Talk to anyone who has visited Japan and many will agree that the food was one of the things they liked best about the country. Two world-famous dishes are ramen and sushi, but there’s much more than just these two. Japan is an island with a unique food culture, and it’s getting more and more popular as a healthy cuisin
The best way to try Japanese food is to visit the country in person but with the help of your favourite Japanese online store, there are plenty of dishes you can make yourself at home. Here are 7 you might like to try:
Japanese Curry
Curry is a home-cooked dish that’s popular across Japan. Many regions of the world have their own curry dishes, but Japanese Curry is quite different and original. It’s mild, and rich, accompanies rice perfectly, and is one of the easiest dishes you can make at home.
Japanese supermarkets sell many different curry roux. These can be added to your pan-fried ingredients which might include meat, carrot, onion, and potato. Once cooked, serve it with some warm rice and perhaps some pickles as a side.
Japanese curries taste great if you serve them the same day, but give the dish 24 hours and the sauce will get more flavourful, and taste even better.
Okonomiyaki
This is Japan’s version of a savoury pancake and a signature dish of the Hiroshima and Osaka prefectures.
This dish is commonly made using flour, grated yam potato, dashi stock, eggs, chopped cabbage, and various toppings such as cheese, seafood, mochi, or pork.
If you’re buying your ingredients at a Japanese supermarket, you’ll find special Okonomiyaki flour that already has grated yam and dashi stock in it. Simply add water, egg, and toppings of your choice.
Gyoza
Gyoza are dumplings that originally came from China but have been adopted by the Japanese. Various versions of this dish can be made by boiling, steaming, or deep frying. The most popular in Japan are Gyoza which have been pan-fried.
You can fill the dumplings with almost anything, but typically the fillings are minced pork, spring onion, chopped cabbage, ginger, and garlic. You can buy Gyoza skin at many Japanese supermarkets.
The trickiest part of making this dish is folding the skin, but with practice, you’ll soon get the hang of it.
Gyoza are served with a dipping sauce made by blending soya sauce, chili oil, and a splash of vinegar.
Nikujaga
Nikujaga is one of the most common dishes in Japan, but not many foreigners get to experience it firsthand. It’s mostly made at home rather than at a restaurant, although you might find it in some Izakaya bars.
Nikujaga literally means meat and potato and these are the two main ingredients, along with onion, soya sauce, sake, dashi stock, sugar, and mirin. To make the dish more colourful, some people add carrots and snap peas.
Much the same as Japanese curry, Nikujaga tastes better the next day because the ingredients have absorbed more of the flavour and are more tender.
Omurice
As you might guess from the name, Omurice is a combination of rice and omelet. It’s a typical Yoshoku dish, which is the name for Western-style Japanese cuisine. The dish is fried rice wrapped in a layer of egg.
Typically, you’ll find Omurice consists of ketchup-flavoured rice, chicken, and vegetables, wrapped in an omelet, and then topped with more ketchup.
A little bit of cooking skill is required when it comes to wrapping the rice in an omelet, but beginners can start with an open-style version of the dish. This means you make an omelet and then serve it on top of the rice. The egg must be soft and fluffy so it blends well with the sauce and the rice.
If you prefer, you can use another sauce such as demi-glace sauce, curry sauce, or cream sauce.
Oyakodon
The literal translation of the work Oyakodon is “parent and child”. It’s a dish served with chicken and egg. It’s an easy dish to cook at home and you can make it in one pan. Additional ingredients you need to add to make this dish include sliced onion, soya sauce, dashi sauce, mirin, and sake.
The dish is made by simmering chicken and onion in the sauce. Beaten eggs are then poured over the chicken. If you prefer your eggs to be runny, cook the dish for no more than a couple of minutes.
Oyakodon is traditionally served on a warm bed of rice, with some greens such as green peas, scallions, or mitsuba leaves on top as a garnish. No oil is used when cooking this dish, which makes it healthy.
Pork Ginger
Pork Ginger is the second-most popular pork dish served in Japan and often has a place in a Japanese-style set meal.
You can make pork ginger at home using simple ingredients. Cook sliced pork and onion in a blended sauce made using mirin, grated ginger, and soya sauce. You can marinate the meat in the sauce before cooking or pour the sauce over the meat while it’s cooking.