In our house, tonkatsu is a Friday-night kind of dinner — the sort of meal that turns an ordinary evening into a small treat. It’s a thick piece of pork loin, coated in panko breadcrumbs, fried golden and served with a tall pile of shredded cabbage and tonkatsu sauce. One of Japan’s most beloved home…
Ask a Japanese family what’s for dinner on a tired weeknight and “curry” is one of the most common answers — ours included. Japanese curry rice — kare raisu — is one of the most popular home-cooked meals in Japan. Almost every Japanese household has a box of curry roux in the pantry, and everyone…
There’s a dish I come back to again and again when I want something deeply comforting — daikon simmered with thinly sliced beef in a savory-sweet dashi broth. In Japanese, it’s called daikon to gyūniku no nimono (大根と牛肉の煮物), and it’s one of those side dishes that makes a bowl of plain rice taste like a…
Nanban Zuke — Japanese Sweet and Sour Fried Fish Nanban zuke (南蛮漬け) is one of my favorite things to make ahead — fried fish marinated in a sweet-and-sour sauce with vegetables that actually gets better as it sits in the fridge. The fish drinks up the vinegar marinade and the flavors deepen overnight, so I…
Takenoko Tempura — Fresh Bamboo Shoot Tempura from the Garden Every spring in Kyushu, bamboo shoots push up through the ground and need to be harvested before they get too big. This year I dug up a batch from our garden — and the first thing I made with them was tempura. Takenoko tempura (たけのこの天ぷら)…
Tori ten (とり天) is a regional specialty from Oita Prefecture here in Kyushu — chicken coated in a light tempura batter and deep-fried until golden and crispy. It’s less famous abroad than karaage or tonkatsu, but in Oita it’s the local pride, served everywhere from home kitchens to diners. The magic is in the batter:…
Crispy Outside, Silky Inside — The Magic of Agedashi Tofu Agedashi tofu (揚げ出し豆腐) looks like restaurant food but is quietly easy to make at home — I make it when I want something a little special without much effort. Blocks of firm tofu are coated in potato starch, fried until golden and crisp, then served…
Japan’s Ultimate Comfort Food — Made Easy Nikujaga (肉じゃが) literally means “meat and potatoes,” and it’s about as homey as Japanese food gets — every family has their own version, and this is ours. Sweet, savory, and deeply comforting, it’s the kind of pot that makes the whole kitchen smell like home. Traditionally, nikujaga simmers…
The Bowl That Explains Japanese Home Cooking Oyakodon is one of those bowls I can put together from what’s already in the fridge on a weekday — chicken and egg simmered in a sweet-savory broth over rice. It’s one of the most popular donburi in Japan. The name means “parent and child bowl”: chicken is…
Japan’s Favorite Ketchup Pasta Napolitan (ナポリタン) is a nostalgic, no-fuss lunch a lot of Japanese people grew up with — a pasta dish that, despite the name, has nothing to do with Naples. It was invented in postwar Japan around ketchup, sausage, and whatever vegetables were in the fridge, and became one of the country’s…