Author: Lucy Seligman

Japan: 25 Years Later

I recently returned to Japan for a long-planned for visit after a 25 year absence. Really?! It just never felt like it had been that long, probably because a part of my heart has always resided in Japan—ever since I first visited its shores when I was 15 years old. But this trip was a little different and very special; for I was joined by my teenage daughter for her high school graduation present. This was her first trip to Japan and I don’t know who was more excited to go there! We planned the details of this trip for months and months, consuming a lot of homemade Japanese dinners, and watching endless vlogs on Japan that my daughter discovered in the process.

Despite 2 mild earthquakes, a typhoon, the rainy season, flooding in Kyoto and deadly heat and humidity, we managed to cram in an amazing amount of activities and food! during our 2 week visit. I will be posting separate posts on our food experiences in both Tokyo and Kyoto, etc.

But this post is about what I experienced and thought about during this trip, going back after such a long absence, and seeing Japan as a Japanese-speaking quasi-tourist versus a long-term resident.

A few days into the trip, I asked my daughter what she thought of Japan. She replied, “I love it! I want to come back, but when it is cooler so I can wear layers!” I beamed with a huge smile, and thought, my job is done here!

So in no particular order, here it goes:

Japan Travel Tips:

Portable WIFI and Japanese Sim Cards

Unless you have a really affordable international plan for your phone, reserve a portable WIFI for pick up at a Japanese airport in advance. It was a lifesaver to have it because surprisingly, WIFI isn’t always readily accessible in Japan. The other trick I learned was to buy a Japanese Sim card upon arrival to replace your usual sim card. It worked for my daughter’s Iphone, but not for my Android. Regardless, we had no additional charges for phone use. Also, download the very popular LINE app to use while there for instant messages, etc. Having your own WIFI is also crucial if you plan to do any traveling on your own. Google maps, etc will become your best friend!

Accessibility

I will be honest that if I wasn’t still recovering from 2 broken ankles, I may not have even noticed. Sometimes walking to an escalator and or elevator at a train or subway station was such a long schlep, which made using the stairs (however slowly) quicker. On the other hand, I noticed a lot of accessible public bathrooms. The day we flew back to USA, there was a big article in one of the English newspapers that Tokyo is really working on enhancing accessibility before the 2020 Olympics. Good!

Travel Light

Travel light in Japan, especially if you plan to use the trains to venture out around the islands. Space is limited in hotel rooms, and on trains and you are the one carrying everything!

The heat and humidity

I had forgotten how suffocating and all-encompassing hot it is when you land in Japan during the summer, much less when you step out of a shower. You are drenched in sweat. Houses don’t typically have central air, so moving from room to room can be very hot and sweaty as well. Handkerchiefs and small padded face towels are a big business in Japan, especially during the summer. They even have shops dedicated to just those items. I came home with a colorful selection of both!

Lack of street parking

There is no street parking readily available in Tokyo in the suburbs due to lack of space and narrow roads, I guess. And parking is very pricey and limited. The up side? Public transportation is readily available and cost-efficient.

Following the rules

Train and subway stations are very orderly, even during rush hour (an experience in and of itself), and it is because everyone follows the rules; whether it be which side to walk on (going up and down stairs), or where to wait and or line up for a train or subway. But, beware, it is also regional! Kyoto stations were the opposite to Tokyo’s in terms of what side to walk up or down on!

Suica cards

These easy pre-paid smart cards can be used in public transportation (such as subway, trains, buses, monorail) and also can be used at a lot of stores, taxis, vending machines and so on.

7-11 stores

We ended up at these stores a lot, as they are one of the few that lets you pull out cash from their ATM machine using an American debit card.

Signage

Street and highway signs are in both Japanese and English. Yeah! Train and subways stations and on the trains/subways have signage in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean. And there are digital displays inside the trains/subways as well, also in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.

Feeling Safe

Never crossed our minds that we weren’t safe and this included wandering around Kyoto at night in alleyways so that my daughter could take pictures and videos.

Musings 25 years later:

Japan is/remains my happy place

I smiled for 2 weeks straight, 24/7! I would wake up smiling every morning. I started dreaming in Japanese and in color from the first night. It was fun that my primary language for the two weeks was Japanese.

The friendliness of the Japanese

My daughter had 4 years of high school Japanese under her belt, but had never tackled the public transportation system in Japan, while using her Japanese, which she insisted on doing on her own a number of times. Despite getting lost many times, she always made it back safe and sound. The first time she got lost, she asked an obaachan (Granny) for help, who couldn’t help but asked a younger woman. That wonderful woman walked my daughter to the nearest station and made sure she got on the right train! Wouldn’t have ever happened here in the States.

Missing seeing Mt. Fuji

I even reserved seats on the right side of the bullet train to Kyoto so that we could see it, but alas, the weather wasn’t being agreeable both times we were on the bullet train. Disappointing as I love seeing Mt. Fuji. Oh well, next time.

No bad meals

We never had a bad meal for the whole 2 weeks we were there. Can’t say the same if you were visiting the US! Every meal we had was also visually beautiful and appealing. More on food in upcoming blog posts.

Catching up with old friends

It felt like yesterday catching up in person and on Facebook Messenger with old friends, some I hadn’t seen in too many years. As my old friend Doug said “Ok, give me the Reader’s digest version of the last 25 years of your life!” We ended up talking non-stop for close to 3 hours.

Bizarre Crimes

When I lived in Japan, there was the underwear thief, but he only stole foreigner’s undies from clothes lines on verandas in Tokyo. Happily, he never found my undies as I always lived too high up! I heard from a long-term Tokyo resident from California, that the latest ‘bizarre’ crime is a man squirting mustard on women and running away. An urban myth, shaggy dog story or ?

