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Easy Japanese Recipes for Beginners
When it comes to Japanese cooking, there are some easy recipes that will still wow dinner guests! Whether you’re new to Japanese cooking or a beginner chef in general, these Japanese recipes are some of the easiest to get started with.

Easy Japanese Recipes for Beginners

Over the years, I’ve heard from many home cooks that Japanese cooking is intimidating. Many seem to think Japanese cooking is hard, or that is only filled with raw fish. That’s why I’ve put together this list of simple recipes that are absolutely delicious, but quite straight forward. Even if you’ve never tried your hand at Japanese recipes before, these are sure to be ones the newest cook can handle.

Easy Japanese Appetizers

Here are two of the easiest Japanese appetizers to make. Let’s start with one that’s a favorite in beer gardens and beer halls in Nagoya, where I happily lived for a number of years:

Tebasaki: Nagoya-style Fried Chicken Wings

This fried chicken wing recipe only requires five simple ingredients and takes about 15 minutes to throw together!

Fried Wonton Salad

Ingredients:
- Square Wonton wraps (aka skins), cut into triangles
- Seedless cucumbers (such as Japanese, Persian, hothouse, or European), thinly sliced
- Salt as needed
- Neutral oil for frying
- Peeled fresh ginger, cut into thin matchsticks
Dressing:
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1-1/2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 tablespoon light-colored soy sauce, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Fry wontons until golden-brown. Drain on paper towels.

Sprinkle cucumbers lightly with salt. Let sit until you are ready to use. Rinse lightly to remove excess salt prior to adding to dish, and drain.

Combine ginger and cucumber slices. Then add in the wonton wraps and dressing as needed to make a salad. Gently mix. Sprinkle with toasted white sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Tip: Keep any left-over dressing refrigerated and use again with your favorite salad mixture.

Easiest Japanese Dishes

Moving into the main course, there are many recipes I’ve shared that are great for the general home cook. I’ll talk more about those, but first I want to introduce you to a new recipe. This recipe will be featured in my soon-to-be released cookbook so make sure you’re on my e-mail list! No doubt you’ll want to dive into all the recipes I’ll be sharing. But first let’s start with one of my favorites –

Tempura Donburi

Ingredients:
- 4 cups very hot firmly cooked Japanese white rice
- 8 large fresh shrimp
- 2 tablespoons white flour for coating
- Oil for deep frying – a mixture of sesame oil (at least ¼ of the total is best) and vegetable oil
Sauce:
- ¼ cup mirin (sweet sake)
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1/6 oz. katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings)
Tempura batter:
- ½ cup sifted white flour
- ½ cup ice water
- 1 egg
Shell and de-vein the shrimp, leaving the tail and last section of shell attached. Trim the tail if desired. Rinse in cold water and pat dry. Slash the belly lightly a few times to prevent curling, then straighten out the shrimp and coat with flour.

To make the sauce, bring the mirin to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the soy sauce, water, and katsuobushi, bring to a boil again, and turn off the heat. Strain into a clean saucepan. Warm the donburi bowls with lids (or any deep individual bowls) to ready for serving.

Make the tempura batter by gently mixing the flour with the ice water and egg. For ideal crunchiness, do not over-mix.

In a frying pan or wok, heat up the oils. Dip two shrimp in the batter and fry until they float and are golden-brown. Drain briefly.

To serve, reheat the sauce. Place ¾ – 1 cup of rice in each bowl and pour a tablespoon of sauce over it. Put two shrimp on the rice and pour two more tablespoons of sauce over the top. Cover and serve immediately.

Japanese Dry Curry

Japanese dry curry is a very forgiving dish. It’s also fun to create your own and new combination of ingredients! Use this Japanese Dry Curry recipe as your guide, then go wild. It is also the perfect dish for a bento lunch and or served at room temperature.

Somen Noodle Recipe

This is a perfect Japanese noodle recipe for hot summer days. Somen is an easy recipe to make and will be a sure hit for any dinner guest visiting on a warm summer night!

Now let’s move into everyone’s favorite part of dinner – dessert!!

Easy Japanese Desserts

This is where you can really wow your dinner guests. Appetizers and the main course alone are sure to impress, but finish things off with dessert and you’ll really take things to the next level.

Again you’ll be able to find quite a few easy dessert recipes in my new cookbook. You can start, though, by clicking on any of the recipe names or photos below. It’ll be tough to know which dessert to start with, no doubt you’ll want to try them all!

