torakris

The ponzu thread from the Japan forum Ponzu can be made with a variety of citrus juice. The cheaper the product the more likely it will contain a mix of juices. The most popular one I have seen outside of Japan is Mitsukan's Aji-pon, the ingredients just list citrus juice. If it does not specify yuzu, hor kabosu (the more flavorful and more expensive citrus) they are probably not included. From the ponzu thread: There are lots of kinds of ponzu out there. Here is Mitsukan's line-up: http://www3.mizkan.co.jp/sapari/product/se...index.asp?id=05 for those who can't read it, here is the translation from the top row down first row: aji-pon (the most common one, ingredients list kankitsu juice, kankitsu just means citrus) konbu ponzu (citrus juice and konbu dashi and soy sauce) goma ponzu (ponzu with sesame paste and smashed seeds) second row: yuzu-pon (made with just yuzu, no other citrus) pon-su (zu?) (this has no soy just the citrus juice and vinegar) maru shibori yuzu (this is more of a "gourmet" yuzu ponzu) third row: sudachi ponzu (made with sudachi) kabosu ponzu (made with kabosu) aji-pon, black vinegar version (regular aji-pon but made with black vinegar)

Once you actually taste them you will realize they are nothing like matsutake. Eryngii (as they are called in Japanese) exploded onto the Japanese market a couple years ago and seem to be here to stay. I often stick them onto the grill with just some oil and salt and pepper, they are great eaten as is but are also wonderful with a little ponzu. I also stirfry them into a simple kinpira (cook in sesame oil with dried chiles then splash in a bit of soy sauce, sake and mirin) eryngii mushroom soup, kombu broth with soy and mirin for seasoning with green onions and white pepper I also used them in my bibimbap for the recent cook-off, in this case I stirfried them with sesame oil and added just a splash of soy sauce and some sesame seeds and salt. Another very quick side dish I do is saute them with bacon...

I found this review of the book from the Boston Globe Of the secrets in her mother's Japanese kitchen, one is that it is not enough to eat like a Japanese person: You must also behave like one. For instance, in Japan, people do not hop into their cars to run multiple unrelated errands. They benefit from the incidental exercise of walking and climbing hundreds of steps when taking trains and using one-speed bicycles to shop and to pick up their children at school. There are plenty of food-related secrets, too. The most important may be the concept of ''hara hachi bunme" -- eating until you are 80 percent full. Portions are small and partially determined by plate size. Foods are eaten separately and enjoyed for their flavors as well as their eye appeal. Indeed, in Japan, everyone is a food stylist. Japanese women are exhorted by school principals to make sure the lunch they prepare for their children is well balanced and beautiful to behold. This first part is extremely important, anywhere you go in Japan people are walking. Much of Japan is also quite hilly and when you are on a bicycle with one kid in the front and another in the back and are balancing grocery bags on each handle you have probably the equivalent of a 30 minute workout. In the second paragraph they mention small portion sizes, this is also very important. the Japanese tend to eat small portions of many different dishes. The nutrional guidelines for Japan are a bit different than the US, instead of a pyramid, the Japanese use a circle. Here is what I wrote about it in a different thread: In Japan the food pryamid is actually a circle , just like in the picture shown above. There are 6 food groups and the following information I am taking from my boshi techo , this is the "mother's handbook" that all pregnant women receive that records information form doctors visits, weight, blood pressure, urine test result, etc as well as information from the hospital after the birth about both the mother and baby. It also has a section in which the doctor notes all vaccines given and records everything from the health check the child has from birth until age 5. It is also sort of an all purpose pregnancy child book giving information on health and general wellness for both mother and child. my last child was born in 2000, so the information is from that edition, I doubt it has changed. Anyway the 6 groups (in parantheses are the examples given in the book): 1. protein (fish, meat, eggs, soy products) 2. foods high in calcium (milk, milk products, fish bones, seaweeds) 3. foods high in vitamin A (carotene) (green and yellow vegetables) 4. foods high in vitamin C and minerals (other vegetables and fruits) 5. grains, foods good for energy in sugar form (rice, bread, noodles, potatoes) 6. fats, foods good for energy in fats form (oils, butter, mayo) The Japanese circle focuses on balance and rather than saying how many servings of each group the recommendation is to eat 30 different kinds of foods everyday some from each group . from The Japanese school lunch: a photo essay

this was pretty gross..... adzuki-matcha au lait

I didn't realize I had ignored this thread for so long! I had been focusing my attentions on China and Australia, but now that they no longer need my help I can focus on Japan again. Since it has been so long let's start where we left off. 12/7: マス masu trout

I picked up the pack of seasonal wagashi from a local shop top left: satsumaimo (sweet potato) ohagi top right: kabocha youkan bottom left: kaki (persimmon) mochi bottom right: usagi (rabbit) mochi