How international Japan has become

When I lived in Japan, I always stood out as a foreigner everywhere I went. No more. Everywhere we went, whether in city centers and or suburbs, there was always a plethora of foreign residents and foreign-owned businesses. Wonderful to see all the different faces and hear all the different languages.

Lawson (convenience store franchise chain, originally from the US)

When I lived in Japan and wanted tortillas, I had to make them with masa flour I brought back from the States. Lawson not only had a variety of Mexican foods, but also had selections of gluten-free, organic, and Indian foods.

100 and 300 yen stores + Hello Kitty

We loved these affordable stores, both to pick up practical items, but also the whimsical. Where else can you find Hello Kitty snack bags?!

Speaking of Hello Kitty, there is a Hello Kitty store at Haneda Airport and also there is a special bullet train decorated as Hello Kitty.

Trying to buy left-handed knives

Finding a good fish knife to cut sashimi etc. was a big goal for me for this trip. But, being a lefty prevented me from finding one! I must have gone into 5 different stores in Tokyo’s Kappabashi area (the kitchen ware area), but no luck.

What did we miss most?

Sofas to lounge on! Of course, if we had visited during the colder months, we would have been able to lounge around in a kotatsu (Japanese heated table) on the floor.

We can’t wait to go back and are already planning where to go, where to shop, what to eat, etc.

When was your last trip to Japan? What made it memorable? Reply in the comments and let me know!

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Nanbanzuke: Marinated Fried Fish from Nagasaki
Portuguese and Spanish missionaries started trickling into Japan to spread the teachings of Christianity near the end of the Muromachi era (1392-1567), and their first foothold in Japan was Nagasaki. The Japanese took to referring to all Europeans as Nanbanjin or “Southern barbarians,” and gradually the term “nanban” came to mean anything related to European civilization; even the ship that brought the missionaries to the shores of Japan was referred to as nanbansen.

In addition to importing a different religion and culture, the priests also sparked a culinary revolution of sorts. Nanban ryori (“Southern barbarian cuisine”) was a style of cooking characterized by deep-frying and the use of dried hot red peppers and onions, both of which the newcomers employed liberally in their cuisine. However, since the onion didn’t come to Japan until the seventeenth century and wasn’t popular until the Meiji era (1868-1912), Western cooks took to using Japanese leeks instead. The Japanese liked what they tasted and began creating dishes that used these two ingredients.

One example is kamo nanban – soba with wild duck and leeks. By the Edo era (1603-1867) many cookbooks referred to any dish using leeks as nanban-style cooking. The preferred method of cooking in this Nagasaki regional cuisine was deep-frying. The frying of food, including tempura, can be traced back to the meatless Fridays the devoutly Catholic Europeans observed for religious reasons.

Nanbanzuke (aka Nanban-zuke) is one facet of Nagasaki’s regional cooking style, and among its most enduring variations is Aji no Nanbanzuke. To make this dish, small horse mackerel are deep-fried and then marinated in a vinegar-based sauce that includes red peppers and leeks. Summer is considered the best season for horse mackerel, which is often served as sashimi, salt-grilled, boiled, or deep-fried. Many people think the latter is the best of all.

During a recent trip back to Japan this summer, I not only enjoyed Aji no Nanbanzuke, but I helped cook a home-style version of this style of cooking using chicken and assorted vegetables. (I will post that recipe in the future.) What I like is that this is a pretty forgiving dish; an easy and delectable way to eat a lot of vegetables during hot and humid summer days, not to mention succulent fish and or chicken, and surprisingly light despite it being a fried dish!

Leave a note in the comments section (see below) if you make this dish!
Aji no Nanbanzuke

Lucy Seligman

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Course Main Course
Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4

Ingredients

8 small whole fresh aji (horse mackerel or sardines), cleaned, scaled, gutted, and deboned
1 ½ teaspoons coarse sea salt
All-purpose white flour as needed
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
Nanbansu (vinegar sauce)
7 tablespoons cold water
1 ½ tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons sake
2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 or 2 small dried red peppers, seeded & sliced thinly
3 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar, or to taste
½ Japanese leek, white part only, charred & quartered or replace with 1 small onion, peeled & thinly sliced
Garnish
Minced green onion to taste
Optional Additional Vegetables if desired:
1 or 2 piman (Japanese green pepper), seeded, cored and thinly sliced into strips
1 small carrot, peeled and thinly sliced into strips

Instructions

Wash the cleaned fish and sprinkle them with the sea salt. Let sit for 15 to 20 minutes, then wash the salt off in cold water and dry the fish well with paper towels. Dredge in flour. Deep-fry in the vegetable oil until the fish start to float and turn golden-brown. Drain quickly on paper towels, then place the still-hot fish in a shallow, nonaluminum container.
While the fish are being salted, make the sauce. Bring the water, sugar, sake, soy sauce, and red peppers to a boil. Turn the heat off and add the vinegar, leeks, and any other vegetables if using. Pour the sauce over the fish, let cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to two days, turning occasionally.
To server: Drain the fish and vegetables, and place on a serving plate. Sprinkle the fish generously with the minced green onions and drizzle a little of the sauce over them. Serve cold.

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Photo copyright: kandki / 123RF Stock Photo

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Real Eel: An Electrifying Dish from Nagoya
Once tasted, the delicate flavor of eel (unagi), prepared according to the special ways of Japanese cuisine, will linger in your memory forever. Since the Edo period (1603-1867), eel has traditionally been eaten in the height of midsummer on the Day of the Ox (July 23); popular custom has it that anyone who eats eel on this day will have extra stamina to cope with the summer heat. This is a custom I follow to this day! But the true gourmet’s season for eel consumption is late fall to winter (the time of spawning), when eel are at their best, even tastier than usual.

