Japanese Miso Paste

Miso paste is a traditional Japanese food made by fermenting soybeans with a mould called koji and sea salt. The most common types of miso are red, white, barley and soybean. Miso was introduced to Japan by Buddhist monks in the 7th century, and has several well-known health benefits.

Red miso is a mixture of white rice, barley or soybeans fermented for one to three years. It contains the highest levels of protein. White or yellow miso contains a higher percentage of rice koji and less soybeans, is sweeter than red miso and contains a higher percentage of carbohydrates and a lower percentage of protein. It is only fermented for a few weeks and has a shorter shelf life than other varieties, usually up to two months refrigerated. Soybean miso is a reddish-brown, chunky miso, made only from soybeans with a fermentation period of at least a year.

Miso has many health benefits and a lot of these can be contributed to the koji mould. It is a probiotic, which is good for digestive relief and contains many B vitamins, including B12.

How Can I Use Miso Paste? 

Tamagoyaki Recipe (Japanese style Omelette)

This Month’s Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe is Tamagoyaki, which is a Japanese style sweet omelette. In Japan, it is usually served as a side dish to breakfast, but it is a great side dish for any meal.

Tamagoyaki Recipe

Tonjiru Pork Soup Recipe

This Month’s Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe is Tonjiru, which is a Japanese soup made with pork and vegetables, flavoured with miso.

This is one of my favourite Japanese soups along with Miso Soup. It contains mainly root vegetables and is a real comfort food.

Okonomiyaki Japanese Savoury Pancake

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savoury pancake based on a batter containing a variety of ingredients and cooked on a hot plate. The name “okonomiyaki” is derived from the Japanese word “okonomi” meaning “what you like” or “what you want” and “yaki” meaning “grilled” or “cooked”. The history of okonomiyaki goes back about 500 years. It was originally made by spreading a thin layer of flour paste on a hot plate then adding miso for flavouring and rolling into a thin pancake. Later toppings such as chopped green onion and sliced dried fish were added and miso paste replaced by a special sauce. In modern okonomiyaki, a wide variety of ingredients are used such as shrimp, squid, octopus, pork, cabbage and vegetables. The finished pancake is served with a special sauce, mayonnaise and seasonings such as green powdered seaweed (aonori) and dried fish flakes (katsuobushi).

Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe Kinoko-gohan (Mushroom Rice)

Image from Blue Lotus

This Month’s Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe is Kinoko gohan, which is a quick and easy dish to make at home.

This is one of our family favourites and is really tasty with all those great Japanese mushrooms like Enoki and Shitake.

Shogayaki (Pork with Ginger Soy Sauce)

image from cozymax

This Month’s Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe is Shogayaki, which is a quick and easy dish to make at home. This recipe uses the Teriyaki sauce shown in last month’s recipe to flavour the sliced pork, which is then stir-fried.


Shogayaki is commonly served hot with rice and shredded cabbage.

Teriyaki Sauce Recipe

image from AsiaFood1

This Month's Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe is the world famous Teriyaki Sauce.

Teriyaki (てりやき) is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine where food is broiled or grilled in a sweet sauce marinade. Teriyaki sauce is now available at most supermarkets or Asian Grocery Stores, but it is so easy to make yourself at home.

Preparing Sushi Rolls

Hoso-maki (Slender Roll)

This is a basic method for rolling up sushi. Hoso-maki or Slender roll is one of the easier rolls to start with. Once you master this, try some larger or more complicated rolls.

Makes 6

Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe Omuraisu (Rice in Omelette)

Photo by JanneM

This month's easy to cook Japanese Recipe is Omuraisu. Omuraisu is a popular Japanese dish that can be called a fusion dish (yoshoku) as it combines a classic omelette with chicken rice. It is usually topped with ketchup and is a popular dish at home or in a restaurant.

Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe Gyoza (Japanese Dumplings)

Gyoza or Japanese Dumplings are originally from China but have become very popular in Japan. This is a great easy recipe for Gyoza.

