12th May 2019 / Last updated : 12th May 2019 Mog 01 : Basic

Grilled Rice Ball (Yakionigiri, 焼きおにぎり)

The texture is crispy but sticky. Soy sauce soaks into the simple onigiri (rice ball) and savoury smell spreads in your nostrils. Ingredients (for 2 servings) 360 g  Freshly cooked rice A proper amount of mixture of soy sauce and mirin (soy sauce : mirin = 2:1) (onigiri sauce) Sesame oil for greasing Instructions (cooking time: less than 20 mins) Wet your hands with water so that the rice won’t stick. Make sure not to use salt because the onigiri will be seasoned by soy sauce later. Place the cooked rice and hold it between your palms. Form the rice into a round or a triangle by pressing lightly with […]
1st February 2019 / Last updated : 2nd February 2019 Mog 02 : Main Dishes

Ginger Pork (Shogayaki 豚のしょうが焼き)

Easy, juicy, and soft! The secret of the sauce is grated apple, which makes meat soft. You can use other kinds of meat rather than pork. Ingredients (for 4 servings) 4 sliced pork (pork loin preferred, approx. 350 g) 60 g  grated apple (with juice, otherwise 4 tbsp apple juice) : (A) 4 tbsp  grated ginger (with juice) : (A) 3 tbsp  soy sauce : (A) 2 tbsp  Sake or white wine : (A) 2 tbsp  Mirin : (A) 2 tsp  sugar : (A) all-purpose flour for shifting salt and pepper to taste Instructions Cut the meat at a slant with a knife. This process prevents the meat from shrinking […]
3rd January 2019 / Last updated : 3rd January 2019 Mog 07 : Other

Zoni Tokyo Style (東京風雑煮)

Zoni is Traditional Japanese soup with rice cakes and vegetables, which we eat for New Year’s breakfast. Each region has each Zoni. My recipe is Tokyo style as Tokyo is my mum’s hometown. Ingredients (for 4 servings) 1.2 L Dashi broth (See this page to prepare Dashi broth.) 120 g chicken thigh (without skin) with 1 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp cooking Sake 50 g carrot 50 g Daikon radish 4 small taros 4 Shiitake mushrooms 5 cm kamaboko 2 bunches Japanese mustard spinach Edible clovers for topping (optional) Yuzu peel for topping (optional) 2 tbsp soy sauce : (A) 1 tbsp mirin : (A) Salt for taste 4 […]
25th October 2018 / Last updated : 25th October 2018 Mog 03 : Side Dishes

Kenchin Jiru (Vegan Soup, けんちん汁)

Kenchin-jiru is a sort of Buddhist cuisine, Japanese vegetarian or vegan cuisine based on Buddhism. It’s soy flavoured Kombu kelp-based soup with many vegetables for ingredients including root vegetables. Basically, no animal-derived foods are used in this soup. However, some people add chicken or pork. Ingredients (for 4-5 servings) Taro  200 g Carrot  100 g Daikon radish  100 g Gobo  100 g Green onion  1 stick Konnyaku  1 sheet Tofu  1 Sesame oil  1 tbsp Dashi broth (kombu kelp only preferred)  1000 mL Sake  3 tbsp Soy sauce  2 tbsp Instructions Cut the carrot and the daikon radish into 5 mm thick quarter slice. Peel the taro skin and cut […]
24th October 2018 / Last updated : 24th October 2018 Mog 05 : Rice & Noodles

Chestnuts Pilaf (Kuri Gohan, 栗ごはん)

You can see various foods in supermarkets in Japan especially in autumn. A mountain of chestnuts is a symbol of the arrival of autumn. How do you cook chestnuts in your country? I think roasting is the most popular way to cook chestnuts, but in Japan, we often cook them with rice. Ingredients (for 3-4 servings) 20 raw chestnuts 450 g of uncooked rice 620 mL of water (including condiments (A)) (A) 2 tbsp of soy sauce (A) 1 tbsp of sake (A) 1 tsp of dashi powder (when using water instead of dashi broth) Roasted sesame seeds for toppings Instructions Wash the rice and soak in water. Wash the […]
1st October 2018 / Last updated : 1st October 2018 Mog 02 : Main Dishes

