Japanese Diet Part I
Each country has unique diet that tells history, characteristics of each country. Unique dishes can tell story about the country of origin and it is very interesting to taste dishes originated from many countries.
Japanese diet is now westernized in some ways and you can try many different dishes in Japan from Chinese food, Italian food to Indian food. However, some of the dishes I cook over here in the states or dishes I get to order at restaurants were unfamiliar with me when I came to the states.
I do not think I ever tasted Mexican food over in Japan, for example. No Macaroni and cheese, no chili's, no jarapano poppers, no chicken and dumpling... One thing I feel about American culture especially in food department is that you get to buy all kinds of fresh produce you would not find in Japan and there are so many spices, so many different kinds of meat, cheese, bread etc I never heard of when I was in Japan. In other words, I am having so much fun in cooking in the states. I learned so many different kinds of dishes using so many different kinds of spices,produce etc and so many things I can play around.
In Japan, staple food is rice. Some people may eat noodle or bread as staple diet but,I think many people's staple diet in Japan will be rice.
In the states, you just don't find one kind of rice. Jasmin rice, Arborio rice, Basmati rice, Sushi rice, brown rice, wild rice... This is something I got culture shock about. In Japan, as far as I know, rice is rice and only 2 kinds sold: one is glutenous rice mainly used for making Mochi (rice cake), one for regular rice (more starchy rice than Jasmine rice). I never had different kinds of rice until I go to restaurant here in US or start cooking Risotto,Thai/Indian dishes etc at home.
I can eat all kinds of rice, but I prefer rice that has closer texture to rice you find in Japan. I tried out some brands that had Japanese-looking rice name here in US and, winner for my taste is KOKUHO ROSE RICE. It is stickier rice and had same type of texture and it has been my favorite brand for years. Usually, you can find it in International ail at local grocery store and, if the store was regular store, often times,you would find them in 5lb bag. If you go to Asian store,you probably find bigger bag with cheaper price. I have tried rice sold as sushi rice, but it never come close to my favorite brand. When I make sushi, I use Kokuho rose rice. That's all I need to make them.
Japanese diet staple has been rice, and you can find many variety of rice dish in Japan. Here are some examples.
* Sekihan (bean & rice)
I know there is " red bean & rice " dish here in US, but our version is nothing like that. Rice being used is called "Mochi gome" and it is glutenous rice. You would steam the glutenous rice, add cooked azuki bean to it. And bean makes rice color reddish and you sprinkle sesame seed and salt and done. Sekihan is often times eaten when people cerebrate something. I love sekihan and this is one of the rice dish I miss a lot.
* Takikomi gohan (rice cooked with seasoning,vegetable,meat in one pot)
Japanese cook rice with rice cooker and, when people make "takikomi gohan", they put rice, water, seasoning, vegetable,meat everything into rice cooker and wait for it to be done.
* Porridge
This is basically overcook rice with water added. You will put cooked rice,pour water to cover the rice, cook on stove top, add sprinkle of salt. That is all. My mother used to pour beaten egg into the porridge and stir to cook through the egg after adding salt and it was one of the dishes she made when I got sick. Porridge is easy to cook and easy to digest.
* Donburi ( rice dish served with some toppings on rice)
Donburi is not pointing to one kind of dish.This is the name for type of dish and you can find many kinds of Donburi dishes. If you put rice in the bowl,top it with ..say, tempura,you got tempura don. If you put rice in the bowl,top it with deep fried pork cutlet,you got Katsu don. If you got rice topped with grilled eel marinated with Teriyaki sauce,you got Una don. There are many more that fall under this type of dish.
* Onigiri (Rice balls)
Onigiri is probably easiest dish in Japanese food. Basically, you cook rice, add salt to it, wrap some sort of fillings with rice and, you just made Onigiri! Squeeze gently with both hand after placing filling in the center of the rice. Classic Onigiri has Umeboshi. Pickled plum in English I think. But you can put any kinds of filling inside and you can be creative with it. Many people in Japan bring Onigiri when they go picnic, or as part of lunch bento box dish. One of my favorite fillings for Onigiri is salted salmon flakes.It is very good. Some people wrap Onigiri with Nori (laver) but if you bring as lunch,I suggest not to when you pack them because Nori gets soggy,not having Nori texture to it.Wrap the Onigiri with Nori when you eat it.It is the best way to enjoy Nori wrapped Onigiri.
Next time when you make lunch,try Onigiri.Be creative with it. What are your favorite filling for Onigiri? Anything unique fillings you came up with??
Enjoy!
** If you were interested in making Asian dishes, you maybe interested in entries under Asian cooking 911 You can find sushi recipe etc. To check out entries under Asian cooking 911, please click here.
Japanese diet is now westernized in some ways and you can try many different dishes in Japan from Chinese food, Italian food to Indian food. However, some of the dishes I cook over here in the states or dishes I get to order at restaurants were unfamiliar with me when I came to the states.
I do not think I ever tasted Mexican food over in Japan, for example. No Macaroni and cheese, no chili's, no jarapano poppers, no chicken and dumpling... One thing I feel about American culture especially in food department is that you get to buy all kinds of fresh produce you would not find in Japan and there are so many spices, so many different kinds of meat, cheese, bread etc I never heard of when I was in Japan. In other words, I am having so much fun in cooking in the states. I learned so many different kinds of dishes using so many different kinds of spices,produce etc and so many things I can play around.
In Japan, staple food is rice. Some people may eat noodle or bread as staple diet but,I think many people's staple diet in Japan will be rice.
