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 […]
15th October 2018 / Last updated : 30th November 2018 Mog 02 : Main Dishes

Katsudon （かつ丼)

Katsudon is one of Donburi foods, which Tonkatsu and onions simmered with soy-based noodle soup and beaten egg served over freshly cooked rice. The most often used deep fried food for Katsudon is Tonkatsu. However, there are also other kinds of deep-fried foods such as beef cutlet, chicken cutlet, Menchi-Katsu, and shrimp cutlet. Also, there’re some different style foods called Katsudon. The standard Katsudon is introduced in this recipe. Ingredients (for 2 servings) Tonkatsu 2 sheets Onion 1 (about 100 g) (A) Soy sauce 2 tbsp (A) Mirin 2 tbsp (otherwise 1.5 tbsp of white wine and 0.5 tbsp of sugar) (A) Dashi powder 1 tbsp (A) Water 50 mL […]
11th October 2018 / Last updated : 30th November 2018 Mog 02 : Main Dishes

Japanese Pork Cutlet (Tonkatsu, 豚カツ)

Food similar to Tonkatsu was served as “pork cutlet” at Renga-Tei (Ginza, Tokyo) in 1899. The word “katsu” in Tonkatsu derives from côtelette (cutlet, in English). Though Tonkatsu used to be luxury foods, it’s one of the most popular dishes for Japanese people nowadays. I’m going to introduce the Tonkatsu recipe that will be crispy no matter who makes it. Ingredients (for 2 servings) 2 pork fillets salt to taste black pepper to taste a proper amount of all-purpose flour 1 egg panko for coating vegetable oil for deep frying Instructions Make small cuts in several places of the pork fillets with a tip of a knife. This process keeps […]
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 […]