The most important ingredients
Dashi. Dashi is fish stock. It is created using flaked bonito fish and kombu seaweed. Like other broths it is created by soaking and boiling the ingredients with a measurement of water. For ease of use there is also instant dashi stock that comes in small granules that you add to whatever you are cooking per instructions in the recipe or on the packaging. For years I made my dashi myself, but its expensive. I have recently switched to instant dashi and I can't believe I waited this long! Its more cost effective, stores more easily and makes for quicker dish preparation time. Many recipes call for instant dashi anyways so it makes for easier cooking all around. It is harder to find than bonito flakes and kombu (which are also difficult to find outside of Asian gorcery stores).
Mirin. Mirin is sweetened rice wine specifically used for cooking. Mirin is becoming more readily available in American grocer's. Kikkomon sells a few varieties but I stay away from them due to all the additives they have in them. Recently at one local grocery store I discovered a higher quality and cheaper mirin in the liquor department! I've told management a few times they should probably move it as you don't want to actually drink mirin. If you can not find mirin adding a little sugar to sake should get you close to the flavor you are looking for, but won't be exact.
Sake. The iconic Japanese alcohol. It is used widely in cooking, much like wine in French/Italian. It is readily available in many forms through out North America. If you are lucky your grocer carries lower cost sake specifically brewed for cooking with. If not, go with a bottle of the cheap stuff, like Shochikubai. You can also substitute dry white wine for sake but ultimately the flavor will be a bit different.
Shoyu. Soy sauce is the easiest to acquire. It is a staple in North America. What can be hard to find though are the different styles. There is plain normal shoyu which is readily available. There are low sodium varieties, lighter varieties, darker varieties, etc etc. The differences in each can change the outcome and subtleties of the dish you use them in. But, don't stress about it, if all you can get is a 'normal' bottle of Kikkoman, go for it! Pro tip: buy in bulk, shoyu lasts and if your going to be using it frequently the half gallon sized containers can save you a bundle in the long run.
Now for the dishes!!
Ramen/Soba/Udon: Ramen, soba and udon are all different noodles. Ramen is made from alkiline water and wheat. Soba is made from buckwheat and udon is thick and made from wheat. Udon and soba are usually served in a simple broths with a variety of toppings. Udon can also be served in a cold broth dish and soba can be pan friend to create yakisoba.
Ramen is the most well known non-sushi food stuff out of Japan. Originally an import from China is was a staple of the aristocracy until about the 1800's or so. It has now become synonimous with junk food and college level dietary poorness. All thanks to the designs of Ando Momofuku in 1958. Ramen its self is actually a rich, warming and flavorful soup that is a staple of street food in Japan. It is estimated that there are 2 to 3 times more noodle shops in Japan than all of the McDonals in the entire world. Noodle shops can be found in every variety and quality through out Japan and are one of my favorite places to get lunch while there.
There are 3 basic types of ramen, tonkatsu, shio and shoyu. Tonkatsu is derived from boiling pork bones for a long time. The broth for shio is more derived from chicken stock and shoyu comes from a soy sauce and chicken stock blend. There are more varieties than these three basics and each type has its specific style of ramen noodle and traditional toppings.
I tend to make a hodgepodge when it comes to noodle soup. I typically do a tonkatsu/shoyu blend. Substituting boiling pork bones for 20 hours with a spoonful of pork bullion. I also add mirin, sake, dashi and wakame seaweed to the mix when I am cooking the broth. Premade, dried roman noodles, like real ramen noodles, tend to be elusive unless you have access to a Japanese specific grocer. There are plenty of other wheat noodles you can use and i will be killed by purists for saying, it doesn't matter too much! Since real ramen noodles are hard to come by premade you can make them your self, which is relatively easy. Once rolled out and cut up you can coat them with loose flour and freeze them for months on end. When I make them I tend to do large batches that will last for a while. But I'm lazy so I tend to not actually make my ramen with ramen noodles. Instead I keep premade, dried soba and udon noodles on hand. These have become easier to find in conventional grocers as they do not come with the stigma ramen has. I prefer the thick noodliness of udon.
Typical toppings when i make noodle soup are; hard boiled egg, spinach, cubed tofu or agedashidofu, green onion, daikon radish and togarashi (chili pepper seasoning). For special occasions I will add kameboko (fishcake) and pan friend pork, chicken or beef. Sometimes I make the eggs softboiled or crack a raw one into the broth as its finishing up cooking. When I add miso to the mix I enjoy including corn kernels as well. But really, you can add anything you want that will go well with the flavor of the broth you make, these really are versitile and can be healthy dishes that really only take about 20 to 30 minutes to make. You want to make sure to cook the noodles separate from the broth and add them when it is all finished.
Sukiyaki: The first real Japanese cuisine I began making is a favorite in my house. This is the most well known of the nabe (one pot) dishes and gained fame in otaku circles due to Ranma 1/2. Nabe are traditional communal foods in which a number of ingredients are cooked in a broth inside of a earthenware pot. The different variations are usually due to the season/ingredients included and the style of broth. Sukiyaki is a newer nabe that was introduced after the acceptance of the consumption of beef by Emperor Meiji in the late 1800's.
Sukiyaki uses a sweat soy broth that is made in two parts then added to your cooker. I have a table top electric cooker I specifically use for sukiyaki. The broth requires a specific order of boiling on the stove, once the two parts are down I add an amount to my cooker once the thinly sliced beef had been started. From there we add in all the other ingredients, cover the cooker and let it stew for a while as everything cooks and the flavors marry. We typically stick with the traditional ingredients; cabbage, green onion, mushrooms and rice noodles (shirataki is rather hard to come by outside of Japanese grocers). When the food is done everyone digs in, taking what they want from the cooker and putting it in their bowls. You can eat it on rice as well but we tend to fill up on the nabe its self. In addition to the traditional ingredients we have come to like including hard boiled eggs, agedashidofu and gyoza (pork dumplings).