In the states, you just don't find one kind of rice. Jasmin rice, Arborio rice, Basmati rice, Sushi rice, brown rice, wild rice... This is something I got culture shock about. In Japan, as far as I know, rice is rice and only 2 kinds sold: one is glutenous rice mainly used for making Mochi (rice cake), one for regular rice (more starchy rice than Jasmine rice). I never had different kinds of rice until I go to restaurant here in US or start cooking Risotto,Thai/Indian dishes etc at home.
I can eat all kinds of rice, but I prefer rice that has closer texture to rice you find in Japan. I tried out some brands that had Japanese-looking rice name here in US and, winner for my taste is KOKUHO ROSE RICE. It is stickier rice and had same type of texture and it has been my favorite brand for years. Usually, you can find it in International ail at local grocery store and, if the store was regular store, often times,you would find them in 5lb bag. If you go to Asian store,you probably find bigger bag with cheaper price. I have tried rice sold as sushi rice, but it never come close to my favorite brand. When I make sushi, I use Kokuho rose rice. That's all I need to make them.
Japanese diet staple has been rice, and you can find many variety of rice dish in Japan. Here are some examples.
* Sekihan (bean & rice)
I know there is " red bean & rice " dish here in US, but our version is nothing like that. Rice being used is called "Mochi gome" and it is glutenous rice. You would steam the glutenous rice, add cooked azuki bean to it. And bean makes rice color reddish and you sprinkle sesame seed and salt and done. Sekihan is often times eaten when people cerebrate something. I love sekihan and this is one of the rice dish I miss a lot.
* Takikomi gohan (rice cooked with seasoning,vegetable,meat in one pot)
Japanese cook rice with rice cooker and, when people make "takikomi gohan", they put rice, water, seasoning, vegetable,meat everything into rice cooker and wait for it to be done.
* Porridge
This is basically overcook rice with water added. You will put cooked rice,pour water to cover the rice, cook on stove top, add sprinkle of salt. That is all. My mother used to pour beaten egg into the porridge and stir to cook through the egg after adding salt and it was one of the dishes she made when I got sick. Porridge is easy to cook and easy to digest.
* Donburi ( rice dish served with some toppings on rice)
Donburi is not pointing to one kind of dish.This is the name for type of dish and you can find many kinds of Donburi dishes. If you put rice in the bowl,top it with ..say, tempura,you got tempura don. If you put rice in the bowl,top it with deep fried pork cutlet,you got Katsu don. If you got rice topped with grilled eel marinated with Teriyaki sauce,you got Una don. There are many more that fall under this type of dish.
* Onigiri (Rice balls)
Onigiri is probably easiest dish in Japanese food. Basically, you cook rice, add salt to it, wrap some sort of fillings with rice and, you just made Onigiri! Squeeze gently with both hand after placing filling in the center of the rice. Classic Onigiri has Umeboshi. Pickled plum in English I think. But you can put any kinds of filling inside and you can be creative with it. Many people in Japan bring Onigiri when they go picnic, or as part of lunch bento box dish. One of my favorite fillings for Onigiri is salted salmon flakes.It is very good. Some people wrap Onigiri with Nori (laver) but if you bring as lunch,I suggest not to when you pack them because Nori gets soggy,not having Nori texture to it.Wrap the Onigiri with Nori when you eat it.It is the best way to enjoy Nori wrapped Onigiri.
Next time when you make lunch,try Onigiri.Be creative with it. What are your favorite filling for Onigiri? Anything unique fillings you came up with??
Enjoy!
** If you were interested in making Asian dishes, you maybe interested in entries under Asian cooking 911 You can find sushi recipe etc. To check out entries under Asian cooking 911, please click here.
Another great post with more interesting info. Is that Rose rice you talked about the same as the "glutenous rice" you speak of or are there two different types of rice and if they are 2 kinds, what would the name be of the glutenous rice. Is that the kind that you squeeze together to make the sushi (I LOVE sushi and I really like nori and other seaweeds.)
Everytime I go to the coast, I collect seaweed to bring home to dry or to make seaweed sweet pickles with. I haven't done it in quite a while, though and need to find my recipe again as I got more seaweed the last time I was there and froze it so that I can pickle it.
I will have to check out that website on making sushi for myself. I use pickled ginger in my salads, too as well as Asian Sesame dressing.
My mom used to make rice with a lot of extra water, too, when we were sick (She was Mexican so I learned a lot of REAL mexican cooking which isn't always like what you find in "Mexican" restaurants). She would drain off some of the water if we were really sick and add cinnamon and sugar to it for us to drink and then we would have the rice later when our stomachs were better, also with cinnamon and sugar, or she would make rice pudding out of the extra rice.
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Kokuho Rose Rice is name of the products, and it is medium grain rice with more starch than Jasmine rice or Basmati rice etc. Glutenous rice is stickier short grain rice that is used to make Mochi (Rice cake).
These are complete different type of rice. When I make Sushi, I use Kokuho Rose Rice. When you buy Sushi from grocery store, often times,rice is dried out and not tasty and often times,made with Jasmine Rice or some sort: very skinny rice than Kokuho Rose Rice. Make your own sushi at home with right type of grain (rice). It tastes much much better. Plus cheaper that way. How to make Sushi can be found under Asian cooking 911 category and titled Japanese cooking:Sushi and soy sauce.To read the entry,please click here.
Your story about your mother's cooking is very interesting. Do you make your own Flour Tortillas? I tried making it myself once but it did not come close to tortillas you can eat at Mexican restaurant like Chipotle. If you got recipes you can share, please let us know.
Stay tuned for more entries on Japanese culture/food
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I wanted to let you know that my daughter and I love Chinese food and cooking. We eat porridge all of the time. I wanted to share a nice website that has a lot of video, cooking tips, and recipes on Chinese cooking; it's a http://www.wokfusion.com/blog. Give it a try when you have a free moment. Enjoy your feet.
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