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Healthy Fish Nabe (Gluten-Free)

Today I introduce you to Nabe which is a traditional Japanese simmering dish. Nabe is a very easy recipe that you can prepare with many kinds of ingredients. You can make Nabe with sea food, meat, various vegetables and various kinds of stock!

Nabe has a variety of great nutrients that come from the ingredients and the soup, and Nabe makes our bodies warm so Japanese usually have Nabe in winter time. Also, Nabe is a low-calorie dish if you choose the ingredients carefully.

Today, I used Tilapia. Tilapia is high in vitamin D, vitamin B12 and potassium. Also, Tilapia has a soft texture and light taste so it is good for many kinds of dishes. Just be careful not to cook it too much. Overcooking Tilapia makes the texture hard.

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This is the Tofu Shirataki I used. It is a firm tofu noodle and common ingredient for Nabe in Japan. It is very easy for kids to eat. In this recipe you can substitute normal Tofu for this.

Enjoy this healthy and easy dinner!

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

1 fillet Tilapia

10 leaves Napa Cabbage

4 Shiitake mushrooms

3 Green Onions

1 pack Tofu Shirataki

1 piece (5 square inches) Dried Kelp

¼ cup Soy Sauce
(Recommended Gluten-Free Soy Sauce)Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

¼ cup Cooking Sake

2 ½ cups Water

Here is my recipe in PDF: Healthy Fish Nabe


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Okra Tempura (Vegetarian)

Today I introduce you to Okra Tempura. This tempura dish has a different texture from the fried-okra you may find in the U.S.  The tempura batter is crunchy but not thick. I season it with just sea salt when I eat it so I can enjoy the taste of okra.

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My mother used okra in her meals a lot because of the  nutrition. Inside, okra has a gooey texture from the pectin (a soluble fiber) and mucin (a protein). These two nutrients improve our digestion. Okra is also high in beta-carotene, minerals, vitamins and so on.

About my tempura batter, I always try to make tempura with a great crunchy (not greasy) texture because it is more delicious. In this recipe, I show you how to make  the best batter for crunchy tempura. I hope you like it.

{Ingredients (servings 2 as side dish)}

10~16 Okura

1 Egg

½ cup Cold Water

½ cup Flour

Vegetable Oil for frying

Here is my recipe in PDF (4 MB): Okra Tempura


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Bacon Millefeuille Nabe

Nabe is a traditional Japanese simmering dish. We simmer sea food or meat with various vegetables in Dashi stock seasoning with cooking Sake and soy sauce.

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At home or in restaurants we usually set a cooking pot on a countertop range on the table and share it as cooking the dish. The dish and the cooking warm us and the room up so it is common to have Nabe in winter.

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Today I will introduce you to bacon (I use turkey bacon, but you can use any kind) and Napa cabbage millefeuille Nabe, which requires that we set bacon and Napa cabbage leaves alternatively in a pan and simmer in Dashi stock. This time I used Kelp Dashi stock, but you can use any kind of stock you want.

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We add many kinds of vegetables to Nabe but Napa cabbage is a must-have vegetable. 95% of Napa cabbage is water so it is easy to eat for everybody because of it’s tender texture. The cabbage water also makes Nabe juicy even when simmering for a long time.  Napa cabbage also has great nutrition. It is low calorie and high in vitamin C, potassium, iron, magnesium and so on.

Juicy, tender Napa cabbage and bacon makes your Nabe very delicious! I hope you will like it!!

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

1 head Napa Cabbage

20 slices Bacon

1 cup Kelp Dashi Stock (any kind of stock is okay)
(Recommended instant bonito Dashi powder)Ajinomoto – Hon Dashi

1 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

Here is my recipe in PDF (5 MB): Bacon Millefeuille Nabe

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


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Braised Fish (Gluten-Free)

Braising is one common Japanese cooking method for fish. The taste is a typical Japanese “sweet-salty” taste, similar to Teriyaki or Sukiyaki seasoning. We use Cooking Sake, Soy Sauce, Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine and sugar when braising.

We usually braise sardine, flounder, alfonsino, mackerel, cutlass fish, yellowtail and so on. I can’t always get many of these fish where I live in the U.S. so I chose Tilapia this time. Tilapia meat is good because it stays good after 15 minutes of braising and it soaks in the delicious sauce well.

When you braise fish, please add some slices of ginger. This kills the fishy smell and warms up your body because of the Gingerol action.

