Piggybacking on Yamahomo's drunk cooking post, this week's Japanify introduces techniques for making instant ramen that will please drunks. After a long, explosive night of dancing, my husband prepared Sapporo Ichiban instant ramen. An avid eater of Sapporo Ichiban instant...
Find out more about okara, or tofu lees, aka soy pulp. What it is, how to use it, and okara recipes.
This monochromatic sunomono salad may look humble, but it packs a sweet and sour punch. It tastes somewhat reminiscent to the cucumber salad that comes with Thai satay skewers. Although sunomono is eaten more like...
A budget-friendly recipe to make tsuyu, Japanese soba dipping sauce, from scratch. It's easy and uses only three ingredients!
Nothing compares to short grain rice in Japan. Find out more about Haku-mai, Gen-mai, and Haiga-mai including taste, use, and nutritional value.
The idea of a salad at many Japanese restaurants in America is some iceberg lettuce, julliened carrots and a cherry tomato (if your lucky) - topped with a creamy, sesame dressing. I can say that I am sometimes a fan...
Last month, I took a relaxing trip to Pt. Reyes with one of the best books I have read this year, the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (The Girl with...
Step-by-step recipe and instructions on how to make your own dashi at home.
Every time I would go to someone's house in Tokyo, they would likely offer me sencha before I even settled onto my zabuton or chair. Sencha is made by steaming...
Step-by-step instructions on how to use a water stone to sharpen knives, especially carbon-steel and stainless steel hÅchÅ (Japanese cutlery).
A step-by-step recipe guide to ferment your own soybeans and make natto at home.
Kanpyo is a curious food - shaved calabash gourd. You can buy kanpyo dehydrated in white strips. You must prepare the dehydrated strips and marinate them to get them ready for the most common kanpyo dishes like futomaki rolls...
I finally had the guts to buy a goya because there was a half-cut goya on sale for 50 yen at my local supermarket last week. I had always envied my Okinawan friend who could nonchalantly cook up...
After making my umeshu and bottling it up for indulgence in October, I became restless. I wanted to make more while I waited for three months. But this time I wanted to try another fruit. After discussing it...
Japanese mothers and grandmothers are hardcore. Every year they make their own liqueur and June is the month to start preparing. Starting in late May, supermarkets stock ume (Japanese plums) in bags of 1 kilogram which cost around 700-900...
My new thing is to mix two kinds of rice, hakumai (short-grain white rice) and genmai (brown rice). I used to alternate between brown and white depending on the day, but found brown rice alone to be...