Black Sesame Pudding

Mizu Yokan

Yuzu Meyer Lemon Poundcake

Which one are you most excited to try? Let me know in the comments below and don’t forget to pin this for later –
Tai Chazuke
Keeping with our theme of quick, versatile, and easy to eat and make rice dishes (like Zosui), here is another traditional favorite of mine, chazuke. I like to make it when I am in a hurry to get dinner on the table and also when I have left-over rice.

What is Tai Chazuke?

Simply put, chazuke is either hot or cold cooked rice, topped with a variety of ingredients and then immersed in either hot strong green tea or dashi stock. We have samurai warriors and Buddhist priests to thank for chazuke, a venerable Japanese fast food that remains popular to this day.

This particular recipe uses tai (sea bream) and dashi stock, but of course, there are endless variations. If we use green tea instead of stock, then it would be called Taicha, which is quite popular at the moment. Cha meaning tea and zuke meaning to submerge. Most likely this dish originated in Kyushu, which is famous for its sea bream.

Chazuke remains a popular craze, with a variety of instant, dried and inexpensive toppings (furikake), such as the well-known Nagatanien brand used. There are even gift sets of more sophisticated and pricier chazuke flavors available.

The practice of mixing rice with a liquid began in earnest back in the Heian era (794-1185), when aristocrats poured hot water over cold rice in the winter and cold water over the rice in the summertime. This was thought to disguise the taste of rice that was occasionally poor in quality.

Fast Food From The Past

By the Muromachi era (1333-1568), the standard breakfast for samurai was rice, miso soup, and pickles. During the civil wars that raged in the latter half of this era, samurai were asked to be frugal as an example to the populace, so they often poured their soup over their rice to create a single dish. This was known as nekomeshi, or “cat’s meal,” because pouring soup on rice for cats is to soften the rice to make it easier for them to eat. Since it was filling and quick to make, this dish became a samurai staple.

The forerunner of modern Ochazuke

Hoban or hohan, the forerunner of modern chazuke, was also being eaten by Buddhist priests during the same period, and soon found its way onto the menus of high society. It was served to guests during the tea ceremony, which also developed during this time. The principle was the same: cooked or flavored ingredients (such as vegetables already cooked) were placed on top of rice, and then covered with either green tea or weak dashi stock. It was beautiful to look at and easy to prepare – a perfect offering for unexpected guests.

By the middle of the Edo era (1603-1867), a greater variety of colorful, flavorful toppings were in use, spurred on by the influence of kaiseki (Japanese haute cuisine) and newly sophisticated tastes. It didn’t matter if the rice was hot or cold, but the tea or stock had to be really hot, since it helped cook any raw toppings such as fish.

Regional Variations of Ochazuke

Regional versions of chazuke can also be sampled around Japan. On Shikoku Island, the local version is called bokkake. Bokkake’s main ingredient varies from place to place – rabbit and mackerel are two that come to mind. The main ingredient is cooked together with lots of different vegetables, almost like a stew, and then everything is laid over hot rice. In Okinawa, a number of chazuke variations with a Chinese influence are made. The only difference is that the stock is made from both pork and fish.

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Tai Chazuke Recipe
Tai Chazuke

Lucy Seligman

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Course Main Course, Snack
Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4

Ingredients

9 ozs (250g) sliced very fresh sashimi-grade tai (sea bream), cut sashimi style
3 tbsp soy sauce
3/4 tsp sansho (ground Japanese pepper), or to taste
3 cups firm, hot, freshly cooked Japanese white rice (can also use leftover or even cold rice)
Kizami Nori (seaweed slivers) to taste
Dashi Stock (or use homemade)
2-1/2 cups water
1 tsp instant dashi granules
1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

Separate the fish slices and place in one layer on a flat dish. Combine the soy sauce and sansho pepper and pour the resulting mixture over the fish. Marinate for 15 minutes, turning once or twice. Meanwhile, prepare the dashi stock by bringing the water, stock granules, and salt in a saucepan to a boil. Cover and keep the stock very hot.
Just before serving, place the rice in four bowls and top generously with the seaweed. Place the fish slices on top of the rice in a sunburst pattern, covering the seaweed. Pour enough hot dashi stock over the rice, fish, and seaweed to nearly cover the fish. Lightly mix the result with your chopsticks and eat immediately. Tsukemono (pickled vegetables) are a nice accompaniment to chazuke.

