Karashi

[torakris]

I am pretty sure most houses in Japan have a tube of this spicy stuff.

As iw as eating my oden last night, I started thinking about how much I love karashi.

So what do you use karashi for?

I like it on nikuman (bao, steamed Chinese buns), shumai (steamed Chinese dumplings), it also adds a nice kick to salad dressings, mixes well with mayo for a nice sauce and with a soy based sauce makes a nice dressing for boiled greens.

[torakris]

here is a recipe for karashi-ae, "dressed with karashi" dish, it calls for a lot of karashi, so I would add it to taste and stop when you get to the level you like.

[kazuo]

How about karashi on buta kakuni?

[jhlurie]

Karashi has a high percentage of pure mustard seed in it, right? As opposed to being doctored with stuff like most mustard.

[Hiroyuki]

I use karashi with all kinds of katsu (pork, chiken, beef, and menchi), korokke, hiyashi chuuka (cold noodles), shuumai, natto, oden, and so on.

I prefer wa-karashi (wa-garashi) to you-karashi (you-garashi) because the former is more piquant.

I think that mustard contains vinegar and other condiments while karashi does not.

[torakris]

I think those little containers of karashi powder (that you mix with water) are just straight ground mustard seed, but the tube stuff has quite a few additions. The nuri-karashi I pictured above even lists rice vinegar as one of the ingredients.

and how could I forget kaku-ni??

thanks kazuo

[torakris]

I have never paid too much attention to the karashi I bought before, I usually just grabbed the cheapest one on the rack assuming they were all the same...

Today when I went to pick up a new tube I noticed that there were a couple different kinds, S&B had one called 和からし　（wa-karashi or Japanese style) and one called 本からし　（hon-karashi or "real" karashi). They both listed just karashi as the main ingredient but the wa-karashi was recommended for Japanese style dishes, oden, kaku-ni, tonkatsu, etc while the hon-karashi was recommended for Chinese style dishes like shumai, hiyashi-chukka, etc.

I checked their website and they don't have the hon-karashi one listed, instead they have a neri-karashi and they say that one is a blend of Japanese karashi and western karashi, while the wa-karashi is made with only Japanese karashi. I then checked my old tube (the generic one at the top of this thread) and the main ingredient was western karashi....

I tasted my old one made with the western karashi and my new one with the Japanese karashi and the difference was incredible, the old one had a biting taste that was almost impossible to eat on its own, it was also very vinegary. The Japanese one was milder but still had a strong kick, much more mellow and pleasant tasting with no vinegar listed in the ingredient list. This wa-karashi is definitely my karashi of choice now! it is also more grainy than the other karashi I have eaten.

so remember not all karashi are equal!!

[SheenaGreena]

kind of a dumb question, but I bought powdered karashi the other day. I mix vinegar with it NOT water right?

I have been mixing it with water lately and noticed that it doesn't have the pungency I am used to. I finally realized that I should be adding vinegar instead, am I correct?

I would love to buy it in tube or squeeze bottle form but am having a hard time doing so.

thanks so much!

Boston has a very limited korean and Japanese population so I am usually stuck with incredibly small grocery stores or HUGE chinese grocery stores with one aisle shared for both japanese and korean food. I miss living in Maryland where I had no problem finding food products from either country.

[larrylee]

I thought you normally mix karashi with water. There are references to using combinations of mirin, sake, and vinegar on this page:

http://www.sushisecrets.com/recipes.html

It could just be that the formulation you purchased is not particularly pungent. (To state the obvious)

[SheenaGreena]

It's just good ol' s&b mustard powder

[Hiroyuki]

Water not vinegar.

I wonder what you made think you should use vinegar.

[SheenaGreena]

well vinegar is a component in mustard and I didn't even see vinegar in the ingredients list: mustard powder & tumeric (I believe for color).

when I add the water it just tastes like a dull spiciness. It doesn't have the same kick as japanese mustard from the bottle or the tube. I bet it was an old product or something and I lucked out.

I could've sworn though that Korean's add vinegar to their mustard?

[torakris]

Are you letting it rest before using it, but not letting it sit too long? I can't remember now where I read it, or if it is even for Japanese karashi mustard or Coleman style western mustard, but you mix the powder with water in a small bowl and then turn it upside down to sit for 30 minutes before using.

I could be wrong here but I don't recall vinegar being an ingredient in most karashi. I checked my tube but it doesn't list the ingredients.

[larrylee]

I could've sworn though that Korean's add vinegar to their mustard?

←

Sheena,

Vinegar is used in making Korean gyuh ja. I guess there's no harm in a little experimentation with your karashi powder, right?

[SheenaGreena]

Sheena,

Vinegar is used in making Korean gyuh ja. I guess there's no harm in a little experimentation with your karashi powder, right?

See!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew I wasn't crazy. Yeah, I will do a little experimentation w/some rice vinegar (:

thanks for all the help everyone

[BarbaraY]

If you use warm water and stir it longer, you might find it more pungent. Then let it rest for the flavor to develope.