Simmered Daikon radish with squid (Ika-daikon, イカ大根)

Simmered daikon radish with squid is my dad’s favourite food, so my mum used to cook it quite often. It wasn’t my favourite, as the squids were too chewy. If you don’t like squids because they are hard to chew, try this recipe. They are very soft and mild. Ingredients (For 4 servings) 1 whole body of squid 450 g of white Daikon radish Water that has been to used to wash rice (otherwise 2 tbsp of flour + 100 mL of water) (A) 300 mL of Dashi broth (otherwise 300 mL of water and 1.5 tsp of Dashi powder) (A) 2 tbsp of soy sauce (A) 2 tbsp of mirin […]
9th September 2018 / Last updated : 8th May 2019 Mog 02 : Main Dishes

Miso Flavoured Ground Meat

Make a big portion at once and store it in your fridge or a freezer. You may want to use it for sandwiches, onigiri ingredients and sauce for noodles such as pasta or udon. Any minced meat is fine. Ingredients Ground chicken, pork or beef : 300 g Shitake mushrooms (dried) : 4-5 Green onion : 1/2 Ginger : 1 thumb-size Sesame oil : 1 tbsp (A) Miso : 1 tbsp (A) Soy sauce : 2 tsp (A) Salt : 1-2 dashes Instructions Reconstitute shitake mushrooms. Mix the condiments (A) together. Chop the shitake mushrooms, the ginger, and the green onion. Heat the sesame oil and the ginger in a […]
25th June 2018 / Last updated : 12th January 2019 Mog 02 : Main Dishes

Stuffed Fried Tofu （油揚げの肉詰め）

Stuffed Fried Tofu is very useful. Not only for every day’s main dish but for bento menu. It goes well with beer. Cooking time is 30 mins. Ingredients (4 servings) 4 sheets of fried tofu 200 g of minced meat (pork or chicken) 50 g of carrot 10 cm of green onion 10 g of Oba (Japanese basil, otherwise basil) (A) 200 mL of Dashi Broth (A) 2 tbsp of soy sauce (A) 2 tbsp of cooking Sake (A) 1 tbsp of sugar 8 toothpicks (or snap a spaghetti noodle to approximately 8 cm long and make 8 sticks.): You don’t have to remove sticks when you use spaghetti noodle […]
13th June 2018 / Last updated : 5th December 2018 Mog 02 : Main Dishes

Simmered Salmon and Potatoes (鮭じゃが)

As running out of meat, I tried salmon instead. A perfect combination of salmon, potatoes, soy sauce and butter! Very easy and you will be able to save cooking time. Why don’t you try it? Ingredients (2~3 servings) 2~3 salmon fillets A dash of black pepper 3~4 potatoes 1 onion 1 tbsp of grated garlic 1 tsp of olive oil 10 g of butter (A) 2~3 tbsp of soy sauce (A) 2 tsp of chicken soup powder (A) 2 tbsp of cooking Sake (A) 1 tbsp of Mirin Black pepper to taste Boiling water Instructions Cut the potatoes into bite-size chunks to soak in cold water. Cut the onion into […]
1st May 2018 / Last updated : 18th January 2019 Mog 03 : Side Dishes

Egg Soup with Cabbage (Cabbage Kakitamajiru, キャベツのかき卵汁)

Speaking of traditional Japanese soup, probably you imagine Miso soup. I will introduce this easy and quick recipe. You can use beans sprout for ingredients as well. Ingredients (3 servings) Cabbage leaf: 1 (A) Dashi broth: 600 mL (or 600 mL of water and 1 tsp of Dashi powder) (A) Soy sauce: 1/2 tbsp (A) Mirin: 1 tsp Egg: 1 Starch: 1 tsp with 1.5 tbsp of water Instructions Cut a cabbage leaf into bite-size pieces. Put condiments (A) and water in a saucepan and heat until it comes to a boil. When the cabbage is cooked, turn off the heat, add watery potato starch and stir it. Turn the […]