Notes
Some other common toppings include Japanese pickles, umeboshi, sesame seeds, salted salmon, trefoil, scallions and wasabi.
If you decide to use good quality strongly brewed green tea instead of dashi stock, top with a generous dab of wasabi to taste after pouring the piping hot green tea over the rice/fish combo and eat immediately.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Recipe ingredients: Sansho pepper and Kizami Nori

Do you love Tai Chazuke?

Snap a pic and hashtag it #thanksforthemeal — I would love to see a photo of your Chazuke on Instagram and or Facebook, or leave a note in the comments section (see below) and let me know!
Yoshoku: Beef Tongue Stew
When Japan opened its doors to the outside world at the advent of the Meiji period in 1868, it also opened its doors to the outside world and its kitchens. As all things Western became the rage, a unique (and lasting) food trend emerged. Known as yoshoku, it comprised Western dishes with a Japanese twist, often served with silverware, linen tablecloths, and napkins.

In fact, this type of food began to be popular even while Japan was still officially closed to the West. A number of restaurants specializing in Western dishes can be traced back to the final days of the Edo period (1603-1867), among them Ryorin-ten in Nagasaki which opened in 1863.

Up to the mid-twentieth century, yoshoku was defined by such dishes as omelettes, breaded beef cutlets, crab croquettes, hayashi (hashed beef) rice, and a few classier dishes such as tongue stew.

Yoshoku: Western Food, Japanese Style

Today this type of food is still popular, with a number of famous restaurants in Tokyo continuing to serve a distinctive version of Western, often heavily French-influenced cuisine. More recent additions to the repertoire include tonkatsu (pork cutlet) and potato croquettes. Yoshoku is now so firmly planted in modern Japanese culture that it will most likely evoke sighs of nostalgia when served to someone from Japan.

This recipe appeared originally in my original newsletter entitled “Gochiso-sama,” which of course means Thanks for the Meal. A reader of that newsletter who I met years later, informed me that it was this very recipe that clinched his proposal to his now-wife. I love the power of food!

The Importance of Demi-glace Sauce in Yoshoku Cooking

Demi-glace sauce is essential to the preparation of yoshoku dishes. This classic sauce is based on Espagnole sauce mixed with meat stock, then reduced by cooking for a long time to one-half its original volume. It can days to make. Excellent pre-made versions are available. Madeira (a fortified wine from Portugal) is often added and this recipe specifically calls for a dry Madeira.

Espagnole sauce, if you’re not familiar with it, is a basic brown sauce, based on Auguste Escoffier.

Beef Tongue Stew Recipe

Beef Tongue Stew

1-1/2 lbs Beef (Ox) tongue, skinned and cut into chunks

2-3 tbsps Vegetable oil for sautéing

1 medium onion, peeled and thickly sliced

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

10-1/2 oz. Demi-glace sauce (homemade or store-bought)*

6 oz. Tomato paste

3/4 cup Dry good-quality red wine

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons dry Madeira

1 cup Water

1 Bay leaf

1/2 Beef bouillon cube, crushed

Accompanying vegetables

8 shallots, peeled

16 snow peas, trimmed

8 baby carrots, trimmed and peeled

8 baby potatoes, peeled

To garnish:

Fresh Parsley, minced

In a medium saucepan,heat the oil and sauté onion and garlic until lightly browned. Add the tongue and continue to sauté until brown. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add all the other ingredients, except for 2 tablespoons of Madeira, and stir well. Cover and turn heat down to low. Simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally, then taste the tongue for desired doneness and continue cooking. The longer this stew simmers,the better it will taste – about three hours is best. Just before serving,reheat, adjust seasonings, and add the remaining Madeira.

To prepare the vegetables, boil or steam them and season to taste. If desired, just before serving, lightly sauté them in a little butter.

To serve, arrange separate mounds of vegetables on one side of a deep plate. Pile the stew (sauce to be served separately) on the other side of the plate and top with a little sauce. Sprinkle with minced parsley and serve immediately.

This stew can be made a day in advance and slowly reheated. Season to taste once again and serve.

Main Course

Japanese
Essential Japanese Herbs, Spices, and Condiments

Like most cuisines, Japanese cooking employs a variety of fragrant herbs, spices, and condiments called yakumi to help create those delectable Japanese flavors and tastes. As the world becomes smaller, many of these can now be found overseas and are being used innovatively in many other cuisines. Here are some of the more important seasonings in the Japanese flavor palette.

Note: Herbs and spices like ginger and wasabi must be peeled and grated to release the full impact of their flavor.

