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How to cook "with visual instructions" "using familiar ingredients from your local grocery stores" healthy, traditional and delicious Japanese dishes!!


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Scrumptious Mochi stuffed Fried Tofu Abura-Age (Vegan/Gluten-free)

Today I introduce you to “Mochi stuffed Fried Tofu Abura-Age in Dashi Soup”. The abura-age is juicy from soaking in delicious dashi soup and the mochi has a nice and soft texture.

Abura-age is a common food in Japan, deep-fried thin sliced tofu. You can find it in many Asian grocery stores.

Mochi is a traditional Japanese food. It is a soft rice cake made from steamed sticky rice. There are some products called MOCHI ice cream which is ice cream wrapped with a thin pieces of mochi. This sometimes makes people think all mochi is ice cream related. Therefore, please be aware that in Japan when you order mochi you will get a soft and sticky rice cake rather than ice cream.

Mochi staffed fried tofu is a very popular ingredient for hot pot dishes in Japan.


Ingredients (serving 2)


The recipe is easy.

Drizzle abura-age with boiling water to remove excess oil from their surface. Cut in half, put a piece of mochi in, and seam with a toothpick.

In a sauce pan, combine water, dashi stock powder, carrot, daikon radish, shiitake mushroom, cooking sake, soy sauce and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Add the mochi staffed abura-age and cook for 5 minutes. Flip them halfway through.


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Rice-cake Soup (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

Ozouni (Rice-cake soup) is a celebratory dish, and one of the dishes we eat on New Year’s day.

When we eat this, traditionally we give thanks for last year’s harvest and wish for a good harvest in the coming year and for the safety of our family.

Interestingly, the ingredients are different depending on the region. Some people dissolve White Miso (Soy bean paste) in the broth. Some people use sweet rice cake which has sweet bean paste in it.

Today I introduce my mother’s Ozouni. I use normal rice cake, Daikon (Japanese white radish) and carrots. This makes the dish more celebratory because in Japan we usually use red and white color combinations in celebratory situations.

In Japan, New Year’s day is the most important day of the year and many Japanese spend New Year’s day with family, feeling grateful for everything and wishing for a good year for everyone.

Have a happy New Year!!


{Ingredients (For 2 people)}
*Click BLUE TEXT to link to the product on Amazon*

2 pieces of Rice Cake (JAPAN IMPORT)

½ carrots

1 inch cut daikon (Japanese white radish)

2 cups Kelp Dashi stock
(Recommended Dried Kelp for Dashi stock) Dashi Dried Kelp

2 tablespoons Cooking Sake

1 tablespoon Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

¼ teaspoon salt


Here is my recipe in PDF: Rice-cake soup

Here is “Kelp Dashi Stock” recipe in PDF: Kelp Dashi stock