Japanese Diet Part III
In previous entry titled " Japanese Diet Part I", I wrote that Japanese
diet staple has been rice, and you can find many variety of rice dish
in Japan,and listed examples style of dishes you can find in Japan. In "Japanese Diet Part II", I wrote about Miso and Miso soup.
Here,I like to write about seasoning in Japanese diet.
Imagine you hear the word "Japanese food/Japanese cooking", what seasoning/condiment pop into your head? I bet most people would imagine "Sushi" for Japanese food and many would answer "soy sauce".
Soy sauce is center of the seasoning/condiment in Japanese cooking. Many of the dishes have soy sauce in it. It plays important role in Japanese cooking. To read more on sushi and soy sauce, please click here.
When I started cooking with my mother back in Japan, she told me there is an order in seasoning/condiment to enhance the flavor. I do not think I have heard/read about how you add seasoning will enhance the flavor over here in the states though.
She said, "Put the condiment in order sa-shi-su-se-so"
It is one line of Japanese alphabet (we have more than 50 letters in alphabet) just like you go a-b-c-d-e-f-g in English alphabet.
If you were unfamiliar with Japanese language,you may say " come again?"
What it means is that,put condiment with the order listed bellow.
Sa is from Japanese word "Sa to u" - meaning sugar
Shi is from Japanese word "shi o" - meaning salt
Su is from Japanese word "Su" - meaning vinegar
Se is from Japanese word "Syo yu" - meaning soy sauce
So is from Japanese word "Miso" - meaning Miso
Basically, sa,shi,su,se,so is from the first phonemes of Japanese word and by remembering alphabet-like, it is easy to remember.
Next important condiment to soy sauce is probably sake and mirin(Japanese sweet rice wine). You can find them in local grocery at International aisle Or, at Asian store.
There are some other spice you would see in Japanese dish.
For example, we use seven spice pepper for Udon (thick wheat flour noodle). Seven spice pepper is basically a blend of spice just like Indian's Garam masala spice bottle, and usually used to sprinkle over hot Udon or soba noodle. Seven spice pepper is called Shichimi in Japanese and it has red pepper,sansho,sesame,hemp seed,orange peel,dried seaweed,poppy seed.
Sansho is another spice also find in some of Japanese dishes. It also is used in seven spice pepper, and commonly sprinkled over grilled sweet teriyaki sauce covered eel dish. When I looked it up in wikipedia,it seems it is called sichuan pepper in English.I might have seen this pepper at grocery store at spice aisle.
Next is Wasabi. Green pasty thing you find in sushi roll. I would guess many people know how hot it is. Too much wasabi makes your eyes watery,and you may have running nose if you had very large amount of Wasabi. It is really really hot. Little goes loong way.
In Japan, I always saw pasty wasabi not powder wasabi bottles. When I make sushi rice (vinegary rice for Sushi), I add sugar,vinegar,soy sauce AND wasabi powder(just a bit) to give it a kick,but not overy hot. By mixing wasabi into rice part rather than put the grab of wasabi paste on top of rice, you never bite into chunk of wasabi paste at one time.And hint of wasabi flavor goes all way through the dish and maybe much more enjoyable. Other way you can serve sushi with wasabi is that,you make vinegary rice without wasabi and serve mixture of soy sauce in dipping sauce dish and just put tiny grab of wasabi on edge. That way,each person can mix wasabi as much as they want to soy sauce itself and they can control the heat. This way is especially works better if you have kids in the family.This is also common way to serve as dipping sauce for Sashimi (raw seafood).
Many people think Sashimi equal to raw fish. It is partly true but not fully. Sashimi is raw seafood and you can find all variety in Japan from salmon,tuna,squid(sometimes cooked),mackerel,horse mackerel,octopus(sometimes cooked), scallop,and cooked shrimp etc. I am a big fan of Tuna Sashimi but,taste of Tuna Sashimi is not as good as one in Japan. Maybe Japan is surrounded by sea and fish is much fresh? Japan (To be specific,Tokyo) has great fresh seafood market called "Tsukiji fish market" (If you have seen "Next Iron Chef" at Food Network,on and off,this Japanese fish market appeared on show). If you had a chance to visit them,visit fish market there.You would surprise how big the market is,how much of fresh seafood you can find.
Today,you have learned some of Japanese words and alphabet as well. Tomorrow,you can ask your family or friends "Please pass me sa to u, please" (Please pass sugar to me) when you are making a cup of tea or coffee. You would get a puzzled face
Then, you can teach them some of easy Japanese words you have learned here.
