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.