I love canned fish. When I was little, I would eat canned sardines in miso sauce by the spoonful. Like ice cream! Haha. During my year living in Italy, I learned how to make this dish: pasta with canned tuna, onions...
Forgive me, I am going to cheat a little here... like that "100 Episodes of Seinfeld" episode. I think Umami Mart has been around long enough for something like that. So this is a re-post/interpretation of another post I wrote in Tokyo 4...
INGREDIENTS 1.5 pounds large shrimp, head and shell left on, rinsed well (I used Ridgeback shrimps from Santa Barbara) 3 (12-ounce) bottles of Japanese lager beer (I used Sapporo) 1 cup water 1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1...
Gyū-don w/ tokyo negi, chive points, tofu and shichimi RECIPE Serves 2 1/2 lb thinly sliced beef 1/2 block tofu (cut into 9 pieces) 1 stick of tokyo negi (you can use regular green onion or yellow onion) 3/4 cup of beef stock...
Awabi (abalone) is a luxurious clam. When it is eaten raw, it tastes faintly like the sea, but its crispy texture is what stands out the most. It is delicious, but almost impossible to find on sushi menus as they are...
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Keisuke aka Kid Skwid, my beloved brother. He has recently been promoted to sous chef at the famed Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills. Congrats, K! And lucky for us, he will grace the pages of Umami Mart...
Last week, I shared a bowl of nishin soba with you, and I asked you to not to throw out the egg and sperm sacs. I have two recipes that will have you wondering why people would ever throw them...
A gleaming school of herring greeted me upon my arrival on U.S. shores yesterday. After landing from Tokyo, my first errand after dropping off my bags at home was a visit to my local fish monger (Monterey Fish Market). Winter...
Taking half an hour out of my schedule to slow down and warm up has been possible these past few weeks thanks to this simple soup. The arrival of matsutake mushrooms is here and I couldn't be more excited. This year...
Life is busy these days. With the shop in full holiday swing, it's hard to find time to cook. But Yoko and I are good about taking turns bringing bentos -- it's nice to take the time to plan out what to make next....
Last week, Sakura wrote about chirashi sushi in London, a dish you can find at many Japanese restaurants throughout the world. I grew up in Kansai so when I was young, our chirashi (called bara-chirashi or gomoku chirashi) consisted of cooked root vegetables like...
I am posting a recipe for negitoro donburi for the pure fact that this is the most delicious thing to make in under 5 minutes if you have cooked rice on hand. If your fish monger sells toro pieces for...
Fish is still something a lot of people are scared of in the States. Heads, guts, scales, filleting -- there are a lot of processes involved before you can eat a piece of fish. It is the same process for meat or poultry, and I am...
Whenever I go see my 92 year-old grandma and have a conversation over tea, she drops all kinds of wisdom bombs on me. And she does it so casually, I never really notice the impact her words have on me until I...
Myoga madness continues as I experiment with the harvest from my sister's myoga plant. Last week, I topped raw myoga on tofu. This week, I make a stir fry with myoga and slices of pork shoulder. I am very inexperienced with...
If you have been to Japan, you've been to MOS burger, the best burger chain. Apparently it is coming to the U.S., which will be great. Their burgers -- from the regular MOS burger with bolognese sauce, to tonkatsu burger with cabbage, to real-deal teriyaki...
Remember when Yoko posted that pornlicious article about how to make ikura-don (salmon roe over rice), topped with a raw egg? Well, one night, she invited me over for dinner and she made ikura spaghetti!!! What a gluttonous noodle feast in a bowl. The al...
My partner Washi recently got a job as a salaryman. This may not seem that odd until you consider the fact that he is living in Berkeley, California and to qualify as a salaryman, you are usually employed by a Japanese corporation....
There was an egg festival in my bowl of rice the other day. I placed a raw egg yolk on a mound of ikura (salmon roe) on top of my steaming hot bowl of rice. The orange hues are sexy and appetizing, glimmering in my...
I've been reading on many Japanese blogs that people are stuffing sticky rice inside a whole chicken, which absorbs all the good stuff from the bird, and makes a very nice sticky rice accompanying a perfectly roasted bird. I was going to roast the whole bird, but...
