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

Tag Archives: Kelp


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Egg and Vegetables Sushi Roll (Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

Today, I will introduce you to a great homemade sushi roll, the “Egg and Vegetable Sushi Roll.” For filling I used egg, spinach, carrot and Shiitake mushrooms. I seasoned the filling deliciously so you don’t need to put it in soy sauce when you eat.

In the PDF recipe, I explain with easy instructions how to make sushi rolls with a great shape and I provide you with detailed pictures (and some special tips) so you can do it even if this is your first time making a sushi roll.

On YouTube recipe video, you can see how I actually do.

The recipe is

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Cook rice and make sushi rice

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Cook fillings

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Roll the ingredients with the sushi rice and dried seaweed.

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You may think making sushi is too hard until you learn the tricks to doing it well. It is definitely worth it to learn. However, if you want you can skip the rice cooking process if you can get prepared steamed rice. And also you can pick easy ingredients for sushi fillings such as avocado, cucumber, smoked salmon, Sashimi and so on. This egg and vegetables filling recipe is actually what I grew up with. I think it is the best.

First, you wash dried rice like you wash vegetables before you cook it to get rid of dust and to polish the rice. Polishing rice makes it digest smoothly when we eat it. And also washing rice brings us great taste and great final presentation. Lately, some people say we don’t need to wash rice as hard as we used to because the technology of rice polish is getting better. In addition, if you use no-wash rice “Musen-Mai”, you don’t need to wash. You can also use brown rice and multigrain rice instead of white rice if you want.

Lately, I made “Thin-Fried-Egg Roll Sushi” instead of wrapping with dried seaweed. This is also delicious!!

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For making any sushi roll, you should get Makisu which is a bamboo mat to roll sushi. You can get Japanese Makisu: Bamboo Sushi Mat Makisu from Amazon.

{Ingredients ( about 15 pieces)}
*Click BLUE TEXT to link to the product on Amazon*

[Filling]

2 Shiitake Mushrooms

½ Carrot

10 leaves Spinach (frozen one is okay)

2/3 cup Kelp Dashi Stock (any kind is okay)

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

1 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

1 Tbsp. Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Egg + Pinch Salt + Non-Stick Cooking Spray

[Wrapper]

1-1/4 cup Premium Rice, Medium Grain

5-inch × 5-inch piece Dashi Dried Kelp

2 cup Water

50 ml Rice Vinegar

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 tsp. Salt

2 pieces Dried Seaweed Wrap for Sushi

[Tool]

Bamboo Sushi Mat Makisu (Sushi Roll Mat)

Detailed and visual instructions can be found in the recipe PDF: egg-and-vegetables-sushi-roll

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

The Recipe Video on YouTube

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Healthy Bean Side Dish “Gomoku-Mame” (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-free)

Today I introduce you to a traditional Japanese bean side dish “Gomoku-Mame,” which is simmered beans and vegetables. This dish is never served as a main dish, but it is very popular and very important in the Japanese diet.

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The basic rule of traditional Japanese diet is called “Ichi-juu, San-sai.” This means basic meals should consist of one bowl of cooked rice, one kind of soup and three vegetable or fish side dishes. Of course we don’t have enough time to cook this many dishes when cooking each meal so we tend to stock simmered vegetable dishes in the refrigerator. Lately there are a lot of pre-made, reasonably fresh, store bought vegetable side dishes in Japan. This is because there are many people who are too busy to cook who, however, care about their health and don’t want to eat fast foods.

Also, the Japanese diet contains many kinds of ingredients. We always think “Eat a balanced diet” which means we can have anything we want such as meat, fish, rice, bread, vegetables, seaweed and so on. But we have to be careful about the balance of the ingredients and eat in moderation. Japanese food is very healthy when we follow these rules.

The recipe is very easy.

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Put all ingredients and seasoning in a pan and simmer.

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To store, transfer to a container and keep in the refrigerator. Use within 5 days.