It is always interesting and fun to learn other culture and their language.
Here,I like to write about seasoning in Japanese diet.
Imagine you hear the word "Japanese food/Japanese cooking", what seasoning/condiment pop into your head? I bet most people would imagine "Sushi" for Japanese food and many would answer "soy sauce".
Soy sauce is center of the seasoning/condiment in Japanese cooking. Many of the dishes have soy sauce in it. It plays important role in Japanese cooking. To read more on sushi and soy sauce, please click here.
When I started cooking with my mother back in Japan, she told me there is an order in seasoning/condiment to enhance the flavor. I do not think I have heard/read about how you add seasoning will enhance the flavor over here in the states though.
She said, "Put the condiment in order sa-shi-su-se-so"
It is one line of Japanese alphabet (we have more than 50 letters in alphabet) just like you go a-b-c-d-e-f-g in English alphabet.
If you were unfamiliar with Japanese language,you may say " come again?"
What it means is that,put condiment with the order listed bellow.
Sa is from Japanese word "Sa to u" - meaning sugar
Shi is from Japanese word "shi o" - meaning salt
Su is from Japanese word "Su" - meaning vinegar
Se is from Japanese word "Syo yu" - meaning soy sauce
So is from Japanese word "Miso" - meaning Miso
Basically, sa,shi,su,se,so is from the first phonemes of Japanese word and by remembering alphabet-like, it is easy to remember.
Next important condiment to soy sauce is probably sake and mirin(Japanese sweet rice wine). You can find them in local grocery at International aisle Or, at Asian store.
There are some other spice you would see in Japanese dish.
For example, we use seven spice pepper for Udon (thick wheat flour noodle). Seven spice pepper is basically a blend of spice just like Indian's Garam masala spice bottle, and usually used to sprinkle over hot Udon or soba noodle. Seven spice pepper is called Shichimi in Japanese and it has red pepper,sansho,sesame,hemp seed,orange peel,dried seaweed,poppy seed.
Sansho is another spice also find in some of Japanese dishes. It also is used in seven spice pepper, and commonly sprinkled over grilled sweet teriyaki sauce covered eel dish. When I looked it up in wikipedia,it seems it is called sichuan pepper in English.I might have seen this pepper at grocery store at spice aisle.
Next is Wasabi. Green pasty thing you find in sushi roll. I would guess many people know how hot it is. Too much wasabi makes your eyes watery,and you may have running nose if you had very large amount of Wasabi. It is really really hot. Little goes loong way.
In Japan, I always saw pasty wasabi not powder wasabi bottles. When I make sushi rice (vinegary rice for Sushi), I add sugar,vinegar,soy sauce AND wasabi powder(just a bit) to give it a kick,but not overy hot. By mixing wasabi into rice part rather than put the grab of wasabi paste on top of rice, you never bite into chunk of wasabi paste at one time.And hint of wasabi flavor goes all way through the dish and maybe much more enjoyable. Other way you can serve sushi with wasabi is that,you make vinegary rice without wasabi and serve mixture of soy sauce in dipping sauce dish and just put tiny grab of wasabi on edge. That way,each person can mix wasabi as much as they want to soy sauce itself and they can control the heat. This way is especially works better if you have kids in the family.This is also common way to serve as dipping sauce for Sashimi (raw seafood).
Many people think Sashimi equal to raw fish. It is partly true but not fully. Sashimi is raw seafood and you can find all variety in Japan from salmon,tuna,squid(sometimes cooked),mackerel,horse mackerel,octopus(sometimes cooked), scallop,and cooked shrimp etc. I am a big fan of Tuna Sashimi but,taste of Tuna Sashimi is not as good as one in Japan. Maybe Japan is surrounded by sea and fish is much fresh? Japan (To be specific,Tokyo) has great fresh seafood market called "Tsukiji fish market" (If you have seen "Next Iron Chef" at Food Network,on and off,this Japanese fish market appeared on show). If you had a chance to visit them,visit fish market there.You would surprise how big the market is,how much of fresh seafood you can find.
Today,you have learned some of Japanese words and alphabet as well. Tomorrow,you can ask your family or friends "Please pass me sa to u, please" (Please pass sugar to me) when you are making a cup of tea or coffee. You would get a puzzled face
Then, you can teach them some of easy Japanese words you have learned here. It is always interesting and fun to learn other culture and their language.
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