Not sure where to get ingredients?

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There are many ways to serve unagi: the most popular is kabayaki, eel grilled in sauce, served separately from rice; if served on rice, it is called unaju. Or there is shirayaki, eel grilled without sauce, served with wasabi (horseradish) and soy sauce. A more unusual dish, unagi kamameshi, is the creation of Torisuzu, a chain of restaurants in Nagoya, where I lived for a number of years. It combines flavored rice and grilled eel with a tasty stock poured over the top, and wasabi and chopped green onions for an extra flourish. After tasting this dish just once, you’ll be a convert for life.

Be warned, this recipe needs constant attention – no running away from the stove while it’s cooking.

Buy the unagi sauce from a Japanese supermarket or supplier as it is virtually impossible for the home cook to make – in the kitchen at Torisuzu, a large vat of unagi bones, soy sauce, sugar, and mirin (sweet sake) is kept specially heated and cooking for a full three months before use. It’s also advisable to buy ready-grilled kabayaki eel (frozen if necessary), as grilling fresh eel is an intricate art unto itself.
Unagi Kamameshi

Lucy Seligman

5 from 1 vote

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Course Main Course
Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4

Ingredients

3 cups short-grain Japanese white rice
4 ½ cups water
¾ cup unagi sauce
14 oz. kabayaki (grilled eel, thickly sliced), Look in Japanese supermarkets, they are usually sold in vacuumed sealed packages in the frozen section.
For the stock:
3 cups water
1 ½ teaspoons dashi (fish stock granules)
1 ½ teaspoons low-salt soy sauce
1 ½ teaspoons sake
A pinch of salt
To garnish:
½ cup minced or finely chopped green onions
Wasabi horseradish to taste

Instructions

Wash the rice until the water runs clear. Drain and let sit for 30 minutes prior to cooking.
Place the rice and water in a heavy, deep, medium-sized saucepan with a well-fitting lid. Boil vigorously, uncovered, for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. To keep from boiling over, tap the top of the pan a number of times with a spoon. Most of the water should disappear – if it evaporates too quickly, turn down the heat during the last few minutes of cooking to avoid burning.
Pour in the unagi sauce and mix well, then turn heat down to medium-simmer, cover the pan, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the eel slices, cover again, and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the stock. Heat water and stir in the dashi until dissolved. Add soy sauce and sake and adjust seasoning.
To serve, mix the eel into the rice and serve in individual bowls. Pass the stock, green onion, and wasabi separately, allowing each person to mix in as they desire.

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Not only can you find a number of recipes from Nagoya on Thanks For the Meal, but we have a whole collection of regional Japanese recipes from across the country.

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Here’s the one I purchased at my local Asian mall. Leave a note in the comments section (see below) if you make this dish!
Miso: More than just a Seasoning
Miso (fermented soybean paste) is not only considered a condiment, spice, and seasoning in Japan but a way of life as well. I can think of no equivalent food in Western cuisine that has had such a powerful impact on culinary culture, not to mention societal relations.

Miso is believed to have been created in China, brought to the Korean Peninsula, and then introduced to Japan – the same route taken by many of Japan’s fermented and preserved condiments, including soy sauce. By the Nara era (710-84), miso was being made and sold in the city of Nara, and was even being taxed. The Engishiki, compiled in 927, was the first historical document to mention miso. A popular form of miso among aristocrats during this period was name (“licking”) miso, a form of highly spiced and salted miso mixed with pickled vegetables that the nobles enjoyed while drinking sake.

By the Kamakura era (1185-1333), Buddhist strictures were influencing everyone from the higher classes and samurai down to the peasantry. Zen monks, highly experienced at making miso because it was one of the key components of shojin ryori (vegetarian Buddhist cuisine) helped introduce the flavorful paste throughout Japan.

Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) did much to popularize miso soup as the first Japanese power breakfast. He recognized that miso would assist warriors during times of battle by supplying them with the necessary protein they needed to fight on. By 1600, a typical breakfast consisted of miso soup, rice, and pickles, which to many Japanese constitutes the perfect breakfast even today.

Currently there are several hundred types of miso being sold, each made according to the climate and taste preferences of the region in which it is produced. Miso can range in color from a rich brownish-red to light yellow; typically, the darker the miso, the higher the salt content. It is often said that hatcho miso, made in Aichi Prefecture since the early 1500s, is one of the few remaining traditionally made kinds of miso in Japan, and one of the most flavorful. Try some of this delicious deep red miso in your next bowl of miso soup as a variation. If you prefer a milder version, then use white miso.
Basic Miso Soup

Lucy Seligman

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Course Soup
Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4

Ingredients

3 1/3 cups hot dashi fish stock (can be made from kombu kelp, katsuobushi [dried bonito flakes], or a combination of the two; instant dashi granules or powder also acceptable)
4 tbsps miso (use red, white, or light-colored miso or a combination thereof)

Instructions

Place the stock in a saucepan and heat until very hot. Add whatever ingredients you are planning to use (see recipe notes for 3 of my favorite variations), and cook until done.
Place the miso into a small bowl and mix with a little of the stock, using a miso muddler to make a thick paste. Just before serving, add the miso paste to the soup; reheat it if necessary, taking care not to boil the soup after adding the miso, since this will make it taste bitter.
Ladle the soup into soup bowls – lacquerware ones not only retain heat well; they also add a touch of authenticity – then garnish and serve immediately.