Elements of the Japanese Palate

Sansho (aromatic Japanese pepper) also known as prickly ash, is an invigorating spice. The young leaves, called kinome, are used as a garnish in rice and simmered dishes to herald spring.(ground sansho) can be used as a seasoning and spice, and is always served with grilled eel. Sansho powder goes well with simmered meat (dipped in Ponzu sauce) or even sautéed meat, too. Try sprinkling it on your grilled steak for a change. Tip: I store my Sansho in a closed ziplock bag and store in the freezer to preserve freshness.

Need books?

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

Shiso (perilla), a member of the mint family, is originally from China, Burma, and the Himalayas. There are green and red varieties, and both can be eaten raw or cooked. The buds (ho-jiso), which are grown in darkness, are used in the dipping sauce for sashimi. Aka-jiso, the red variety, is used to make pickled plums (umeboshi). The green variety, ao-jiso, is used as a garnish, in sushi rolls, and in tenpura. It is also great in salad dressings, and I often use it as a substitute for basil in pasta dishes.

Shoga (ginger) was initially used in the dipping sauce for sashimi before the advent of wasabi. One of the most commonly used spices in Japan, it can be eaten raw or cooked, but don’t forget to peel it. Its sharp, pungent taste is the perfect foil to oily dishes, and it is used in finely grated form in tenpura dipping sauce. Vinegared sliced ginger, called gari, accompanies sushi and helps to refresh the palate.

Togarashi is the Japanese word for red chiles and refers to a number of condiments. I like to have two dried spice combinations on hand, both of which are traditionally used as flavoring agents in soba noodle dishes: ichimi togarashi (ground, dried red pepper) and shichimi togarashi (a fragrant blend of seven different spices). Tip: I keep my togarashi condiments in a closed ziplock bag and store in the freezer to preserve freshness.

One of the most famous spices is the pungent and bitingly fiery native Japanese horseradish, Wasabi. Grated fresh wasabi, which has quite a kick to it, is served with sashimi and sushi and used to flavor cold soba noodle dipping sauces. Try mixing some prepared wasabi into mayonnaise and using it as a sandwich spread or in salad dressings. Wasabi zuke (pickles) are a special product of Shizuoka.

There are a number of other herbs and spices that are not so easy to find but are worth seeking out.

Karashi (Japanese mustard) is bitter and hot and should be eaten sparingly; it accompanies oden (hodgepodge stew) and is often mixed with soy sauce to make a tangy sauce for boiled greens.

Mitsuba (trefoil), a member of the parsley family with a very assertive taste that can be used in several ways, both raw or cooked. Chopped up (including part of the upper stem) into soups or salads, as a garnish for chawanmushi, or even as oshitashi (boiled greens topped with dried bonito shavings).

Myoga: an edible bud that has a refreshingly crunchy texture. Great chopped up into salads or as a garnish in hiya somen. Always eaten raw.

Negi (Spring onion): Used in a variety of ways. Raw, it’s found chopped up used as a garnish on top of noodles and in dipping sauces. It is one of the most important ingredients in nabe (stews). Also chopped up in aji no tataki (raw horse mackerel), along with grated ginger. I use Konegi (thin Negi) or Asatsuki for Tataki if I can find it. I use all varieties of negi for miso soup. I love grilled negi, eaten with red miso.

Seri (Japanese parsley): used in clear soups as a flavoring, or as oshitashi.

Yuzu: Japanese citron, has a delicious citrus bouquet. I always use yuzu juice to make homemade Ponzu sauce if I can find it fresh here in the Bay area. Ponzu is great for a nabe dipping sauce, Katsuo no Tataki, and also with boiled sliced pork (preferably with sansho or ichimi or shichimi togarashi mixed in it). Can also be grated and added to miso to make sauces, or used in baking, such as my yuzu-meyer-lemon-poundcake. Tip: Dry fresh yuzu halves and grate to add to your shichimi togarashi in the autumn or winter for a delicious taste.

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Eating Japanese Food While Maintaining Ketosis

Following a ketogenic diet is a great way to lose weight, but can you eat Japanese food on keto? The answer may surprise you, but YES! Eating keto, otherwise known as a low-carb-high-fat diet, is beneficial for a number of reasons, but a big part of it is eating in such a way that allows you to still enjoy many of your favorite foods.

Anyone who loves sushi knows that you’re only ever one artfully made tuna roll away from a better mood, and the same can be said for good Japanese food in general. While you might think that a sushi restaurant isn’t the most ideal place to eat when you’re counting carbs…prepare to be pleasantly surprised. Japanese cuisine, while it has a few carby pitfalls, is full of dishes that focus on simply prepared fish and vegetables designed to let the food speak for itself.