Enjoy your new fish recipe with steamed rice or with  Japanese Sake!!

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

1 Tilapia fillet

½ cup Cooking Sake

¼ cup Soy Sauce
(Recommended Gluten-Free Soy Sauce)Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

2 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Tbsp. Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

3 slices Ginger

2 Green Onions

Here is my recipe in PDF (5 MB): Braised Fish


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Green Pea Rice (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

Today I introduce you to steamed white rice with green peas. The Japanese process for cooking rice is a little complicated, so in this recipe I show you the easiest way to cook steamed rice. It takes about an hour, but you don’t need to do much.

We have many kinds of seasoned-steamed rice recipes, because rice is the most important carbohydrate in the  Japanese diet. Japanese rice is short-grain rice which is soft, sticky and a little bit sweet in taste. This is good for ease of digestion and also great for making Sushi rice.

The “Green Pea Rice” in this recipe has a slightly salty taste and a very tender green pea texture so even kids who don’t like green peas tend to eat this rice happily.

Green peas are high in protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber and so on. Green Peas also have more vitamin B1 and fiber than many vegetables. But the nutritional value can weaken under the heat so when you cook, you can add the green peas to the recipe as the last part of the cooking process.

I love rice but I don’t have time to cook it for every meal so I always cook large amounts of steamed rice and freeze some of it. To store steamed rice, put cooked rice in a freezer bag and keep in the freezer. When you want to heat it up, you can microwave on a microwavable dish for 2~2:30 minutes. Please use the frozen rice within a month.

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

1 ½ cup Dried Rice (short-grain rice)

⅓ cup Frozen Green Peas

1 tsp. Salt

2 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

Water for soaking rice and cooking rice

Here is my recipe in PDF (5 MB): Green Pea Rice


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Delicious Braised Eggplant (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

Following the previous post “This is what I call a great traditional Japanese dish!”,

This is what I call a great traditional Japanese dish!(Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

I will introduce you to one more traditional Japanese vegetable side dish which is called “Braised Eggplant”. This is also from Buddhist cuisine. It is very delicious, healthy and low-calorie!

If you like eggplant, I highly recommend you try this! You can enjoy the flavorful, tender, and yummy eggplant. The recipe is very easy and very traditional. I simmer eggplant in Japanese Dashi stock, soy sauce, cooking Sake and Mirin. If you like the flavor in Japanese dishes  you should keep soy sauce, cooking Sake, Mirin and Dashi stock on hand (here is my Dashi stock recipe in PDF: Homemade Anchovy Dashi Stock, Kelp Dashi stock ) (also some Asian markets carry useful Dashi stock powder). If you want to try more healthy dishes but you are not a big fan of Japanese flavors, you can just simmer the eggplant in vegetable stock and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. This is also a healthy and low-calorie dish. Unfortunately, however, if you cook it this way you will not get the protein that we get from soy sauce. In fact, my family doesn’t eat soy beans often, we usually get the soy nutrition from soy sauce, Tofu, Miso (soy bean paste), Natto (fermented soy beans), soy milk and so on.

In this recipe, I didn’t peel the eggplant because one of the important nutrients, Anthocyanin (antioxidant), is found in high amounts in eggplant skin. If you don’t like the gooey texture that the skin adds you can peel the eggplant.

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

½ Eggplant

1 cup Kelp Dashi Stock
(Recommended Dried Kelp for Dashi stock) Dashi Dried Kelp

2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
(Recommended Gluten-Free Soy Sauce)Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

2 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

2 Tbsp. Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

Here is my recipe in PDF (4 MB): Braised Eggplant

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


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This is what I call a great traditional Japanese dish!(Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

People have use this recipe since about 1300 years ago. This dish is typical Buddhist cuisine. Buddhist cuisine is cooked based on Buddhist concepts. The ingredients are mainly beans and vegetables. But the dishes are flavorful and nutritious because they were created to charge the energy of Samurai.

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This recipe is a basic Japanese dish in which I cut vegetables and simmer in Japanese Dashi stock. The Dashi stock is the most important ingredient. If you can’t prepare Dashi stock, you can use vegetable stock or chicken stock as a substitute for Japanese Dashi stock. Of course the flavor will change but it will still be healthy! In a similar way, you can use white wine as a substitute for cooking Sake.

This is a side dish so you can have it along with or in place of a salad with your meal!

