Your Home for Homemade Japanese Food

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

Tag Archives: Taro


by 3 Comments

Japanese Side Dish “Braised Taro” (Gluten Free/Vegan/Vegetarian)

Today I introduce you to Japanese traditional dish “Braised Taro”. It is a very easy, simple and delicious side dish. My mother always cooked 5 small dishes for each member of our family for every dinner. The 5 dishes idea comes from “Ichijiru-Sansai” which means basic meals should consist of one bowl of cooked rice, one kind of soup and three vegetable or fish side dishes. This dish is great as a side dish in a Japanese meal. In addition, we say “Hara-Hachibu” which means eat until you feel your 80% full, don’t eat until you are too full. This is a Japanese traditional eating rule for being healthy so my mother always prepared small dishes for each of us.

The recipe is easy. Just simmer taros in Dashi stock. I used “Kelp Dashi Stock,” but you can use any kind of stock. The dish is mainly seasoned with soy sauce and the taros become so tender that they absorb the Dashi well so it is very delicious and it is great for vegetarians if you use vegetable stock. Also, it is an oil-free dish so it is very healthy.

When I introduce you cooking Japanese dishes I always try to show you the easiest way to cook these dishes even if you have no experience with cooking Japanese food. For example, in this recipe, I simmered peeled taros in Dashi stock. But usually taro requires extra preparation time for to simmer more easily and make a great final presentation. But in this recipe there is no need to do the extra preparation because even without it this dish is very delicious and looks great. I want everybody to try to cook Japanese dishes in a lighthearted and fun manner so we do not need to make these recipes hard in order to enjoy all the taste, health benefits, and beauty of traditional Japanese dishes.

You can buy taros in many grocery stores in the US and in all Asian markets. The tip for picking a good taro is that the taro should have ball shape, and be a little bigger than a golf ball. This shape and size makes for a good and delicious taro.

Enjoy this delicious, healthy, and nutritious dish. I hope you like it.

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

10 Small Taros

¾ cup Kelp Dashi Stock
(Recommended Dried Kelp)Dried Kelp for Dashi stock

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

2 Tbsp. Sugar

2 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

4 Tbsp. Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

Here is my recipe in PDF: Braised Taro

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

Advertisement


by 4 Comments

Creamy Chicken Stew

2004111150241

Japanese stew is based French stew, but adapted for Japanese tastes. We cook stew a lot in the winter. The two main types of Japanese stew are creamy white stew and beef stew.

Today I introduce you to Creamy Chicken Stew. Japanese usually cook stew with thick white roux.

999

But we can also cook with margarine, flour and soy milk to make the dish healthier. You can use butter and milk instead of margarine and soy milk.

This recipe is similar to Chicken Pot Pie recipe. So I am sure you will like cooking and tasting this stew.

The ingredients are taro, onion, carrot and chicken breast. Here, you can use potato instead of taro and chicken thigh instead of chicken breast if you prefer. However, Taro’s gruel, which is a result of mucin, makes the stew’s consistency rich and helps with digestion.

It is great to have during the cold winter months!!

{Ingredients (Serves 2)}

½ lb. Chicken Breast or Thigh

1 Carrot

1 Onion

4 Taros

2 Tbsp. Margarine

3 Tbsp. Flour

½ tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. Black Pepper

1 ⅓ cups Chicken Stock

1 ¾ cups Soy Milk

Here is mu recipe in PDF: Creamy Chiken Stew