If you’re not already familiar with Japanese food culture, then you will almost certainly have some questions about the various fruits, vegetables, sauces, and preparations that you will be experiencing and that’s fine. The goal here is to familiarize yourself somewhat so you can make better informed food choices that are not only delicious, but also allow you to sample some of the best techniques that Japanese cooking offers. Of course all of this was written keeping in mind that you want to maintain ketosis while eating delicious food and not stressing about the type of restaurant that you’re at; Japanese food is more than just sushi, after all!

The Wonderful World of Osechi: Japanese New Year’s Recipes

New Year’s is one of the best times in Japan, at least for eating and relaxing. Get Lucy’s Osechi cookbook, full of recipes that are fast to make, easy, and quite delicious for your New Year celebrations (along with the history and traditions and little tidbits Lucy always includes). Get the book!

Makes a great gift too! Did you know on the Amazon page there’s an option to give it as a gift?

Keto Japanese Food

Japanese Keto Appetizers

While tenpura is a mainstay in Japanese restaurants in the US, there’s are plenty of non-fried starters you can enjoy instead.

Miso soup is a thin, broth-based soup made with fermented soybean paste. It has a very unique flavor, with a high degree of umami while still being light and refreshing. Often it’s simply populated with cubes of tofu and some vegetables like cabbage. This is a delicious and often cheap start to a meal that’s keto-friendly. It’s worth noting too that if you’re avoiding soy but don’t have a good reason to (like allergies) other than word-of-mouth that it’s somehow bad for you, then stop avoiding it. Soy is healthy and a good source of protein, and it’s reasonably low in carbs.

Oshinko vegetables are essentially pickles and often includes daikon, lotus root, seaweed, and burdock. Daikon is a type of radish, burdock is similar to artichoke, lotus root is its own thing altogether, but delicious and still low carb friendly.

Edamame isn’t super low carb, but again most people avoid it because of some odd aversion to soy. In small amounts, edamame fresh from the lightly salted pod is a delicious way to whet your appetite.

Grilled vegetables are another way to enjoy an appetizer in a new way without overloading on sugar or carbs.

While you can’t enjoy the many splendors of sushi in all its forms, you can still enjoy the flavors and freshness by eating sashimi. Sashimi is essentially the same cuts of fish your sushi chef has available for rolls or maki, served with the same familiar additions as sushi – pickled ginger, wasabi, soy sauce – just without the rice. The best part of sashimi is the fact that because you don’t have the nori or rice to cover up imperfections, you will likely get the best cuts they have available.

Depending on where you are, most Japanese restaurants specialize in both sushi and hibachi. Hibachi grills are incredible both for the delicious food cooked right in front of you, but also because of the beautiful knifework and performance art that goes into the cooking. Dazzling displays of cutting, flipping, and searing are the visual appetizers to a main course of grilled meat or fish and Japanese vegetables. Just ask for your chef to hold the rice and you can stay keto friendly very easily at a hibachi.

Even if you don’t have a hibachi at your restaurant of choice, you can still likely get whatever meat they have offered in other dishes grilled simply to your liking and it never hurts to ask.

Shabu-Shabu is an interesting course that consists of very thin slices of beef and vegetables that are served with a very hot bowl of broth that you actually cook yourself at the table. Because of how hot the broth is and how thinly the food is cut, it takes just a minute or less to cook perfectly. I’ve got to be honest – it’s also really fun!

Negamaki is a delicious alternative to other sugary dishes, being that it’s simply grilled beef wrapped around green onions or sometimes asparagus, served with soy sauce. While I’ve had it both as an appetizer and as a meal, I think you could get it as either.

Things to avoid

Of course like any restaurant there will be a number of things that won’t work well with your keto lifestyle, the most obvious of these being rice and noodles. There are some other things to avoid though, and it might require you to speak with your server or chef to determine what might be lurking in the dishes you have your eye on.

Tenpura, though lightly fried and crispy, it still a flour batter and so should be avoided. Even a small piece of tenpura vegetable can have upwards of 8g of carbs and that’s just not doable on a keto diet.

Most sauces that go beyond simply soy sauce – like teriyaki for instance – are going to be sugar or corn- syrup based and absolutely not compliant with a keto meal.

As sad as it makes me, seaweed salad is often quite sugary, despite being delicious. You can typically get a small green salad with Japanese dressing on the side so any added sugar is negligible, or again just opt for grilled or pickled vegetables to be safe.