We typically make sukiyaki in the colder months and invite friends and family to share it with...unless we feel like being gluttons.
Nikujaga: This has become my favorite Japanese dish. It is literally meat and potatoes. This is a Japanese variant of beef and potato stew. I try to have a stock of frozen Philly sandwich steak on hand for whenever we want to make this comfort food. In one pot on the stove you cook the thin sliced beef (or ground meat) with cubed white potato, carrots, onion and mushroom in a soy/mirin broth until its thickened and everything has cooked thoroughly. You add green beans during the last few minutes of simmering. It can be served on rice noodles or rice but we have found that that's too much food as this is an incredibly filling and satisfying dish...a little amount goes a long way. We also tend to eat agedashidofu with it...we find any excuse to eat agedashidofu actually.
Miso Soup: The mysterious soup that comes with your dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Miso is fermented soy and is a staple in many Japanese dishes. It comes in a variety of styles and strengths. While becoming more common it can still be elusive in traditional American grocers. Trader Joe's has been carrying a house brand of yellow miso that suffices my requirements. But when I hit up an Asian grocer or a Japanese specific store I like to pick up red miso (akamiso) as I enjoy the flavor more. It is a very basic dish, filling and versatile. All it takes is water, dashi and wakame. Bring the mix to a boil, turn off the heat and stir in miso paste until blended. Typicaly small cubed tofu is also cooked in the broth. It is sweat, tangy and highly satisfying to eat. While used as an accompanyent to dinners it is also a traditional and widely eaten breakfast food. It goes great on cooked rice and you can add other things to it as well. As with everything, agedashidofu finds its way into various miso dishes I make. Cracking an egg into the broth as its cooking does wonders too. I tend to add shelled edamame to the mix as well.
Curry: While originally a type of dish originating from India, not actually a name of a dish all in its own, the Japanese have taken this import and made it their own. Japanese curry is best described as a massaman curry. It is made more like a gravy, beginning with a oil/thickening agent roux. Then various seasonings and stock are added to the roux, like a typical European gravy. Cuts of meat, potatoes and various veggies are then cooked in the curry gravy until tender. This is served with a side of rice and can very in heat. This style of curry is incredibly easy to make and flexible. All you need to make sure you have are the various spices; curry powder, turmeric, cardamon, ginger, garlic, pepper, coriander, cumin. All of these are pretty easy and inexpensive to come across.
Straight up Rice: Rice is the staple grain in Japan and has a huge importance on the culture and history of the country. Rice is served with a vast number of meals in Japan, usually separate from other portions of the meal. I like to make random sauces to pour onto mine, which would make some Japanese people shudder in horror I imagine. You can really add anything you want. Lately I have been making dashi/soy reduces and tossing in shelled edamame, tofu, eggs, whatever else I have on hand that would go well. A traditional breakfast is rice with miso soup poured over it.
Agedashidofu:You would think this is my favorite thing out of Japanese cuisine based upon how much i try to add it to other dishes. While not a dish of its own this is an awesome use of tofu. Its simple and easy to do. Take extra firm tofu, cut it into thickish slices or cubes, use its moisture to apply a thin coating of potato starch. Then fry in oil until golden brown. Let drain onto a paper towel. Traditionally you are supposed to use potato starch, but I have been playing around with other things instead. I started off using flour, I tried it un-coated and have recently been pressing panko (the coating used to make tonkatsu) into the tofu for varying degrees of success. To keep it healthier I pan fry them in olive oil. Its the only way my kids eat tofu and they actually beg me for it. Sooooo goood.
Sushi: The food synonymous with Japan. I have eaten maki, zushi and sashimi for a long time now but did not start making my own until fairly recently. I stick with making maki (rolled sushi) and don't stick too much with tradition. Maki rolling is something that requires practice and technique. Its done professionally with bamboo mats and other specialized tools but I have found them cumbersome and don't deal with them since I don't have some master beating their use into me. There are a few keys to making sushi. The rice works best freshly made and around room temp. You need the stickiness for it to work well. Sushi rice is highly recommended for this process, but in desperation/laziness I have even made a quick maki with cold basmati...to semi good results. You take a half cup of the rice, mix it with a spoonful of sushi vinegar and place it on a piece of nori (all of which can be acquired from a local grocer but can sometimes be stupidly expensive). Place thin slices of ingredients on the bed of rice. For my own personal consumption I try to have sticks of imitation crab on hand, but my wife and daughter dig mushroom on theirs. Add a small amount of wasabi along the rice, more if you like to clear the sinus. Dabbing a bit of water/vinegar on the front end of the nori fold the leading edge over the ingredients and continue rolling tightly until you get to the end. I dab the other side with water/vinegar to form a nice seal and let it rest for a few minutes before slicing. The key to slicing is to have a sharp and 'wet' blade. You can pretty much make whatever type of maki you want and over time you will become good at rolling it up. If I have rice pre-made I can make up a maki roll in about 2 minutes and have done so on many occasions as a quick lunch or snack.
Along with Japanese styled dishes, meals at my house also consist of a variety of Indian, Ethiopian, Lebanese, Thai and other random non-American ethnic styled dishes. I like variety and enjoy food from many different regions around the world. Each country has at least one awesome dish to eat and make. Food is what you do with your life and I try to provide as much variety and freshness with the meals I eat and serve others. Its not hard to make these meals, as long as you have the ingredients at hand and the familiarity with making them. It takes only a few minutes longer to whip up a small batch of miso soup to pour on pre-made rice instead of having a bowl of cereal in the morning.
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