Notes
Some Favorite Combinations:
Tofu and Wakame Miso Soup – Use ½ block of silky tofu, cut into small cubes, and 1 ounce (30 grams) of rinsed and chopped raw wakame kelp. Garnish with mixed green onions or negi (Japanese leeks).
Clam and Trefoil Miso Soup – Soak 1 ¼ cups of small clams for 30 minutes in a bowl of cold salt water to rid them of sand and impurities. Drain and rinse well. Place in the hot stock and bring to a boil, discarding any clams that don’t open. Turn heat down to a simmer and add 4 tablespoons of akadashi (a type of mixed miso) to the soup. Garnish with chopped mitsuba (trefoil) or seri (Japanese parsley).
Pumpkin and Abura-age Miso Soup – Cut up 2 ounces (60 grams) of unpeeled kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) and ½ sheet of abura-age (fried tofu). Prior to using the fried tofu, pour boiling water over it to get rid of any excess oil. Garnish with minced Japanese leeks or green onion (white part only).

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Yakitori: Skewered, Grilled, and Garnished (Part 2)
Walk out of almost any train station in Japan in the evening, look for a restaurant with an akachochin (red lantern) outside, and inside you’ll find groups of salaried workers talking, drinking, and consuming countless skewers of yakitori, this country’s version of shish kebab. There is something very seductive about the smell of meat grilling over charcoal, which may help to explain the nation’s enduring love of yakitori.

The forerunner of yakitori was a variety of small birds, such as quail or sparrow, split open, flattened and grilled. True yakitori, spitted on skewers, appears to have originated in yatai – food stalls – in Tokyo during the Meiji period (1868-1912). At that time chicken was prohibitively expensive, so beef and pork intestines were primarily used. The notion of grilling food caught on during this period, as Japan opened up to Western influences, including cuisine.

As the price of chicken decreased in Japan, particularly in the Sixties when “broiler” chickens were introduced, it became the most common yakitori ingredient. These days, yakitori usually consists of chicken parts and vegetables skewered on sticks, grilled, and either sprinkled with salt or brushed with a sweetened soy-based sauce.
Yakitori

Lucy Seligman

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Servings 4

Ingredients

1-1/2 lbs boned chicken leg or thigh meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
8 washed & halved chicken livers (or chicken gizzards or rolled pieces of skin)
8 small chicken wings (salt grill only)
1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 or 2 large Japanese leeks (naganegi), white part only (or white onions), cut into 1-inch pieces
Yakitori Sauce:
3/4 cup mirin (sweet rice sake)
2 tbsps rock sugar, or 1 tbsp white sugar
3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 or 2 roasted or grilled chicken bones, optional
Garnish:
Ground Japanese pepper (sansho)
Seven-spice pepper mixture (shichimitogarashi)
Lemon wedges for salted skewers

Instructions

Put the mirin and sugar in a saucepan and warm, stirring well, over medium heat until the sugar melts. Add the soy sauce and chicken bones (if used), and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer, uncovered, for about twenty minutes. The sauce should reduce about 30 percent, and be thick but still pourable. Strain it and cool to room temperature.
Since the cooking time for each ingredient varies, each should be threaded on separate skewers – 8- or 10-inch bamboo skewers or short steel shish-kebab ones – except for chicken pieces alternated with leeks, a traditional combination. Four pieces per skewer is best.
Prepare a barbecue, grill, or broiler. For best results, use charcoal. Grill the skewers, unseasoned at first, turning every few minutes until the ingredients start to brown and the juices begin to trickle out. At this point, either salt both sides of each skewer or dip it into the sauce. Grill for a few more minutes, turning occasionally, then remove the salted skewers for immediate consumption; dip the other skewers into the sauce again and grill them twice more, the second time returning them to the fire only briefly. Serve the sauced skewers with garnishes and the salted ones with lemon wedges.

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Tofu: Skewered, Grilled, and Garnished (Part 1)
A move to Aichi Prefecture when I lived in Japan prompted a visit to Kikuso, one of the area’s most famous regional-food restaurants. Kikuso’s specialty is dengaku nameshi, a savory combination that has been served since the place opened sometime around 1820. Dengaku is a seductively simple, even primitive, dish, made of small squares of pressed tofu that have been grilled, topped with pungent miso, lightly grilled again, and then garnished with everything from spicy Japanese mustard to poppy seeds. Nameshi is vegetable rice; Kikuso’s is made with chopped, spicy daikon radish leaves, the perfect counterpoint to the dengaku. I have never forgotten Kikuso, nor its incomparable dengaku nameshi.

Dengaku has been around for centuries. It was already being mentioned in shrine diaries in the mid-fourteenth century, and by the Muromachi period (1392-1573) was a well-known dish throughout Japan. Dengaku takes its name from dengaku hoshi (Buddhist priests), who would dress up in colorful costumes and cavort and dance on single stilts during public entertainments and festivals to pray for a good harvest. Two-pronged skewers are traditionally used for grilling dengaku, and these are said to represent the stilts.

By the late seventeenth century, a variation of dengaku appeared that used a root, konnyaku (devil’s tongue), instead of tofu. By the eighteenth century, dengaku was being served throughout the nation at way stations for weary travellers, at tea shops in pleasure quarters, and at post stations. Although dengaku is not an expensive dish, it was considered a delicacy in the Edo period (1603-1867), and was often served with vegetable rice as is done at Kikuso.