Potstickers, called gyoza, are delicious but of course are made with a type of flour that is filled with carbs. Best to avoid them.

I remember avoiding going out to eat with my friends when I first started keto if they were going to a place where I simply couldn’t imagine eating low carb. Outside of a pizzeria or pasta house, however, you can adapt almost any cuisine to a low carb lifestyle, Japanese included.

Meshiagare!

Author Bio

Tony is a HealthyWage winner father of two who enjoys finding ways to turn his favorite carby foods into keto recipes (like his infamous air fryer steak bites and keto chicken tenders!) Be sure to check him out on Pinterest!

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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
Japanese Inspired Cocktails

Corina Seligman, my niece, is back again as a guest blogger, offering up some amazing Japanese Inspired Cocktails! I call her my secret Sake goddess!

Here are some of my favorite classic cocktail formulas reimagined using ingredients like Shiso, Japanese beer, Japanese pear, Japanese Whisky, Yuzu, Japanese black honey and Matcha tea.

*If the names of the drinks sound funny it’s because my other signature touch is to name cocktails after songs. Kampai!

Japanese Cocktail Recipes

My recipes 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!

REMEMBER THE DJS

Ingredients:

2 ozs dark, aged rum (I suggest Zacapa or Flor de Cana)

.75 oz unsweetened strawberry puree, strained

.5 oz fresh lemon juice

Shiso Leaf

.5 oz Shiso*-infused Orgeat (almond-flavored syrup)

Garnish: Shiso leaf

Method:

Put all ingredients together in a tumbler with ice. Shake hard. Double strain and serve on the rocks in a bucket glass (the same as a highball glass.) Garnish with a shiso leaf along the side of the glass.

*Shiso is a Japanese herb in the mint family. You can find this in most Asian supermarkets.

To make Shiso-infused Orgeat– Use a high-quality Orgeat, add 8 fresh shiso leaves per cup and leave covered for 48 hours before removing the leaves.

LIFE ON MARS

Ingredients:

1.75 ozs Japanese Whisky (I suggest Mars Iwai)

1 oz fresh lemon juice

.75 oz candied orange peel syrup

2 dashes orange bitters

Coedo Shiro* beer float

Garnish: Orange peel

Method:

Put all ingredients together except beer in a tumbler with ice. Shake hard. Strain and pour over a large ice block into a bucket glass. Add beer float. Garnish with an orange peel.

*Coedo Shiro – Coedo is my favorite Japanese beer brand. Shiro, meaning white, is the Japanese version of Hefeweizen.

To make Candied Orange Peel Syrup – Bring 3 cups of sugar and 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add the peels of 2 large oranges and simmer until the peel is very soft, about 45 minutes. Remove orange peels and save the liquid.

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

PLAYER’S BALL

Ingredients:

1.75 ozs Gin (I suggest Nolet’s)

1.25 ozs Japanese pear (nashi) puree

.25 oz lemon juice

2 dashes lemon bitters

Brut Cava (or Prosecco) float

Garnish: Grapefruit peel and freshly grated Nutmeg

Method:

Put all ingredients together except Cava in a tumbler with ice. Shake hard. Double strain and pour into a chilled coupe (rounded stemmed cocktail glass) glass. Fill the rest of the glass with a Brut Cava float. Garnish with Grapefruit peel and freshly grated Nutmeg.

To make Japanese Pear puree – Peel and quarter pear. Gently cook in saucepan with two parts water, one part sugar, covered until soft, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly, then blend until smooth.

JAPANESE BREAKFAST

Ingredients:

2 ozs Japanese Whisky (I suggest Nikka Coffey Grain)

.75 oz Yuzu juice*

1 oz Kuromitsu**

Garnish: Shiso leaf

*Yuzu is a traditional aromatic Japanese citrus. While distinct from other citrus fruit, it’s somewhat akin to a cross between grapefruit and tangerine.

**Kuromitsu is a Japanese sugar syrup, literally “black honey.” It is similar to molasses, but thinner and milder.

Method:

Put all ingredients together in a tumbler with ice. Shake hard. Strain and serve on the rocks in a bucket glass. Garnish with a shiso leaf along the side of the glass.

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MATCHA SOUR

Ingredients:

2 ozs Matcha*-infused Vodka (I suggest Hanger One)

.75 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

.75 oz simple syrup

1 egg white from a small to medium egg

*Matcha is finely ground powder of specially grown and processed Japanese green tea leaves.