Makes 10

Dipping Sauce
• ½ cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp chili oil

Ingredients for Dumpling
• 60g minced pork or king prawns
• ¼ tsp chopped garlic
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 Chinese cabbage leaf, chopped
• 5 stems Chinese garlic chives (nira), chopped
• a pinch of salt

• 10 round gyoza wrappers or gow gee wrappers
• vegetable oil for frying
• ¼ cup water

Method

1. Prepare the dipping sauce by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Place all the dumpling ingredients together in a bowl and combine well.
3. Place a wrapper on a plate or board and, using one finger, wet round the edges.
4. Put 1 tablespoon of filling on the center of the wrapper.
5. Fold the wrapper over the filling, seal the edges together by pressing and making small pleats.
6. Repeat with remaining wrappers.
7. Heat a non-stick frying pan and add a little oil, swirling around the pan.
8. Lay a few gyoza side by side in one or two rows in the pan, and cook on one side until golden brown. Then using a spatula turn over one row all at once. Add water and put a lid on to steam.
9. Steam for a couple of minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
10. Serve hot with dipping sauce.

Note:
• You can buy already prepared gyoza dipping sauce at most Asian Supermarkets.

Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

Korean Style Beef Burger

This is a modern take on the classic burger with Asian flavours such as garlic, ginger and sesame oil in the meat and served with soy braised onions and chilli mayonnaise.


Serves 4

Ingredients
• 600g minced beef
• 4 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 Tbsp chopped spring onions
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 2cm knob ginger, finely grated
• 1 tsp sugar
• sea salt and pepper
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 onions, halved and finely sliced
• 2 Tbsp mirin (Japanese rice wine)
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tsp chilli sauce
• 4 burger buns
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 8 soft lettuce leaves
• ½ cucumber, finely sliced
• 2 small tomatoes, sliced

Method

1. Mix the beef, using your hands, with 2 Tbsp soy sauce, sesame oil, egg, green onions, garlic, ginger, sugar, salt and pepper. Form into patties and refrigerate for an hour.
2. Heat 2 Tbsp vegetable oil in a frying pan and cook onions over a medium heat for 10 minutes, tossing well until softened.
3. Add remaining soy, mirin and vinegar to the pan and cook 5-10 minutes more until golden brown. Set aside.
4. Whisk mayonnaise and chilli sauce together.
5. Brush burger patties with remaining vegetable oil and grill or pan fry over a medium heat for about 4 minutes on each side, until browned.
6. Split burger buns and lightly grill.
7. Top base buns with lettuce leaves and burger patties. Add a spoonful of chilli mayonnaise and top with soy onions and sesame seeds.
8. Arrange lettuce, cucumber and tomato on remaining bun tops alongside and serve.

With the help of Epicure, The Age 2011

Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe Yaki-meshi (Japanese Style Fried Rice)

Yakimeshi or Japanese Style Fried Rice is a popular dish to cook at home in Japan. It is best to use left over rice or rice that you have made previously that has been frozen for this recipe to give it the best texture.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked left-over rice
• ½ cup fresh or frozen green peas, cooked & drained
• ½ cup fresh or frozen corn, cooked & drained
• 2 eggs
• vegetable oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 small carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• a pinch of pepper

Method

1. Warm or defrost rice briefly in microwave.
2. Cook peas and corn separately and drain well.
3. Break eggs into a bowl and stir.
4. Heat a frying pan over a high heat, add a small amount of oil. Add egg mixture to pan, stirring constantly. Transfer scrambled egg onto a plate.
5. Add more oil to pan, add garlic, carrot and spring onion and stir for 1 minute with wooden spoon.
6. Add green peas and corn, then warmed rice stirring continuously. Add scrambled egg.
7. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir-fry for a minute.

Note:

• If you want a spicy version add 1 Tbsp of curry powder
• For a Tokyo-style fried rice add soy sauce instead of salt
• Other ingredients you can add to the fried rice include chopped ham or bacon, cooked chicken thigh or roasted duck.

Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe Oyako-don (Chicken and Egg with Rice)

Oyako-don is a popular Japanese dish that can be found at home or in a restaurant. Oyako means parent and child in Japanese so both the chicken and egg are used in this famous Japanese dish.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 150g chicken breast
• 1 tbsp mirin
• a few drops vegetable oil
• 1 brown onion, sliced
• 1 spring onion, sliced diagonally
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 bowls cooked rice

Dashi Mixture
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp sake
• 70ml dashi

Method

1. Cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces and marinate with mirin.
2. Make the dashi mixture by heating soy sauce, caster sugar, sake and dashi in a saucepan, set aside.
3. Pour a little of the oil in a frying pan and stir-fry chicken until cooked through.
4. Add onion and stir until lightly brown. Add spring onion and cook for a further minute.
5. Add dashi mixture and bring to the boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.
6. Pour beaten eggs over the simmering mixture. Set over low heat until the egg is just cooked.
7. Place a portion of the hot rice into each bowl and slide half of the chicken and egg topping over the rice in each bowl.

Note:
• For a slight variation you can top with either tempura or pork cutlet

Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe Okonomiyaki (Savoury Japanese Pancake)

Okonomiyaki is a popular dish from Osaka and is basically a savoury pancake with ingredients of your choice along with egg, flour and cabbage as the basic ingredients.



Makes 1

Okonomi-yaki Sauce
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp caster sugar

Ingredients
• 50g self raising flour
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup dashi
• a pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• 1 cup thinly chopped cabbage
• 2 king prawns and/or thinly sliced pork

Toppings (if desired)
• aonori (green-seaweed) flakes
• dried bonito flakes
• Japanese mayonnaise

Method

1. To make Okonomi-yaki Sauce, mix ingredients together in bowl.
2. Place flour, milk, dashi and salt in a bowl and lightly stir.
3. Break an egg into the mixture and stir to combine.
4. Add spring onion and cabbage and mix.
5. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and swirl some oil over base.
6. Drop the egg mixture into the pan. Top with king prawns and/or pork.
7. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn over and cook for about 4-5 minutes until cooked through.
8. Brush the top with okonomi-yaki sauce, and if desired sprinkle with aonori and bonito flakes.
9. Serve with Japanese mayonnaise.

Note:
• You can buy already prepared okonomi-yaki sauce at most Asian Supermarkets.
• Other kinds of seafood and meat can be added to this dish and cheese is also a great addition.

Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

Some other Great Japanese Recipes that you might enjoy:

Yakisoba

Sukiyaki

Tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet)

Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe Yakisoba (Japanese Stir-fry Noodles)

Yakisoba is a popular takeaway dish in Japan and is usually served with a fried egg on top and with some Japanese mayonnaise. It is a popular festival food and can be found all over Japan.

Serves 2

Yakisoba Sauce
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 2 Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp dashi
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey

Ingredients
• 300g yakisoba noodles
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 100g sliced pork fillet
• 2 cabbage leaves, cut into small pieces
• ½ carrot, sliced
• 2 shitake mushrooms
• 1 spring onion
• salt
• white pepper

Toppings (if desired)
• aonori (green-seaweed) flakes
• dried bonito flakes
• Japanese mayonnaise
• red pickled ginger

Method

1. Cook noodles and drain well.
2. Heat oil in pan and add garlic, sliced pork, cabbage, carrot, shitake mushrooms and spring onion, stirring all the while.
3. Season to taste with salt and white pepper.
4. Make sauce by combining all the ingredients together.
5. Add noodles and sauce to pan, while still stirring.
6. Place the noodles onto individual plates and top with red pickled ginger, green nori or bonito flakes if so desired.

Note:
• You can buy already prepared yakisoba sauce at most Asian Supermarkets.
• Yakisoba is also great with a fried egg on top and with some Japanese mayonnaise.

Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

Some other Great Japanese Recipes that you might enjoy:

Sukiyaki

Tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet)

Gyudon (beef bowl)

Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe Sukiyaki (すき焼き)

This month`s Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe is Sukiyaki.