By the Meiji era (1868-1912), however, the original version of dengaku had declined somewhat in popularity, and with each subsequent era contemporary variations of the dish were devised. Fish, eggplant, chicken, and sato-imo (field yams) are just a few of the ingredients that replaced tofu in dengaku. Although dengaku is usually eaten by itself as a snack or served as an hors d’oeuvre, the addition of soup, rice, and pickles can make it the main course in a filling lunch or dinner.
Tofu Dengaku

Lucy Seligman

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Servings 4

Ingredients

2 blocks fresh momen (cotton) tofu
Red miso topping:
1/2 cup red hatcho miso
2 tbsps white miso
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp sake
2 tbsps mirin (sweet sake)
4 tbsps white sugar
1/4 cup dashi fish stock
2 tbsps water
1/2 tsp grated ginger (or to taste)
Garnishes (choose any three):
Japanese mustard (karashi)
Ground Japanese pepper (sansho)
Sprigs of fresh Japanese pepper (kinome)
Slivers of fresh Japanese citron (yuzu)
White poppy seeds
Toasted white sesame seeds
Toasted black sesame seeds

Instructions

Pierce each piece of tofu with either a two-pronged skewer or two skewers so that it won’t fall apart when turned over. (The Japanese traditionally use bamboo skewers.)
2. Make the red miso topping by mixing all the ingredients, with the exception of the ginger. Place the mixture in the top section of a double boiler. Simmer over boiling water, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, which takes about 10 minutes. Stir in the ginger. Let the mixture cool prior to spreading it on the tofu.
3. Lightly grill or broil the tofu on both sides until it is slightly browned and hot. Spread a thin layer of miso on one side and grill for a minute or two to heat the miso up. Remove from heat, sprinkle with the desired toppings, and serve immediately, leaving the tofu on the skewers.

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Oden: Japanese Hodgepodge Stew
When I was a college student in Tokyo, I would often pass mobile food stalls, called yatai, late on blustery winter nights and be completely overwhelmed by the powerful aroma of oden, or Japanese hodgepodge stew. Oden’s pungent smell and taste have made it a perennial favorite with drinkers, no matter the season. It is definitely a comfort food in Japan and can be enjoyed anytime by everyone.

The oden is derived from dengaku–grilled, skewered tofu topped with miso. The dish got its start in the late Edo era (1603-1867) when the people of old Edo (now Tokyo) began cooking many ingredients stuck on bamboo skewers in one pot. They used soy sauce as a base, which accounts for the murky darkness of the stock and the uniformly brownish color of the ingredients. Called Kanto-daki (Kanto-style oden), this dish was passed down to the Kansai area. There the people of Osaka changed the stock, taking out the soy sauce and substituting salt and kelp, or sometimes chicken stock or even white soy sauce, to create a clearer, more delicate broth. The variation, known as Kansai-daki, reached Tokyo and influenced the original oden. In fact, traditional soy sauce-based oden has become a rarity, even in Tokyo.

My version of Kanto-style Oden is slightly unorthodox, as it includes a relatively small amount of processed fish paste products. You are welcome to add as much as you like. The secret to making a great oden? Time (it definitely improves with age), a variety of ingredients, and the all-important condiment, karashi, spicy Japanese mustard. This Kanto-style recipe is just one of the collection of regional dishes featured on Thanks for the Meal.
Kanto-Style Oden

Lucy Seligman

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Course Main Course
Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4 persons

Ingredients

24 ounces (685 grams) daikon radish, unpeeled, cut into 1-inch (2-1/2 cm) rounds, simmered over low heat in water for one hour
5-1/4 ounces (150 grams) fresh shiitake mushrooms, washed, stemmed, and placed on bamboo skewers (three per skewer)
1-1/4 lb. (600 grams) white potato, peeled, and cut in half, simmered in water for 30 minutes and drained
To make Fukuro (stuffed, deep-fried tofu):
5 large pieces abura-age (deep-fried tofu), dipped in boiling water for 2 minutes to get rid of excess oil, squeezed to remove excess water, cut in half, then opened to create little sacks
3-1/2 ounces (100 grams) mochi (pounded rice cakes, cut into 3/4 ounce (approx. 20g) slices
8 ounces (225 grams) shirataki (devil’s tongue noodles), cut in half, parboiled, and drained
3 raw eggs
10 8-inch (20cm) long kampyo (dried gourd strips), washed and drained, to tie up the sacks
8 ounces (225 grams) konnyaku (devil’s tongue jelly) cut into triangles, parboiled, and drained
2 chikuwa (fish paste rolls) cut on the bias into thick slices
1 cake tofu, drained and cut into 8 thick squares
4-6 chicken drumsticks
Assorted cut-up fish paste products such as kamaboko and satsuma-age, optional
Dashi Fish Stock:
1 ounce (30 grams) konbu (kelp) wiped with a damp cloth and lightly slashed
8 cups water to soak the kelp in for 30 minutes; retain the water
2 small packets (1/5 ounce or 6g) katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings)
Prepared Dashi Stock:
2 tbsps sake
1/4 cup light soy sauce or to taste
2 tbsps mirin (sweet sake) or to taste
2 tsps salt or to taste
Condiment:
spicy Japanese mustard (karashi) to taste

Instructions

Place the kelp and water into a soup pot over medium heat. Just before it boils, take out the kelp (which can be cut up and added to the oden) and add the bonito shavings. Boil for a minute or two, then strain. Return the stock to a clean soup pot. Add the remaining stock ingredients, adding salt little by little until the flavor is to your liking. Keep the pot simmering.
To make fukuro, carefully stuff each pocket with either shirataki, pounded rice cake, or a shelled raw egg. Tie each pocket up with a dried gourd strip.
To make oden, place all the ingredients into the simmering prepared stock and cook for at least one hour. Bring the pot to the table and serve communally. Place a selection of the cooked ingredients in shallow bowls, serving the fiery mustard separately. If refrigerated, oden will be even tastier the second day. Reheat, adding more ingredients if desired, and serve.