Garnish: Candied Ginger

Method:

Put all ingredients except egg white together in a tumbler with ice. Shake hard. Strain out the ice, add egg white and one single ice cube to “dry shake” until frothy. Double strain and serve in a coup glass. Garnish with a piece of candied ginger.

Make Matcha-infused Vodka:

Mix 1 teaspoon of matcha powder with 8 ozs vodka in a mason jar, shake vigorously. Let sit overnight or longer for desired strength. Then strain through a cheesecloth or coffee filter to remove tea particles.

Corina Seligman has been in the hospitality industry for 17 years working behind every kind of bar possible between the Bay Area and New York City. In 2014 she found her passion in sake when she worked at Ozumo Oakland, which housed the largest sake selection in the East Bay. Eventually she was promoted to bar and hospitality manager and continued to deepen her knowledge under the supervision of the company’s director of sake. This experience brought her to the attention of Empire Merchants liquor distributors in New York City where she was hired as the company’s first and only sake specialist where she worked exclusively with the Joto Sake portfolio for a year. Her passion is in sharing her love for sake and Japanese cocktail ingredients with American consumers, showing that they can be enjoyed with all types of cuisine and in a variety of settings. She has been bartending for almost two decades now and have probably created at least 100 original cocktail recipes. Given her background as a sake specialist and experience with Japanese cuisine, the most fun she has had behind the bar is when she uses Japanese ingredients.

Leave a note in the comments section and let me know which of these Japanese inspired cocktails you plan to try first!
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!

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“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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Sweet Summer Spoonful: Mizu-Yokan: A Cool, Traditional Japanese Dessert Jelly
What the Japanese originally called kashi first came to Japan from China during the Nara period (710-93) in the form of fresh or dried fruit. Although not our modern idea of what a sweet should be, fruit was still referred to as kashi right up until the Muromachi period (1333-1573). Later, sweets made of rice flour or wheat flour and steamed or fried in oil—the forerunners of modern-day Japanese confections—were eaten as a snack between the two daily meals most Japanese nobles consumed in ancient times.

The main sweetener employed in these confections was a syrup extracted from amazura, a tree-like vine. Although a primitive form of unrefined sugar appeared in Japan during the Nara period, it was almost exclusively employed as a cure-all by the aristocracy during the Nara and Heian (794-1185) periods; sugar didn’t come into general use as a sweetener in Japanese confections until the Muromachi period.

Traditionally Japanese confections are called wagashi. There are three main types; namagashi (raw confections), nerigashi (semi-raw confections), and higashi (dried confections). Most of these sweets were developed as a complement to the tea ceremony. Seasonally based, the two common denominators in many of these treats are a lot of sugar, which is used as a preservative, and the use of a red bean paste, called an, traditionally made from adzuki beans.

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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

One of the most popular semi-raw confections is yokan—sweet red bean paste jelly. Yokan has an intriguing history. During the Nara and Heian periods, the term yokan referred to lamb stew (yo meaning “lamb” and kan meaning “soup” or “stew”), a savory banquet delicacy for the upper classes. There was also a type of sweet rice cake from China called yokan mocha, shaped and colored red like lamb liver, that was apparently developed so Buddhist priests, who were ostensibly vegetarians, could vicariously sample the lamb dish. One of the few sweets made using sugar during this time, yokan mocha was considered quite exotic. Teikin orai, a book written anonymously in the early Muromachi period, tells of 48 differently shaped types of yokan, all steamed.

In the Kansei era (1789-1800), an unsteamed version called neri-yokan was developed that used agar-agar as the setting agent. Since then, many variations of yokan have appeared, using chestnuts, sesame seeds, different types of beans in place of adzuki, and so on. Mizu-yokan, so delicate and soft it is eaten with a spoon, is the summer variation.

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Mizu-Yokan: A Cool, Traditional Dessert Jelly

Lucy Seligman

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Ingredients

1 stick kanten agar-agar*
2 ¾ cups water
2 cups neri-an smooth red bean paste
Additional white sugar to taste optional
1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Soak the agar-agar in cold water for one hour. Squeeze out excess water and tear into small pieces. Place the agar-agar in a saucepan along with two cups of water and bring to a slow boil. Stir with a wooden spoon until the agar-agar completely dissolves. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Place the red bean paste in a bowl and slowly add the strained agar-agar liquid. Mix until fully combined. Return the mixture to a clean saucepan and cook over low heat for five minutes. Add sugar to taste and the salt. Remove from heat and add remaining ¾ cup of water. Stir well. Cool down to lukewarm by placing the saucepan in a larger bowl of ice water. Continue stirring to lessen lumps.
When the mixture is lukewarm, slowly pour it into a square baking pan (9-inch or 23 cm). If there are any bubbles on the surface, price them with a toothpick. Cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator until fully set and chilled.
To serve, run a wet knife around the edges of the pan and cut into squares. Mizu-yokan is best eaten with dessert spoons.

