Japanese Style Dishes
Japanese meals typically consist of a variety of small dishes, often even served in parallel. I found it hard to classify these kind of dishes as either starters or main courses and I hence decided to create an own section for Japanese style cooking.
I do not claim that the following dishes are all authentically Japanese cuisine - as a matter of fact most of them will rather be my own personal fusion. While you will still find some recipes featuring Japanese ingredients, but clearly qualifying as starters, mains, etc., in the other sections, this one is all about the Japanese concept of dining.
For this reason the portion sizes I recommend in most of the recipes for this section are also a bit smaller, so you would probably need 2 or 3 of them plus some rice or noodles to provide for a full meal. Experimenting with different flavours and combining them to menues is really an essential part of the fun of Japanese-style cooking!
In this glossary you will find the Japanese ingredients I use.
"Japanese Quick Fix" Vegetable Stew
This is the last recipe I post from Tokyo... So what would be a more suitable choice than a simple dish that has become an integral part of my usual cooking routine in Tokyo? ... [more]
Black Rice-Filled Mini Squid
On our recent trip to Izu we stopped off at the historic hot spring resort Shuzenji. In a shop we stumbled over a special variety of rice with a very dark brownish colour... [more]
Butter & Soy Yakisoba
While Simon is currently travelling in Germany, I’ve been dining out with fiends quite a lot... So for this week’s blog I’ve been digging in my repertoire of so far unposted recipes... [more]
Carrot and Avocado Salad
Picking up last week’s topic about springtime salads, here is another recipe worth mentioning. Though this one is a somewhat more spontaneous creation of mine... [more]
Cold Soba with Summer Toppings
Summer is not the most pleasant time in Tokyo. Days (as well as nights) are starting to get really hot and humid now, making you sweat immediately... [more]
Country Style Sushi
The first time I ever got to cook something Japanese was more than 6 years ago, on my very first trip to Japan... [more]
Creamy Carrot Soup with Miso Scallops
A few weeks ago we were invited to a Kobe beef barbecue. [...] The highlight was the so-called miso beef, which was a real culinary delight... [more]
Creamy Yuzu, Wasabi and Sesame Dressing
Tokyo’s hot summer days are not yet over, and although it has been raining in recent days there has been no refreshment, the air has just become even more loaded with humidity... [more]
Curry-Flavoured Prawn Chinese Dumplings
The evening before we left for our long weekend in Shanghai, all excited, I prepared some somewhat experimental Chinese dumplings... [more]
Ginger-Dressed Carrot and Cucumber Salad
I’ve been travelling a lot lately. Right now I’ve just come home from a brief visit to Spain... [more]
Green Asparagus Spears in a Coat of Foamy Egg
In summer there are plenty of street festivals going on in Japan, like the popular Azabu-Juban festival. It confirmed our impression that this country is just all about food... [more]
Hijiki Seaweed Salad with Sesame Dressing
By now my Japanese skills are about good enough to more or less get me through every day life without major accidents... [more]
Japanese-Flavoured Lentils with Wasabi Cream
I am now back in Japan, after having spent two very nice weeks in Germany and Austria. And as much as I like Tokyo, summer is just much more pleasant in Europe... [more]
Japanese-Fusion Squid Salad
As I have probably mentioned, I rarely strictly adhere to a recipe when I cook. But of course I am often inspired by such... [more]
Juicy Oyster, Broccoli and Miso Stir-Fry
With all our weekend trips in recent weeks I started having the feeling of missing out a bit on my cooking. I was really longing for a leisurely session in the kitchen... [more]
King Prawns in Spicy Red Sauce
My friends who recently came to visit from Spain were particularly impressed by the fantastic quality of fish and seafood sold here in Tokyo... [more]
Marinated Chicken on Shiitake Bed
There’s actually not all that much news to tell this week. Simon and I decided to enjoy the sunny weather on Saturday and made a spontaneous daytrip to Yokohama... [more]
