By Yuki HD

Doubanjiang has been called “the soul of Sichuan cooking.” A spicy bean paste most recognizable in Sichuan cuisine, doubanjiang is also a popular ingredient for Japanese home cooking, called tobanjan.

I use doubanjiang quite often in my cooking for sauces, and I was curious as to how I might make a home-style version using only natural ingredients.

Read More →

Whenever I had shabu-shabu as a kid, there was NEVER ENOUGH gomadare (sesame sauce). It has all the elements that leave you wanting more: sweet, salty and savory. I was never a huge meat fan and I looked forward to dunking udon in my mom’s gomadare more than any other part of the shabu-shabu meal. So one of my “when-I-grow-up” dreams was to have a large supply of gomadare.

Read More →

When life gives you sour oranges, make ponzu sauce.

Ponzu is such a versatile condiment and its acidity adds a lot more dimension than regular soy sauce. It’s also extremely easy to make your own ponzu at home. Especially when you find sour oranges (called dai-dai in Japan, and sometimes called “bitter orange” here in the States), you should make your own batch of ponzu.

Read More →

For a year in college I studied art in Italy’s culinary capital, Bologna. I lived with four Italian girls who made endless variations of pasta and always had homemade chili oil on hand. It’s basically just olive oil and red pepper flakes — you can add whole dried peppers to the bottle if you have them (my parents grew and strung these for me last summer).

Read More →

My sister has a giant myoga plant that is thriving in a shady spot by her chicken coup coop. Powerful myoga buds started busting through the styrofoam container walls a few weeks ago. The plant was inherited from someone who could not contain their myoga and had to give away large patches to get their myoga infested garden under control.

What a dream to have too much myoga on your hands!

Read More →

I usually make a vat of potato salad before I leave for a trip, leaving my husband poor and defenseless against the elements of bachelorhood. But this time I didn’t have time before the trip and figured he’d be able to fend for himself…

It turns out that while I was gone for three weeks in Japan last month, my husband lived off of canned food and bottled condiments.

Read More →

Avocado sashimi with yuzu kosho is the easiest dish to make. It’s great to serve your guests before the main course. It’s also an ideal option to serve yourself when you are feeling really lazy but a little fancy. I prepare this for myself when I am craving something heavier than a salad and more importantly, when I don’t feel like having a sinkful of dishes.

Read More →

Kayoko here, filling in for Yoko. From here on out, just call me (Ka)Yoko.

By now, I’m sure you know what ponzu is. I don’t even have to explain it to you. In fact, it’s such a part of our colloquialism that I don’t even need to italicize it! Oh you know, it’s that tangy, citrusy, vinegry soy sauce that been featured in some of the fanciest restaurants in town: “XXfarm arugula dressed in a ponzu dressing”; “Local halibut with wasabi-ponzu sauce”; “Fanny Bay oysters on the half-shell with ponzu dipping sauce”.

Read More →

I am home in Berkeley after taking a week-long road trip through the American southwest with fellow Umamimart writer Anders, bookended by a five-day trip in NYC. I am so excited to be back in my own kitchen that I’ve stocked up on everything from soft shell crab to chicken thighs for curry. But those ingredients will have to wait.

Read More →

Mottainai is said in Japan when something perfectly usable is abandoned or sent to the trashcan. In the past ten years, Japan has seen a trend in awareness regarding waste and reusing whenever possible. It’s ironic that this has become a trend because the idea of reuse goes way back and is intrinsic to Japanese cooking, for example using ALL parts of chicken for yakitori and niban-dashi (drawing out stock from a source for the second time).

Read More →