad with ‘Sumiso’. I use Wombok, ‘Hakusai’ in Japanese, for the dish instead. A popular dish for Japanese style dinner ‘Ichijū …
I love rice. Especially I love Brown Rice mixed with other grains including Wild Rice, Barley and Quinoa. It takes a long time to cook. So I recommend you to cook more than you need and freeze the leftovers. This dish is one of our heavily repeated dinner menus. My daughter made it first and …
I bought a bag of Black Beans from an Asian grocery store and have found out they are different from the ones available from ordinary supermarket stores. Black Turtle Beans are commonly called ‘Black Beans’ in Australia, but what I bought from the Asian grocery store are Black Soy Beans. My grandmother used to pickle …
The ‘Namul’, Korean vegetable dish, can be a great side dish which goes well with so may dishes. Many vegetables are in season now and I am making all kinds of ‘Namul ‘dishes. I particularly like this easy Broccoli ‘Namul’. Find other ‘Namul’ recipes here. Makes 4 Servings Ingredients Broccoli 1 large head *cut into …
There used to be a pizza shop near our house. An Italian family was running the shop and their pizzas were delicious. My favourite was ‘Vegetarian Pizza’ with anchovies as optional extra. This ‘Oven-baked Okonomiyaki’ has been inspired by that pizza. The shop is now owned by Chinese and their pizzas are sadly quite disappointing. …
Garlic Chives (’Nira’ in Japanese) are very hardy. They grow so well, produce plenty of seeds and spread even outside of the veggie garden. Every time my husband cuts the grass around the garden, we smell garlic! But this means we can grow them easily. In Japan, ‘Nira’ is considered a vegetable not a herb. …
Kale is easy to grow and has grown too well in my veggie garden. We can hardly keep up eating it. So I blanched a large bowlful of Kale leaves and made this ‘Ae-mono’ (Japanese style salad). ‘Goma-ae’ Sauce is usually made with Soy Sauce but I used Miso for this dish. It was a …
My husband’s aunt Joan told me about her amazing discovery of Asian Fried Noodle Salad. She even gave me a bag of the fried noodles. The recipe was on the package of the noodles, but I found it too sweet. So, I created my own dressing for the salad. I used a bag of ready-to …
‘Edamame’ are young soy beans. Soybeans in the pod are usually blanched in salted water. ‘Edamame” are becoming easily available from most super markets and Asian grocers. Crunchy and tasty, and above all nutrition packed ‘Edamame’ can be eaten directly from pods but they are great for cooking as well. Ingredients 1 cup Edamame (Young …
‘Asazuke’ is a Japanese pickling method characterised by its short preparation time. The term can also refer to the vegetables pickled in this manner. Commonly used vegetables are Daikon, Wombok, Cucumbers, or other salad vegetables. ‘Asazuke’ is usually prepared by rubbing the cut vegetables with salt and ginger, sliced kombu or chilli. The typical Japanese …