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Photo © Pelican

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Interview with Eric Gower of Breakaway Matcha
A number of months ago I was reading an article online at mindbodygreen.com and it mentioned Eric Gower of Breakaway Matcha, located in Marin County and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of it considering my total obsession with Matcha (high quality finely ground powdered green tea from Japan, primarily from the area surrounding Kyoto); especially since it is literally in my backyard so to speak! So I tracked Eric down, and we sat down a few weeks later over icy frothy cups of matcha for a far reaching and jam-packed conversation on matcha, Japan, love, food, our daughters, and lots more. And then, a few days later, I broke my other ankle…ie, my 2^nd ankle of 2017 and that was that for a very long time! But, I’m getting back on my feet!, back in the kitchen, and very happily back to writing my blog. So, here is my long awaited interview with Eric Gower of Breakaway Matcha. Thankfully, I bought a matcha flight as I was leaving that helped ease me through weeks of being stuck at home in a cast! I especially liked Blend #97 that I found had that perfect blend of green vibrancy and sprightliness that only properly shaken coldbrew matcha elicits! There is a whift of grassiness when you first drink first rate matcha that makes me go weak in the knees…..

This post may include affiliate links, so without costing you anything extra, I’ll earn a small percentage of the sales if you purchase these items through these links. Thank you for your support!

Why, matcha?

Eric Gower: “It’s love really, I mean it’s all about love. I drank a lot of matcha in Japan. I wasn’t too much into their ceremony, you know, you’ve probably been to as many as I have. I’ve drunk dozens and dozens of these things and I really liked the matchas that some of them served me, but a lot of them weren’t very good, and not very interesting. I liked it, when it was hot, it was really special. It was life changing, so different from so many other beverages and I just kept the dive going and I just kept learning more and more about it.”

And why call it breakaway matcha?!

EG: “It’s based on my two cookbooks (The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen and The Breakaway Cook) that take Japanese ingredients and do some unusual things with them. You know living in Japan for 16 years and surrounded by so much good food and all these classic Japanese restaurants. I didn’t feel the need to replicate all the classics but I did fall in love with Japanese ingredients and I tried to isolate the Japanese ingredients I liked and kind of make them star in kind of a non-Japanese way, a lot of which was driven by whatever I could find in farmers markets. You could make really simple and quite lovely food that broke away from all the Japanese cuisine. We just decided to call it the breakaway Japanese kitchen then I remember being called the breakaway cook and then so when I was trying to give a name to this matcha thing, then why not stick with breakaway too?”

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Arigatou Gozaimasu / ありがとうございますいます –Lucy

What are some of the benefits of matcha?

EG: “Oh geez! A lot of them. Really I find it with men more than women, for me it keeps me hydrated all day long because I don’t drink water (I don’t know why) but I do drink coldbrew matcha all day. It also has high levels of antioxidants. Some other benefits include reducing stress, as it includes L-theanine, an amino acid known for its calming effect, supporting healthy teeth and gums by killing off bacteria that causes bad breath, and the list goes on and on!”

It doesn’t keep you up all night?

EG: “No. I sleep like a baby every night!”

Does it have caffeine?

EG: (According to their website): “Yes, but not so much: 25mg or so per cup (in contrast, a brewed cup of coffee has about 100mg. So it has about a quarter of the caffeine of coffee.”

What are you looking for in a great matcha?

The five pillars of a great matcha (according to their website) is:
- electric color
- maximum umami
- lack of bitterness and plethora of natural sweetness
- good/balanced acid structure, and
- extra-long, beautiful finish
You are doing so many different things, are you still a private chef?

EG: “Not really, the last private chef gig that I did was 2 years ago. In the last 5 years I haven’t really done more than a handful of private chef events, ever since matcha came along. I would much rather focus my energy doing this. It’s easier, it’s better, it has way more potential, and it’s enjoyable. I mean being a private chef is hard, it’s just brutal really, I mean you can’t really trust that the person or where you’re going is going to have what you need. Dismantling your entire kitchen, loading it in the car and doing it again and shopping takes up to 2 days. You couldn’t charge enough; you can’t charge enough to make a living.”

“And it’s exhausting (it’s completely exhausting) and you have a family which is why I stopped teaching because…”

Eric to Lucy: “Are you a cooking teacher?”

LS: “Yes, I was for years but it didn’t work out long-term after I became a single Mom, it was impossible to do, when my daughter was younger.”

What is your relationship with restaurants and what are you doing with them?

EG: “We create many programs for restaurants and there’s a new one called Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg, I don’t know if you have heard of this one. It’s remarkable. You can order room service there with a couple of different grades of matcha. They create quite a few pastries with matcha as well. That’s a pretty developed matcha program, and we also work with Nomad Hotel, both in NYC and the recently opened downtown Los Angeles location, where they really wanted a matcha program, which is wonderful.”

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Do you have a favorite local Japanese restaurant in Marin County?

EG: “Yes, there is a wonderful restaurant and it’s really really good and I don’t say that lightly! I don’t like most Japanese food that I’ve had but this is very good. It’s called Village in Fairfax, California.”

So what do you see happening next for you in Breakaway Matcha?

EG: “I don’t know. We continue to grow. Matcha as a category is growing like wildfire which is really nice, the timing is very good. We kind of positioned ourselves at the extreme upper end of the market. It’s a good place to be rather than battling it out at the bottom. It’ll be really cool, and great to reintroduce this style of matcha in Japan. There’s long history of things that go abroad and then kind of move that way back in Japan in some different form. It will be wonderful. I really think it will be widely accepted, I’m quite sure, it’s just that we’re still building the business here and not quite ready. I think a similar thing can happen in Europe. My wife is German. I grew up in Germany but was born here. We’d love to live in either Holland or Germany for a while, I may try to start a European branch as well as a Japanese branch. It’ll be great.”

Breakaway Matcha sells 12 Hyperpremium matcha blends (think rare fine wines, each unique in their own way), a variety of coldbrew versions (my personal fav at the moment), and culinary for well, for culinary purposes (such as baking or cooking or using it as an ingredient)!