Marinated Chicken Sauté
Although this country offers enormous cities and impressive mountains, everything food-related just seems to come in significantly smaller size here than back in Europe... [more]
Miso Soup with Aubergines, Egg and Soba
It looked as if we were going to have an early cherry blossom season this year... Last week, however, a sudden front of cold swept over the island and put the process on hold... [more]
Nitsuke of Sea Bream Filets
Fish nitsuke is a wonderful dish. It literally means something like fish "boiled and marinated" or "boiled in marinade"... [more]
Oven Baked Miso Auberbines
Only just back in Munich, but I still cook Japanese quite a bit (or well, let’s maybe rather call it my personal interpretation of cooking Japanese…)... [more]
Pan-Fried Black Octopus Rice
I’m going on a little trip to Japan tomorow! The opportunity to go back to Tokyo has come up sooner than I had expected... [more]
Salmon-Zucchini Gyoza
During our stay in Japan we’ve been getting around quite a bit [...] This weekend was the first time, however, we took our Chinese chopsticks out of their pretty cases... [more]
Seared Salmon Bedded on Chanterelles and Hijiki
Last week I visited my parents in the southern Austrian city of Klagenfurt. I had promised them parents to prepare a Japanese dinner one evening... [more]
Seared Scallops with Japanese Herb Dressing
Somehow my days just seem to fly since we've moved to Tokyo. While Simon is at work I spend a lot of time studying Japanese, and I actually start to notice some progress... [more]
Sesame Miso Soup
Since I got back to Tokyo after Christmas holidays I’ve been digging myself deep into my Japanese language studies again... [more]
Sesame-Aubergine-Caviar Sushi
This time I had no time to go and buy fresh fish, so my first ever sushi became to be battle-ship sushi with sesame-aubergine-caviar... [more]
Shiitake Yakitori
After two weeks of talking about nothing but salads, you might already suspect I’ve turned vegetarian. But no worries – I’ve been eating more substantial stuff, too... [more]
Simmered Lotus Roots
Except for a liiittle bit of shopping and just wandering around Tokyo enjoying the beautiful autumn weather, I am spending most of my time preparing for the Japanese test... [more]
Spicy Salmon, Steamed Spinach and Soba
After having resolved all major issues concerning our new kitchen I get along quite well with cooking. I am particularly impressed by my portable induction heaters... [more]
Spicy Vegetable Stew with Seared Scallops
After all the weekend trips in the past few weeks I have at last spent a whole weekend at home again, doing some casual cooking all on my own... [more]
Spinach and Carrot Salad with Sesame Dressing
When I was a child, we often had cream spinach at home, which I always loved. Although of course I knew it was a vegetable, I did not actually associate it with leaves... [more]
Tuna and Avocado Tartare
It’s been a week since we came back from our extended Christmas break. But as much as we enjoyed almost a month of delicious treats, I more and more started missing cooking on my own... [more]
Tuna Sashimi and Seaweed Salad
We have been in Japan for a month now and I haven’t posted any raw fish recipe yet – so it’s about time...[more]
Tuna Steak on Wasabi and Basil Sauce
Ironically, a few weeks after our arrival in Tokyo Japanese butter has mysteriously disappeared from supermarket shelves... [more]
Two-Coloured Egg Roll
Finally my Japanese exam is over! And, I will actually have the chance to make use of my hard-earned language skills for a little bit longer – we’ve decided to stay in Japan... [more]
Udon Noodle Pot with Stewed Veggies and Prawns
Lately I woke up one morning and felt that something was different. Yes – I had actually slept through the night, without being woken up by the cicadas at dawn... [more]
Variation of Clingfilm Sushi
When I first told my Japanese friends I wanted to prepare sushi at home, they gave me kind of a weird look. As it turned out, home-made sushi is not very common... [more]
Yuzu-Dressed Daikon and Crab Salad
We've recently had plenty of beautiful, temperate, extremely pleasant spring days here in Tokyo. It seems to me that days for heavy soups and stews are finally over for this season... [more]