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

1 Carrot

3 Shiitake Mushrooms

½ bunch Fresh Spinach

2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
(Recommended Gluten-Free Soy Sauce)Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

2 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

1 cup Kelp Dashi stock
(Recommended Dried Kelp for Dashi stock) Dashi Dried Kelp
*Any kind of Dashi stock is okay*
(Recommended instant bonito Dashi powder)Ajinomoto – Hon Dashi

¼ tsp. Salt

Here is my recipe in PDF (5 MB): Braised Vegetables

Here is my Kelp Dashi stock recipe in PDF: Kelp Dashi stock

Here is my Anchovy Dashi stock recipe in PDF: Homemade Anchovy Dashi Stock


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Yummy Japanese “Potato Salad” (Vegetarian)

“Japanese Potato Salad” is a mix of mashed potato, mayonnaise and fresh vegetables. To make the vegetables tender and easy to eat, I knead well with salt or soak in water. This allows us to keep more nutrition in the vegetables than if we boiled them.

In Japan, potato salad is a very common homemade dish and very popular. There are many recipes which vary slightly depending on family traditions. We eat potato salad as a salad and also sometimes in sandwiches.

You can mash the potatoes however you like. If you like chunky potato, please don’t mash too much. And also you can add more potato, or reduce the mayonnaise, to taste. Enjoy!

{Ingredients (servings 3)}

2 large Potatoes

1 Carrot

1 small Cucumber

1 small Onion

6-7 Tbsp. Mayonnaise

1 Tbsp. Salt

½ tsp. Black Pepper

Water for boiling potatoes

Here is my recipe in PDF (4 MB): Potato Salad


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Stuffed Baby Peppers

Japanese “Sweet Pepper” is slightly different from bell pepper. It is smaller, thinner, has a little bit of bitter taste, has fewer seeds, and is always green.

This recipe is similar to other countries’ Stuffed Pepper recipes. But because Japanese sweet pepper has a thinner flesh, we can cook this recipe in a pan easily. I also sprinkle it with some soy sauce when I serve, but you can use any sauce you like.

I use Mini Peppers in this recipe. You can find these at many grocery stores.

Japanese sweet pepper is high in vitamin C and A. You might want to cook this pepper with some cooking oil because the oil helps our bodies get vitamin A more easily. This is a summer vegetable so it is good to eat during the Summer.

Enjoy!

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

1 lb. Ground Chicken

12 Mini Peppers

¼ Onion

¼ Carrot

1 tsp. Grated Ginger

¼ tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. Black Pepper

1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil

1 Tbsp. Flour, plus more for dusting the peppers

Here is my recipe in PDF (6 MB): Stuffed Baby Pepper


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Traditional Cold Japanese Wheat Noodle Recipe

Japanese wheat noodles (So-men) are made from flour. They have a very thin and smooth texture so they are easy to eat and don’t take much time to cook (basically about 2 minutes to boil).

This is Organic Somen Noodles I used in this recipe.

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In Japan, traditionally we eat cold So-men with cold soup in the summer. It helps our bodies cool down and it has better taste and texture on a hot summer day than rice or other Japanese noodles.

I use anchovy Dashi stock in my soup recipe. You can also use kelp Dashi, bonito Dashi, shiitake mushroom Dashi and so on. And also you can get Japanese Dashi stock powder, which has so much flavor and is very useful, at many Asian markets.

So-men is mostly carbohydrate, so we can add meat and vegetables to add protein, vitamins and minerals. Adding meat and/or vegetables creates a good balance of nutrition. In my recipe, I always have So-men with egg, tomato, cucumber and chicken. Also, I sometimes add shiitake mushroom sauté, green onion, shrimp, lettuce, seaweed, okra, carrot and so on.

Enjoy your new noodle recipe!!

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

2 bunches Organic Somen Noodles

1 piece Chicken Breast

2 Tomatoes

2 Eggs

½ Cucumber

2 cups Kelp Dashi Stock
(Recommended Dried Kelp for Dashi stock) Dashi Dried Kelp
*Any kind of Dashi stock is okay*
(Recommended instant bonito Dashi powder)Ajinomoto – Hon Dashi

3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp. Cooking Sake (total)

2 Tbsp.Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 ½ tsp. Salt (total)

Here is my recipe in PDF (6 MB): Cold Japanese Wheat Noodle

Here is my “Anchovy Dashi Stock” recipe in PDF: Homemade Anchovy Dashi Stock

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