Gyusuji nikomi is one of those Japanese dishes that turns cheap beef into something you crave: braised beef sinew, daikon, and konnyaku simmered in a sweet-savory miso broth until the meat is fall-apart tender and gelatinous. It is comfort food eaten across Japan, from Osaka izakaya counters to Kyushu home kitchens. The trick is patience….
Tataki ume kyuri is a five-minute Japanese smashed cucumber salad that clears the palate between richer courses. You smash a cucumber with a rolling pin, mix it with chopped umeboshi (salted plum), a shower of katsuobushi (bonito flakes), and a splash of mentsuyu — that is the whole recipe. The smashed cucumber grabs onto the…
Buta no kakuni (豚の角煮) — Japanese braised pork belly — is the kind of dish that quietly justifies an entire afternoon in the kitchen. Thick cubes of pork belly, simmered first in rice water to render the fat and then slowly braised in a soy-and-sake glaze until they collapse under the weight of a chopstick….
This is the kind of stir-fry I make on a Wednesday evening when I want something deeply savory, a little sweet, and on the table in 15 minutes. Thinly sliced pork, julienned carrot, onion, and green pepper, all tossed in a glossy sweet-and-sour soy glaze and served over rice. It’s not Chinese sweet-and-sour pork —…
Nasu no yakibitashi (なすの焼き浸し) is one of those quietly perfect Japanese summer side dishes — and one of my favorite Japanese eggplant recipes. Pan-fried eggplant and pepper are soaked in a chilled dashi-soy broth, served cold with fresh shiso and myoga and a snowfall of bonito flakes. It tastes light, savory, and deeply satisfying in…
Ebi fry (エビフライ) is a treat in our house — plump shrimp coated in panko and fried until shatteringly golden, served with a generous spoonful of homemade tartar sauce. It’s one of those yoshoku (Japanese-style Western) dishes that’s been adopted so completely into Japanese home cooking that most people forget it isn’t actually Japanese in…
If you grew up around Hawaii or Okinawa, you already know how good Spam can be when it’s sliced thick, pan-fried until the edges turn caramelized, and tucked into a rice ball. The Hawaiian version — Spam musubi — is the famous one. But the Japanese version we make at home is a little different:…
Kitsune udon is the bowl I reach for when I want something warm and gentle — udon noodles in a clear, golden dashi broth topped with a sweet simmered tofu pouch. It’s one of the most loved noodle dishes in Japan, especially in Kansai (Osaka and Kyoto), where the broth is kept light so the…
If you’ve ever ordered kitsune udon at a Japanese restaurant, the star of the dish is that sweet, juicy, golden pouch of fried tofu floating on top of the noodles. In Japanese it’s just called age (揚げ) — short for aburaage (油揚げ), the thin sheets of fried tofu — but when seasoned this way for…
Kinpira gobo (きんぴらごぼう) is one of those side dishes that appears on Japanese tables so regularly it barely gets noticed — I usually make a batch at the start of the week and pull it from the fridge on busy nights. And yet it’s one of the most satisfying things to eat alongside a bowl…