{Ingredients (servings 8)}
*Click BLUE TEXT to link to the product on Amazon*

15.5 oz. Can Northern Beans

1 Carrot

3 Shiitake Mushrooms

5-inch × 5-inch piece Dashi Dried Kelp

1.5 cup Water

1 Tbsp. Sugar

2 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

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

1 Tbsp. Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

Detailed and visual instructions can be found in the recipe PDF: Healthy Bean Side Dish “Gomoku-Mame”


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

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

https://japanese-food.org/2015/11/05/this-is-what-i-call-a-great-traditional-japanese-dish/

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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Japanese Wheat Noodle (Vegan/Vegetarian)

Somen is a Japanese wheat noodle. In Japan, people traditionally eat cold Somen with cold broth in the summer. At some summer events, Somen noodles are placed in a long flume of bamboo with ice cold water. As the somen pass by, people pick them up with chopsticks and dip them in the broth. Somen has been eaten at ceremonial occasions since about 700 years ago.

This is Organic Somen Noodles (3.1 oz.) I used in this recipe.
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Today I introduce you to Japanese wheat noodle with delicious hot Dashi broth. It is very quick and easy!

Enjoy your new noodle recipe!

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

A bunch of Organic Somen Noodles (3.1 oz.)

3 Cups Kelp Dashi Stock or Anchovy Dashi Stock
(Recommended Dried Kelp for Dashi stock) Dashi Dried Kelp
(Recommended Dried Anchovy for Dashi stock)Anchovy Dried Iwashi Fish

1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

½ Tbsp. Cooking Sake

½ tsp. Salt

2 Tbsp. minced Green Onion (total)

Boiled Water, for boiling dried Somen noodle

Here is my recipe in PDF (4 MB): Japanese Wheat Noodle

“Anchovy Dashi Stock” recipe in PDF: Homemade Anchovy Dashi Stock

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


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Agedashi-Tofu (Vegan/Vegetarian)

Agedashi-Tofu, which is a typical Japanese homemade dish, is fried tofu with Dashi sauce.

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Tofu is an important ingredient in Buddhist cuisine. Japanese think this is a macribian food because tofu is high in great-quality-protein. Tofu is made from only soybean. The soybean is called “Meat of a field” because it is rich in nutrients, which are linoleum acid, lecithin, isoflavone, saonin, trypsin inhibitor and so on. And also tofu is low calorie and high in water so it is good as a diet food.

Let’s try  to eat 1/4 pack of tofu every day!

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

1 pack (14 oz.) Firm Tofu

1 ½ cups Kelp Dashi Stock
(Recommended Dried Kelp for Dashi stock) Dashi Dried Kelp

2 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

4 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp. Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

½ cup Flour

Vegetable oil for frying

Here is my recipe in PDF (5 MB): Agedashi-Tofu

“Kelp Dashi stock” recipe in PDF (5 MB): Kelp Dashi stock


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Mushroom Rice (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

This is not fried rice, but steamed seasoned rice. In Japan a major part of the diet is RICE. Traditionally we eat white rice with every meal. A long time ago Japanese people ate millet.

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Today, we sometimes mix the rice with other ingredients to make Mushroom Rice, Bamboo Shoot Rice, Chestnut Rice, Greenbean Rice and so on. These are all steamed. If you have a rice cooker, it is very easy to cook!

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Mushroom is low calorie (about 18 kcal per 100 grams). Also high in fiber and high in minerals (especially potassium). I didn’t used dried mushrooms this time, but dried mushrooms are usually high in vitamin D. This dish is cooked in one pot or in a rice cooker so it preserves the nutritions and amazing flavor.

Please enjoy!

{Ingredients (Servings 3)}

2 ¼ cups Premium Rice, Medium Grain

3 oz. Oyster Mushroom

8 oz. Sliced Baby Bella Mushroom

3 pieces of Dried Kelp (5 square inches each)

700 ml Water

5 Tbsp. Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

2 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

2 Tbsp. Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

½ tsp. Salt

Here is my recipe in PDF (8MB): Mushroom Rice


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Chicken Meatball Soup

 

This very flavorful soup brings you great nutrition because the ingredients are chicken, green onion, ginger, dried shiitake mushroom and kelp. This dish is high in vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin E, vitamin D, minerals, beta-carotene, allicin, calcium, protein and so on. Also it is low calorie and low fat. This dish makes you warm, gives your metabolism a boost, and helps improve your immunity so it is great to help you recover from sickness and get back a good appetite.

