Horenso no Gomaae

Horenso means spinach.
I have already introduced you "Horenso no shiraae" as a dressed food.

In this time, I introduce you other dressed dish of spinach.
This is boiled spinach dressed with sesame sauce.

We usually boil spinach in hot water.
Put it cold water.
Squeeze it, and mix it with sesame sauce which is made by mixing grounded sesame seeds, soy sauce, and sugar.

Hiyamugi

Hiyamugi is a Japanese thin noodle made of wheat flour.
Hiyamugi noodle is similar to "Somen noodle".
But hiyamugi noodle is slightly thicker than somen noodle in size.

HIyamugi is usually served in cold water with ice and some vegetables.
We take a bite full of noodles and dip in the dipping sauce, and eat.
Hiyamugi is nice in summer.

Yomogi Mochi

Yomogi mochi is a traditional Japanese sweet which is also called "Kusa Mochi".

It is a mochi (glutinous rice cake) flavored with Japanese mugwort.

Usually it is stuffed with sweet red bean paste.

Yomogi is a Japanese herb.

It has a nice fresh fragrance.

Sekihan

Sekihan (赤飯) literally means red rice.
Sekihan is steamed mochi rice (glutinous rice) mixed with red beans.
Usually it is sprinkled with sesame seeds and salt after it is steamed.

Originally it is made by steaming with bamboo basket.
But, if we cook it at home, we usually cook it with rice cooker.

Sekihan is usually served on celebratory and congratulatory occasions.

Takenoko no tosa-ni

This is a simmered bamboo shoot with dried shaved bonito.
Takenoko means bamboo shoot.
Spring is nice season to have takenoko in Japan.
Tosa-ni is a type of simmered dish which has rich flavor of dried bonito.
Takenoko has nice texture and plain taste.
Dried bonito has rich taste.
This combination makes wonderful taste.

Sakura mochi (Domyoji mochi)

I have already introduced you Tokyo style sakura mochi.
In this time, I introduce you kansai-area style sakura mochi.
It is called "Domyoji mochi.

Sweet red bean paste is covered with dough which is made from domyoji flour, sugar, food red and water, and wrapped with sakura (cherry blossom) leaf which is pickled in salt.
Domyoji flour is made by steaming mochi rice, later dried, and ground coarsely.

Sakura mochi (Chomeiji mochi)

This is a Tokyo style sakura mochi.
Sakura means cherry blossom.
Sakura mochi is a Japanese traditional sweet.
It is pink dough and sweet red bean paste wrapped with sakura leaf.
We have two style of sakura mochi.
One is Tokyo style, and another is kansai area style.

In this time, I introduce you Tokyo style sakuramochi.
It is also called chomeiji mochi.
Sweet red bean paste is wrapped with fried dough and wrapped again with sakura leaf.
The dough is made from mochi rice flour, wheat flour, sugar, food red, and water.
The sakura leaf is pickled in salt, it has nice fragrance.

Rakkyo

Rakkyo (rakkyo-zuke) is pickled Japanese shallots.
(We also call Japanese shallot "Rakkyo" )
Cleaned rakkyo(shallots) are pickled in the sauce which is made from water ,vinegar, sugar, salt, and red pepper.
usually, those are pickled around three weeks.
Rakkyo is well known healthy food.
Personally, I eat a few piece of rakkyo every day.
It is rich in mineral.
And, allyl sulfides which is included in rakkyo aid the absorption of vitamin B1.

Goma Dofu (Sesame Tofu)

This is a traditional vegetarian dish (shojin-ryori).
Goma dofu looks like tofu.
"goma dofu" literally means sesame tofu.
( "goma" means sesame )
It is not made from soy bean.
Goma dofu is made from sesame seed , arrowroot flour, dashi-soup.

It has a rich taste and smooth texture.
We usually dip it with wasabi-jyou ( soy sauce mixed with wasabi ) and eat.

Aji no Nanban-zuke

"Nanban-zuke"(nanbanzuke) is a type of marinated dish.
It is made by marinating deep-fried fish ( or meat ) into vinegared sauce.

"Aji" means Japanese horse mackerel.
It is rich in DHA and EPA, it is a healthy food.

Cut filleted aji into around two bite size.
Coat them with wheat flour slightly, and deep-fry them.
marinate deep-fried aji into sauce which is made by mixing vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, dashi-soup, and red pepper.

Ikura no Gunkan-maki

This is a salmon roe sushi.
Ikura means salmon roe.
It has a rich taste.

Gunkan-maki(gunkanmaki) is a style of nigiri-zushi.
Hand formed sushi rice is surrounded with nori.
And Ikura is toped on the rice.
Nori works just like a wall, so ikura is set on the rice.

Kazunoko no Nigiri-zushi

Kazunoko means herring roe.
It is dried under the sun, or pickled in salt.
Those roes are very small, but adheres and became lump.
It has a pleasant unique texture.

This photo is herring roe sushi.
Herring roe is put on oblong shaped sushi rice which is formed by hand.
And those are bound with nori.

Hishi mochi

Hishi mochi is a lozenge mochi (rice cake) which is prepare for girl 's day.