Breakaway Matcha is offering readers 10% off + free shipping! Just use the code THANKSFORTHEMEAL. www.breakawaymatcha.com

*Photos courtesy of Breakaway Matcha.

Leave a note in the comments section (see below) of your favorite Matcha drink and or food!
Delicious Tenpura Recipe (Tempura)
With a light, crispy, oil-free coating enveloping a perfectly cooked and succulent piece of seafood or vegetable, tenpura (also written tempura) is considered a quintessentially Japanese food. Both the word and the dish, however, are almost certainly of foreign origin. The source: Spanish and Portuguese missionaries called nanbanjin (southern barbarians) who came to Japan to convert the heathen masses toward the close of the sixteenth century. Prohibited from consuming meat on Fridays, they substituted batter-fried fish.

There are several theories on where the name came from. Templo, meaning temple or church in Spanish, and tempero, which in Portuguese means cooking, are two possible roots. The Chinese characters can also be read as follows: ten meaning up, pu for flour, and ra for thin silk, the latter most likely a reference to the thin coating of batter.

By the middle of the Edo era (1603-1867), tenpura, inexpensive and considered relatively low-class, was a popular offering at open-air food stalls. Only in recent years has the dish risen in both price and public esteem to its exalted culinary status in high-class establishments. With a little preparation and practice, it is surprisingly easy to make equally good tenpura at home. Keep the oil at a constant temperature; use ice-cold water to make the batter; and, perhaps most important of all, leave the batter lumpy.
Tenpura

Lucy Seligman

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Course Main Course
Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4

Ingredients

8 medium or 4 large shrimp washed, shelled, and deveined, with tails slightly trimmed
4 small kisu Japanese whiting fillets (or other small white-fleshed fish), washed and with tails left intact
4 fresh shiitake mushrooms trimmed
4 thick rounds of sweet potato peeled
4 shiso perilla leaves, washed and patted dry
2 Japanese eggplants trimmed and halved lengthwise, with skin lightly scored for quicker frying
4 string beans trimmed and halved lengthwise
Sesame oil and vegetable oil for deep-frying half and half is best
Dipping Sauce:
1 cup dashi fish stock
¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
¼ cup mirin sweet sake
¼ cup sake
Dash of salt
1 cup daikon radish peeled, grated, and drained
4 teaspoons fresh ginger peeled & grated
Lemon wedges & coarse salt optional
Batter: Double quantity if necessary
1 large egg
1 cup ice water
1 cup all-purpose white flour sifted

Instructions

Prepare the shrimp and other items as instructed above, then place them on a large plate. Bring the dipping sauce ingredients to a boil in a pan, stirring well; remove from heat and pour into four small serving bowls. Let cool. Put the daikon radish, ginger, and lemon (if used) in separate bowls. Prepare a rack for draining the tenpura, and line your serving plates with paper napkins.
While you are heating the oil in a wok or other large large, deep-sided pot, lightly mix the egg and ice water in a bowl. Add the flour all at once, stirring only briefly with chopsticks or a fork to create a lumpy, nonsticky batter. Place the bowl of batter in a large bowl filled with ice water near the stove. When a dab of batter is dropped into the oil and rises to the surface and sizzles, the oil is ready.
Fry the fish first. Dip them briefly in the batter and then drop into the oil, use
cooking chopsticks to turn them rapidly.
(To preserve their delicate flavor, the perilla leaves should be dipped on their "back" side only.) Then proceed with the other items. If space permits, fry all similar items together. The tenpura is ready when it turns golden brown and floats. I like to drain tenpura using a cooling rack placed over a cookie sheet for easy clean up.
Remove any excess fried batter with a slotted spoon.
Tenpura should be served immediately and eaten piping hot. It could also be made at the dining room table by the guests, using fondue pots. Dip into the sauce, add grated radish and ginger as desired, or sprinkle with lemon and dip lightly in salt.

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Top 10 Favorite Japanese Cookbooks

I have over a hundred and thirty English language books on Japanese cuisine on my bookshelves, and yet I feel I’ve only begun to skim the surface. In the past few years, there have been scores of Japanese cookbooks, Asian fusion cookbooks, you name them, published around the world. It is hard to keep up!

Below are just a few of my favorites, essential volumes you can use to establish your ideal Japanese library. Although many were published years ago, they can be found fairly easily these days, especially in the United States and Japan, thanks to the internet! And don’t despair, I will return to this topic again and again and cover other favorites, as I am adding new ones! I would love to hear what your favorites are as well—please comment below and share.

Note: These are truly my favorite Japanese Cookbooks. However, the links may include affiliate links, so without costing you anything extra, I’ll earn a small percentage of the sales if you purchase these items through these links. Thank you for your support!

Need books?

I’m buying mine from Abe Books now in an effort to support smaller businesses. They have new and used options and harder to find books, including all of my favorite Japanese cookbooks! You can support Thanks for the Meal by clicking on this banner to buy your books.

Arigatou Gozaimasu / ありがとうございますいます –Lucy

“The Wonderful World of Osechi: Japanese New Year’s Recipes” is full of recipes that are fast to make, healthy, easy, and very delicious for your New Year celebrations along with an understanding of the Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) traditions. It’s now available in both print and Kindle editions! Why not try something different this year for your New Year’s celebrations?

Easy Japanese Recipes for the Home Cook is a compilation of Japanese recipes specifically cultivated to keep things simple and easy in the kitchen. Whether you’re new to Japanese cooking or new to cooking in general, these easy recipes are a great place to start. Not only does the author walk you through easy Japanese hors d’oeuvres, main dishes, and desserts, but she covers donburi and ramen as well!

Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art

1. The first book I’d recommend is Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art By Shizuo Tsuji, which is often considered the bible of Japanese cuisine. Originally published in 1980 by Kodansha International, it has gone through several reprints. I find I constantly to this day refer to this volume. I call it my ‘go to’ Japanese cookbook. The recipes are clearly written and easy to follow, and the black-and-white drawings showing special techniques are always helpful and what you end up producing tastes very good. Tsuji introduces each recipe with a little historical nugget or comment that helps give the reader a sense of where the dish fits in culinarily-speaking. Everything is covered, from how to make dashi (the primary Japanese fish stock) to utensils to seasonal dishes, and even a few sweets (often the hardest type of recipe to find in English cookbooks).

Rice Paddy Gourmet

2. Another book I find myself often referring to, not only because of the recipes but because of the author’s observations of life as a foreign wife in Japan in the late sixties, is Joan Itoh’s Rice Paddy Gourmet. Originally published in 1976 by The Japan Times, the book is a compilation of cooking columns that Itoh wrote for that newspaper in the seventies while she lived in the rice-growing plains of Niigata Prefecture (the Far North as its called) in a gigantic traditional farm house. My copy is in disrepair, but I still love flipping through the pages and reading her quirky comments about seasonal events and her delicious blend of East-West recipes, which incorporated her background of (Milford, Pennsylvania) and her then-life in Japan. I had the pleasure of interviewing her years later in her then-new life in Brantford Ontario, Canada. Her stories and recipes continue to be relevant and tasty today. She was also sweet enough to replace my tattered copy as well!

The Book of Soba

3. We have Jame Udesky to thank for writing the definitive The Book of Soba in 1988 by Kodansha International.

It remains my go-to book on all things soba (Japanese buckwheat pasta). The book has it all: from how to make handmade soba noodles, the history of soba, where to eat soba in Japan, and lots of recipes.

The very best soba I’ve ever had has always been at traditional handmade soba restaurants. They are always worth searching for and going to. My favorite soba recipe is Toshikoshi Soba.

Good Food from a Japanese Temple

4. Shojin ryori, or vegetarian monk cuisine, is comprehensively covered in Good Food from a Japanese Temple by Soei Yoneda, the late abbess of Sanko-in Temple. The book, came out in 1982. I had the pleasure of dining at Sanko-in years ago, and be served by the abbess, and also to conduct a lively and engrossing interview with her. I have yet to meet any chef in his or her eighties (or otherwise) who rivaled Yoneda’s enthusiasm and knowledge of, this style of cooking. One of the original dishes of Sanko-in Temple is robai–fried fresh wheat gluten served with a pungent and fiery mustard-soy sauce. I’ve never forgotten it, and the recipe appears in her book as well. Yoneda was truly a character. She entered Donke-in nunnery in Kyoto at the age of four, and took her Buddhist vows at seven. She was appointed the abbess of Sanko-in Temple from the age of thirty-one until her death.

At Home with Japanese Cooking

5. At Home with Japanese Cooking by Elizabeth Andoh, is one of her earlier works. Any of her cookbooks are a joy to read, cook from and are beautifully presented.

I have had the pleasure of interviewing Elizabeth for my original newsletter, Gochiso-sama! and we have stayed in touch intermittently ever since. I will no doubt talk with her again about her recent activities. She has been a treasure in the Japanese cuisine world for over 40 years. She has written many books; another favorite of mine written by her is An Ocean of Flavor: the Japanese Way with Fish and Seafood.

Japanese Country Cookbook

6. Japanese Country Cookbook by Russ Rudzinski are a collection of recipes from a San Francisco restaurant, now sadly closed, called Mingei-ya. A sentimental favorite, as I have many happy memories of visiting this country-style Japanese restaurant as a child and tasting my first chicken mizutaki. Many of my favorite homestyle Japanese recipes are in this beautifully printed paperback by Nitty Gritty Books. A real gem!

One-pot Cookery

7. I finally replaced my tattered copy of Masaru Doi’s One-pot Cookery. I use this book all the time, especially since last year I also finally bought a portable tabletop stove burner to cook nabemonos (one-pot dishes) tableside.

I continue to get inspiration from his book and one of my favorite recipes remains Falling Leaf Chicken Nabe, which uses ground chicken.

Sake Confidential

8. My niece, Corina Seligman, who used to sell sake for a living at Empire Merchants introduced me to Sake Confidential and to John Gauntner, who is the only non-Japanese certified Master of Sake Tasting, who is based in Japan.

Highly recommend for beginners and experienced sake lovers alike! It’s a fun and very informative read! I even learned some new sake information and enjoyed his witty writing style. It’s refreshing to find an expert who doesn’t take himself too seriously.

If you like Sake, I encourage you to also check out Corina’s guest posts: Sake Paired with Whaaat? and Japanese Inspired Cocktails

Tsukemono: Japanese Pickled Vegetables

9. Tsukemono: Japanese Pickled Vegetables by Kay Shimizu is a good addition to your library. I love pickles—I blame it on my Dad. He taught me how to make kosher dill pickles as a girl, and I’ve been making and eating them ever since. I just can’t finish a bowl of Japanese white rice without them.

This book with guide you through the process of pickling a wide variety of Japanese vegetables easily and happily.

Be sure to check out her recipes for Cabbage Shoyu-zuke and Pickled Plums (Umeboshi), my go-to-food to eat for an upset stomach.

Kaiseki: Zen Tastes in Japanese Cooking

10. Kaiseki: Zen Tastes in Japanese Cooking by Kaichi Tsuji. Kaiseki is the haute cuisine of Japanese cooking and this is not for the beginning cook by any means.

The photographs are exquisite, and the text is a serious look at kaiseki’s hidden meanings and preciseness of its preparation.

Please note that a knowledge of Japanese cooking is necessary to follow Tsuji’s recipes–most of which don’t have any measurements.

Leave a note in the comments section (see below) about your favorite Japanese cookbook!

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