Kiem Hwa sounds like it was a good trip! I haven't even noticed the strawberry melty kiss, I need to look for those. I didn't try the chestnut flan because the fake chestnut flavor always dissapoints me. I was at the local drug store yesterday and noticed a lot of the snack companies are now putting out Christmas packagings for their snacks.I picked up the caramel corn because I thought it was cute (it was also 30 yen or $.25) cheaper than the regular version....

isobe mochi (brushed with soy sauce and wrapped in nori) in a cup this was lunch yesterday along with a daifuku

I have discovered that for my family of 5 it is much easier to make a bunch of mini-okonomiyakis on the hot plate than big ones. This way everyone can add what ever they want to theirs. on the hot plate on the paper plate

That makes sense! OK, Takikomi Week runs from the 12th!!

I made this last night! My three kids all devoured it! I cut back on the chiles and chile paste a bit but it was great. I normally make mapotofu on days I am really busy with a instant pack mix , this took about 5 minutes longer nad times a thousand times better. Thank you!

You don't want to let that oil go to waste!!

Sounds good to me!! Anyone else? That is interesting about the soy sauce and maitake, what if you were making a kinoko (mushroom) takikomi where maitake was just one ingredient, would this still apply? Kinoko takikomi is sounding quite good right now!

now that is cool! I wonder what kind of applications it will be used for?

D'oh! I should have thought of that - it would be similar to making tempura ice cream. Thank you for the link, Hiroyuki! Now I'll have something new to experiment with later this week. ← Oh, if you do please post pictures! Daifuku are so easy (and relatively cheap) to get so I never bother trying to make them, maybe someday....

I forgot to mention that dashi is very simple to make and any Asian market should stock instant granules as well. Check out the dashi thread for advice on making your own and including pictures and hints for using the instant stuff.

I have heard about this book but have yet to look at it. The Japanese traditional diet is very healthy, note I say traditional as nowadays fewer and fewer people are eating this way. Many Japanese foods/dishes are a low in calories/fat and pack a great nutrional value. Just avoid the fried foods and keep up your gym membership and the pounds just may come off. One thing to be careful of is that many Japanese foods are quite high in salt. The breakfast you listed above sounds fine but sometimes you will see salted grilled fish, these can be salted to varying degrees so choose those with lower salt (usually labeled amajio 甘塩) or even better buy unsalted and salt your own. Add these fish to a meal with miso soup (choose a low sodium type of miso if you are really worried) and Japanese pickles (often very highly salted) and you may have a sodium overload especially if you are not used to it.

a new one for me, the nama choco daifuku (mini sized)

A thing of beauty.... ....the ichigo (strawberry) cream daifuku

If you love tonkatsu but want to try something a little different you must try Kimukatsu. I have been wanting to go here for a while now and finally had the chance to pop into their little booth in Takashimaya's basement in Futakotamagawa. I picked up their Kimukatsu sando (sandwich) for 680 yen ($6). This place is different than regular tonkatsu in that instead of a using a cut of pork, they layer 25 slices of very thinly sliced pork and then deep fry it. The result is incredibly juicy. Now that I have had the sandwich I am really craving the real thing! Kimukatsu Homepage

lazy nabe Premade chicken meatballs with Chinese cabbage, carrots, negi (Japanese bunching onion), konnyaku and mizuna, the broth was also a purchased product made with stock form Hinaiji-dori chickens. The broth was so good that you needed nothingelse but a little shichimi (seven spice mix) for a kick.

I found an interesting seaweed tsukudani. It is a nori tsukudani (similar to the product gohan desuyo) but this includes habanero peppers. A little bit goes a long way.

tonjiru miso soup with pork and various vegetables I used just what was in the house that day, gobo, daikon, negi (Japanese bunching onion) and aburage (tofu pockets). Once in my bowl I seasoned it with shichimi (seven spice mix).

You mean satsuma imo (さつまいも, 薩摩芋)? ← Hmm. What most people here call "sweet potatoes" are actually yams, I think. It was bright orange and quite sweet, not too starchy... so I think it is yamaimo / やまいも but I could be wrong. I have always been confused about the distinction even in English... ← yamaimo are mountain yams they have white flesh and are very slimy. Here is the yamaimo/nagaimo (mountain yam) thread. The Japanese sweet potato called satsumaimo is much lighter fleshed than its American cousin. The satsumaimo thread You could probably refer to the American version as either satsumaimo or sweet potato in katakana (スウィートポテト) just keep in ming though that the latter is also a name of a sweet dish using satsumaimo. Confused yet?

I have done the roasted version as well too, I like the extra nuttiness it gives.