March 3rd is girl's day in Japan.

We call it "hina matsuri".

It is an event to celebrate in hope of the growth of girl in healthy.

Hishi mochi is formed three layers.

The third layer( green ) is kusa-mochi which is a rice cake flavored with mugwort.

Those three colours, pink, white and green , are compared to peach blossom, remaining snow and young grass( fresh leaf) each.

Buri no Teriyaki

This is a teriyaki buri (yellowtail).
Buri is a oily fish, so it is good for teriyaki.
Teriyaki buri has rich taste.
It is still delicious even it become cold.
So it is also good for bento.

In this time, I show you the way to cook teriyaki buri with frying-pan.
We usually marinate filleted buri in teriyaki-sauce which is made by mixing soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar.
Take buri and drain excess liquid.
Heat some salada oil in a frying-pan, and fry buri both side.
Pour teriyaki-sauce and simmer in low heat.

Mame Daifuku

Daifuku is a traditional Japanese sweet which is also called "Daifuku Mochi".
Daifuku is a mochi (glutinous rice cake) stuffed with sweet red bean paste.
It has rounded shape and usually slightly coated with potato starch.

Mame daifuku is a one of variety of daifuku.
It is a daifuku which mix beans with mochi.

Chikuzen ni

This is a regional simmered dish of kyusyu region.
But in these days, it is cooked all over Japan.

Chikuzen-ni is also called "Gameni".
It has rich taste.
Because many vegetables are sauteed and simmered with chicken.

We usually heat a little of oil in a pan.
Put bite size cut chicken pieces , and stir-fry them.
Put vegetables (carrot, lotus root, burdock, taro, shiitake etc.) and konnyaku, and continue to stir-fry them.
Put soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, and dashi-soup.
Simmer them with skimming scum that rise the surface.

Tori no Tatsuta-age

This is a Japanese deep-fried chicken.
("tatsuta-age" means a Japanese deep-fried technic.)

It is similar to "Tori no kara-age".
Different point of them are
(1) In case of tatsuta-age chicken, chicken pieces are soaked in sauce, before those are coated with potato starch.

(2)In case of tatsuta-age, chicken pieces are coated with potato starch.
In case of kara-age, chicken pieces are coated with potato starch or wheat flour.

(3)tatsuta-age chicken is not cooked with garlic.

So I think tatsuta-age chicken is more Japanese.

We usually cut chicken leg into bite size.
Put chicken pieces into sauce which is mixed with soy sauce, sake and grated ginger( or ginger juice), and keep it around in 20 min.
Take chicken pieces out, and dry them with paper towel.
Coat them with potato starch, and deep-fry.

Unohana (Sauteed Okara)

Okara is a left after making soy milk.
But it is a nutritious food.
Okara is also known as excellent diet food.
Because it is low in fat and rich in fiber.

We usually stir-fry okara in a pan without oil, and take out okara from the pan.
Heat a little of salada oil in the pan.
Stir-fry some vegetables and other ingredients such as carrot, shiitake-mushroom, spinatch, green beans, aburaage , konnyaku and sakuraebi(small dried shrimp) in the pan.
Add okara(stir-fried), soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, dashi-soup to the pan.
And simmer them with stirring until liquid is gone.

We usually have it as side dish.

Hoshigaki (Dried persimmon)

Hoshigaki is a traditional Japanese dried fruit.
It is very sweet and delicious.
Astringent persimmon can't be eaten as fresh.
But astringent persimmon becomes very sweet by drying it.
And it is not astringent after drying.
White powder on the surface is a crystal of glucide of the persimmon.

Ｔori no Teriyaki (Teriyaki Chicken)

Teriyaki chicken is a popular teriyaki dish.
It is loved by wide generation.
And I think it is good for bento, because it is still delicious even if it get cold.

We usually marinate chicken in teriyaki sauce which is made by mixing soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar.
Fry marinated chicken on frying-pan until brown.
Pour teriyaki sauce and cook chicken in low heat.
( Personally, I like to sprinkle white sesame seeds on chicken.)

Buri no Sashimi

This is a yellowtail ( Japanese amberjack ) sashimi.

Name of yellowtail in Japanese changes as it grows up.
Actually, the name of the fish are diffirent with size.
We usually call yellowtail "Buri" when it is more than 80cm long.

Buri is oily and has rich taste.
Especially, It is very oily and delicious in winter.
Buri is good for sashimi.

Daigaku Imo

Daigaku Imo is a deep fried sweet potato, covered with syrup.
Usually we eat it as snack.

"Daigaku" means university or college, and "imo" means sweet potato in this case.
Origin of the name is that It were popular among the students.
Because it is cheap and high calorie.

We usually cut sweet potato into a bite size.
Deep-fry them in oil in low-heat.
And cover them with syrup which is made by simmering sugar in water ( sometime add soy sauce, mirin and so on) until it become sticky.

Kuromame no Nimame

This is a typical new year's dish.

Kuromame (black soy bean ) is a kind of soy bean.
"Tanba kuromame" is a famous species of kuromame.

"nimame" means simmered bean dish which is made by soaking dried beans in water, and simmer it in sweet.