This is a world famous Japanese dish, but in Japan there are quite a few varieties based on regional differences. Cooking is always done at the table for this dish in Japan, and it is a great Party favourite.

Sukiyaki is usually served with steamed rice as an accompaniment.

Serves 4

Sukiyaki Sauce
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 3 tbsp mirin
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 500g dashi

Ingredients
• 600g Scotch filet or sirloin steak, finely sliced
• 1 packet momen (firm tofu), cut into small cubes
• 8 shitake mushrooms
• 4 spring onions
• ¼ Chinese cabbage
• 1 packet udon noodles, cooked and drained
• 4 eggs
• vegetable oil

Method

1. Prepare meat, vegetable and noodles and place on a large plate.
2. Break eggs into individual bowls and lightly beat.
3. Make the Sukiyaki Sauce by combining all the ingredients.
4. Oil the pan and start cooking by sautéing the spring onion, add some of the beef, followed by small portions of the other ingredients and the sukiyaki sauce, a little at a time. Make space for further ingredients by pushing the cooked ones to one side.
5. As the food cooks, guests can serve themselves by dipping the hot food into the beaten raw egg and eating with a bowl of rice.

Note:
• Other ingredients can also be added to the dish such as enoki or shimeji mushrooms.

Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

This recipe is taken from the book Japanese Cooking at Home

Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe Ten-don (Tempura on Rice)

This month`s Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe is Ten-don (Tempura on Rice)

This is a great version of the other popular don-dishes like Gyu-don and Oyako-don

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 6 tempura king prawns or tempura of your choice

Sauce
• 2/3 cup dashi
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp caster sugar

• 2 bowls of warmed cooked rice

Method

1. Prepare tempura. See Recipe How to Make Japanese Tempura
2. Combine all the ingredients for sauce in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat.
3. Turn down heat to a simmer and gently simmer for 3 minutes.
4. Place the warm rice in each bowl, and top with tempura followed by the sauce.

Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

Japanese Rice

Rice is the staple food for the Japanese. Japanese rice is of the Japonica type, which is a white, short, wide grain rice with a starchy texture when cooked. Japanese rice when prepared properly tends to be slightly sticky with the grains clumping together, but it should never be mushy.

How to Prepare Japanese Rice

Ingredients

• 4 cups short grain rice
• 4 cups water
• extra water

Method

1. Place 4 cups of the rice into a bowl that holds twice the volume of rice.
2. Pour water into the bowl until it just covers the rice. Holding the bowl carefully with one hand, stir the rice briskly for 10-15 seconds with the other hand.
3. Carefully tip the milky water out, covering rice with one hand.
4. Repeat for a second and third time until the water runs clear.
5. Drain rice in a fine mesh sieve and leave for 30 minutes if you have time.
6. Place the rice and 4 cups of water into a saucepan.
7. Bring to the boil with the lid on and then simmer for 14 minutes.
8. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to rest with lid on for 5-10 minutes.
9. Before serving, gently turn the rice over with a moistened rice paddle to allow excess moisture to escape as steam.

Note: When you have left over rice, keep it in the freezer, wrapped with plastic wrap or in an airtight container.

Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

Easy Japanese Cooking Recipe Tonkatsu (Deep Fried Pork Cutlet)

This month`s Easy Japanese Cooking Recipe is Tonkatsu (Deep Fried Pork Cutlet)

The idea for this recipe originated in the West, but has become a famous Japanese dish like Tempura. Tonkatsu is one of the most popular meat dishes in Japan. It is a popular “set” meal at Japanese restaurants and usually consists of a deep fried breaded pork cutlet on a bed of cabbage, a bowl of steamed rice, a bowl of soup and a side dish of pickles and costs ￥800 - ￥1200 (AUD $8-$12).

Here is the Recipe for 4 servings

Sushi Rice

Sushi Rice is made with white short grain Japanese rice, which has a consistency that differs from long-grain rice. The essential quality is its stickiness or glutinousness.


Below is a step by step Recipe to make Traditional Japanese Sushi Rice