Notes
*Agar-agar is gelatin made from seaweed. Used in many Japanese sweets, it is available at Asian markets and health food stores.

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Photo © Jun Seita via Flickr
Okonomiyaki: Japanese Savory Pancakes
The Japanese savory pancakes known as okonomiyaki are fun, inexpensive, and make a ﬁlling meal for all seasons. Okonomi means “as you like it,” and being able to mix just about any meat or vegetable you want into a batch of them is a great incentive to clear out your refrigerator. Another of okonomiyaki’s charms is that you can make them right at the dining room table on an electric griddle.

Okonomiyaki ﬁrst became popular in Osaka after the Meiji period (1868-1912) and eventually spread throughout Japan. Osakans also call them yoshokuyaki (Western-style pancakes) since they use ﬂour, an import. Whatever they’re called, okonomiyaki are still an enormous favorite in that city: there are close to 50,000 okonomiyaki restaurants in Osaka alone.

Japanese Savory Pancakes Recipe

After the Meiji period, small candy shops in downtown Tokyo used to have a heated iron plate in front of their shops where children could make their own okonomiyaki (or monjayaki as they’re called in Tokyo).

Up until the early thirties, soy sauce was used as the primary sauce for okonomiyaki. After that, a thick sauce similar to that used on tonkatsu (pork cutlets) became popular. Depending on the region, this sauce can be on the sweetish side (Hiroshima) or have a slightly spicy kick (Osaka). Hiroshima is also a renowned okonomiyaki center. I tasted them for the ﬁrst time there in a small back-alley restaurant during my college days. The generous volume of the Hiroshima pancake exceeds even that of the Osaka variety.
Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki

Lucy Seligman

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Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups water
4 pinches each of salt and freshly ground black pepper or to taste
1 tablespoon grated yamaimo mountain yam, optional
13 ounces 37Og cored and shredded green cabbage
Chopped green onions to taste
4 tablespoons katsuobushi dried bonito flakes
4 very thin slices about 7 oz. or 200g of well-marbled pork
Vegetable oil as needed
Garnish:
Okonomiyaki sauce*
4 fried eggs
Beni-shoga pickled red ginger, coarsely chopped and to taste
Additional green onions to taste
Ao-nori green seaweed flakes, optional

Instructions

Prepare the batter first, sifting the flour into a bowl and slowly adding the water, salt, pepper, and yamaimo, whisking well. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the cabbage and other ingredients, including the fried eggs, and set them on the table on serving platters. Preheat the electric skillet or griddle at the table until very hot (at least 400 degrees Fahrenheit). Divide the chilled batter into four bowls and place one in front of each guest. Coat the griddle lightly with the oil. Then have each diner pour in half the batter from his or her bowl and shape it into a round pancake. Place a handful of cabbage on it, then sprinkle with green onions, katsuobushi, and top with the sliced pork. Pour the remaining batter on top. Turn the okonomiyaki over when the bottom starts to turn brown. When the pancake is cooked through, spread a thick layer of sauce over it, place a fried egg on top, and sprinkle generously with more chopped green onions and beni-shoga. Eat immediately.
Note: Other suggested ingredients include cleaned and halved shrimp, pieces of skinned squid, bean sprouts, tiny dried shrimp, ground beef or pork, tenkasu (fried tempura batter crumbs), sliced boneless chicken, cooked udon noodles, and yakisoba (pan-fried soba noodles).
*If okonomiyaki sauce is unavailable, mix equal parts of tonkatsu sauce and ketchup with a splash of Worcestershire sauce, or mix 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce, 1-1/2 teaspoons sugar (or to taste), 1 tablespoon low- sodium soy sauce, and 3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard.

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There are a number of other herbs and spices that are not so easy to find but are worth seeking out.

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The Wonderful World of Osechi: Japanese New Year’s Recipes

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PLAYER’S BALL

JAPANESE BREAKFAST

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MATCHA SOUR

Make Matcha-infused Vodka:

Leave a note in the comments section and let me know which of these Japanese inspired cocktails you plan to try first!

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

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Mizu-Yokan: A Cool, Traditional Dessert Jelly

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Japanese Savory Pancakes Recipe

Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki

Ingredients

Instructions

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Ingredients