Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Karashi


torakris

Recommended Posts

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

gallery_6134_549_24512.jpg

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

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.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 :biggrin:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

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!!

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

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. :hmmm:

BEARS, BEETS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

BEARS, BEETS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

BEARS, BEETS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...