(Recommended Dried Kelp) Dashi Dried Kelp
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I highly recommend eating kelp occasionally. Recently, it is easy to get dried kelp at many grocery stores and at most Asian markets in the US. Japanese use kelp for Dashi stock and side dish like pickles. Dashi stock is used as seasoning in Japanese dishes. We use several kinds of Dashi stock such as dried anchovy, dried bonito, dried shiitake, dried kelp and so on. The kelp Dashi stock is great to compliment exquisite tasting ingredients. Kelp helps maintain your body’s alkaline. Also kelp has a good amount of fucoidan and iodine which are essential nutrients (in moderation) for humans.

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

½ lb. Ground Chicken

1 Egg

2 Tbsp. minced Green Onion

½ tsp. grated Ginger

1 tsp. plus ½ separate Tbsp. Soy Sauce

½ tsp. plus ½ separate tsp. Salt

1 ½ Tbsp. plus ½ separate Tbsp. Cooking Sake

1 ½ Tbsp. Flour

1 carrot

3 pieces Dried Shiitake Mushrooms

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

1 cup Water (leftover from soaking Shiitake)

Here is my recipe in PDF (6MB): Chicken Meatball Soup

Here is “Kelp Dashi Stock” recipe in PDF (5MB): Kelp Dashi stock


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Now this is what I call a traditional Japanese homemade dish! (Gluten-Free)

Nikujaga (Japanese style Beef-Potato Stew) is a Japanese simmered dish with a sweet-salty seasoning. It is very popular and everybody likes it.

This dish is one of the “Homemade taste” dishes, and in old Japanese traditions women who can cook this kind of simmered dish were considered full-fledged wives.

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Interestingly, in 1878, a person who had beef stew when visiting England explained to a Japanese chef how the beef stew tasted, and the chef cooked it using his imagination. Eventually that’s where Nikujaga came from. That’s why the ingredients are similar to beef stew.

This is Dashi Dried Kelp I used for Kelp Dashi Stock.
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In Japanese simmered dishes, Dashi stock is the most important thing to add Umami to the dish. I used Kelp Dashi stock this time because I wanted to bring out the flavor of the ingredients. Please see the post on Kelp Dashi stock as a reference.

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

½ lb. Beef (sliced meet)

1 Potato

1 Carrot

1 Onion

1 ½ cups Kelp Dashi stock
(Recommended Dried Kelp for Dashi stock) Dashi Dried Kelp

2 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

2 Tbsp. Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

1 tsp. Sugar

Chopped Green Onion to taste

Here is my recipe in PDF: Beef-Potato Stew

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


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Seasoned Rice with Vegetables (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

Today I introduce you to Takikomi Gohan which is seasoned rice with vegetables. It has a similar taste to fried rice, but it is steamed so a lot healthier. You can add vegetables (preferably root vegetables), shellfish, and/or chicken, and seasoning to the rice and cook just like cooking white rice.

The basic arrangement for many Japanese meals is called “Ichi-juu, San-sai”, and consists of one bowl of cooked rice, one kind of soup, and three vegetable or fish side dishes. Takikomi Gohan includes rice and some vegetables or fish so it is a fuss-free dish to help arrange Ichi-jiru, San-sai. And, or course, it just plain delicious! Also steamed rice absorbs the Umami of the ingredients so it is very nutritious and delicious!!

We sometimes have Takikomi Gohan as a Bento (boxed lunch) because it is tasty even when it is cold.

This time I use Shiitake mushroom, Daikon, Carrot and Snow pea with Kelp Dashi stock. So it has lots of vitamins, minerals, carotene and fucoidan. Dried Shiitake mushroom has vitamin D so we might want to eat winter time which has short sunshine hours.

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

・2 cups Premium Rice, Medium Grain

・3 pieces Dried Shiitake Mushrooms

・1 cup Water (leftover from soaking Shiitake)

・1 ½ cups Tap Water (Depends on amount of rice being soaked)

・2 inches round, sliced Daikon (Japanese white radish)

・1 Carrot

・10 pieces Snow peas

・4 inches × 4 inches sheet of Dashi Dried Kelp

・4 tablespoons Cooking Sake

・4 tablespoons Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

・4 tablespoons Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

Here is my recipe in PDF: Seasoned Rice