Japanese fish dish: Sashimi
In Japan, fish is large part of our diet. Our country is surrounded by the sea and, we enjoy fresh fish a lot with various way of cooking with various kinds of fish.
If you had a chance to,visit fish market in Tsukiji, Tokyo. The market is very big and you can see lots of fresh fish and many fresh food vendors.
In Japan, many grocery stores sell all kinds of whole fish. Here in US, I don't think you can find as many kinds of whole fish as I could in Japan and I find more fillet fish with limited kinds of fish. Instead, I can find more kinds of meat than I could in Japan.
Case in point, you do not find Turkey meat, Elk meat,Buffalo meat,Goat meat etc... in Japan. My first opportunity to try out Turkey was actually 8 years ago at work place. One of the co-workers cooked up a whole Turkey for me when I told her I have never tasted it before, and she brought some for me to try. In fact, 2 years ago,when my father has visited us in US, I cooked a whole Turkey for him to taste because, for him, Turkey is very new kind of meat and I wanted him to try something he cannot get over in Japan.
So, in Japan, we eat lots of fish. Some of the fish dish is well known in other countries as Japanese favorite dish. One of the dishes comes to my mind is "Sa shi mi ".
What is sa shi mi?
Sa shi mi is a dish name, and it is a dish served thinly sliced fresh raw fish with soy sauce and wasabi. Sashimi dish is all raw and you find no cooked fish but we eat cooked fish as well in other dishes.
Often times, in sashimi dish you find following kinds of items on plate.
* thinly sliced Japanese daikon horse radish
(some restaurants serve it mixed with thinly sliced raw carrots too)
*Awabi (abalone)
*Buri (yellow tail)
*Ika (squid)
*Maguro (Tuna)
*Wasabi (You are supposed to add a bit of wasabi to your taste to soy sauce served to you)
*Shiso (green perilla as garnish. You can cook it as tempura ingredients but we don't eat it raw)
*Tai (sea bream)
*Hotate (scallop)
*shrimp (ama ebi: pink shrimp)
Many people think sa shi mi is raw Tuna fish but it is not the only ingredient. You can see the display of the sashimi plate at wikipedia site. To see the sashimi description and pictures at wikipedia, please click here.
Some Asian store in US sell Tuna as sushi grade for sashimi. But, I think it tastes different. Tuna roll sushi also taste different. If you eat Tuna sashimi in Japan, it tastes like fish melts in your mouth and has more fresh taste. Maybe something to do with our country being surrounded by the sea and can get fresh fish deliver to stores quicker?
How do you eat Sashimi dish?
When you have sashimi dish, you get one plate with all kinds of sashimi ingredients on center, thinly sliced daikon horse radish and wasabi paste on corner of the plate. Then, you get dipping sauce (soy sauce).
When you eat, scoop up a bit of wasabi with chopsticks and mix it in with the soy sauce served. This will be your dipping sauce for sashimi. You can control how hot you like the dipping sauce will be this way.
Sashimi is one of my favorite dish to eat in Japan. Whenever I go back there to see my family, it is one of my to-do list: eat sashimi.
What are other to-do's in my to-do list that is diet related?
*Eat cake (Japanese cake is more fluffy,less sweet,less dense.. I have favorite cake shop to go)
*Eat Chinese food with family at our favorite restaurant
(Chinese dish in Japan taste much better in Japan and we have favorite restaurant to go to)
* Eat sushi
*Eat Ebi burger/ Teriyaki burger at McDonald's
(Ebi /Teriyaki Burger at McDonald's is very very good)
*Eat & enjoy my mother's dishes
(always nice to be able to eat mother's dishes)
* Cook something for my family to try,
(last time we visited them, I made risotto for my family.)
I have some more on list but above lists are some of them. There is Japanese restaurant in US and I can go there to eat Japanese food but many of so-called Japanese restaurant (Japanese steak house) here in US do not serve dishes which I think it being authentic Japanese food.
Many Japanese restaurant here in US do not have dishes I would like to have like Unagi Donburi (grilled eel with sweet teriyaki sauce over hot steamy rice) in their menu and other authentic dishes. So, this is a reason why I have so many diet related to do list when I go back to Japan. My family lives 14 hrs flight away from here and,cannot go see them as much as I would hope but it is always nice to be able to see them once in a while and enjoy meal together and enjoy activity together.
Himeji castle
(Our family took us to castle as family trip when we backed to Japan last time)
Deers that bow to you when you give them deer biscuits (Nara prefecture)
If you had a chance to,visit fish market in Tsukiji, Tokyo. The market is very big and you can see lots of fresh fish and many fresh food vendors.
In Japan, many grocery stores sell all kinds of whole fish. Here in US, I don't think you can find as many kinds of whole fish as I could in Japan and I find more fillet fish with limited kinds of fish. Instead, I can find more kinds of meat than I could in Japan.
Case in point, you do not find Turkey meat, Elk meat,Buffalo meat,Goat meat etc... in Japan. My first opportunity to try out Turkey was actually 8 years ago at work place. One of the co-workers cooked up a whole Turkey for me when I told her I have never tasted it before, and she brought some for me to try. In fact, 2 years ago,when my father has visited us in US, I cooked a whole Turkey for him to taste because, for him, Turkey is very new kind of meat and I wanted him to try something he cannot get over in Japan.
So, in Japan, we eat lots of fish. Some of the fish dish is well known in other countries as Japanese favorite dish. One of the dishes comes to my mind is "Sa shi mi ".
What is sa shi mi?
Sa shi mi is a dish name, and it is a dish served thinly sliced fresh raw fish with soy sauce and wasabi. Sashimi dish is all raw and you find no cooked fish but we eat cooked fish as well in other dishes.
Often times, in sashimi dish you find following kinds of items on plate.
* thinly sliced Japanese daikon horse radish
(some restaurants serve it mixed with thinly sliced raw carrots too)
*Awabi (abalone)
*Buri (yellow tail)
*Ika (squid)
*Maguro (Tuna)
*Wasabi (You are supposed to add a bit of wasabi to your taste to soy sauce served to you)
*Shiso (green perilla as garnish. You can cook it as tempura ingredients but we don't eat it raw)
*Tai (sea bream)
*Hotate (scallop)
*shrimp (ama ebi: pink shrimp)
Many people think sa shi mi is raw Tuna fish but it is not the only ingredient. You can see the display of the sashimi plate at wikipedia site. To see the sashimi description and pictures at wikipedia, please click here.
Some Asian store in US sell Tuna as sushi grade for sashimi. But, I think it tastes different. Tuna roll sushi also taste different. If you eat Tuna sashimi in Japan, it tastes like fish melts in your mouth and has more fresh taste. Maybe something to do with our country being surrounded by the sea and can get fresh fish deliver to stores quicker?
How do you eat Sashimi dish?
When you have sashimi dish, you get one plate with all kinds of sashimi ingredients on center, thinly sliced daikon horse radish and wasabi paste on corner of the plate. Then, you get dipping sauce (soy sauce).
When you eat, scoop up a bit of wasabi with chopsticks and mix it in with the soy sauce served. This will be your dipping sauce for sashimi. You can control how hot you like the dipping sauce will be this way.
Sashimi is one of my favorite dish to eat in Japan. Whenever I go back there to see my family, it is one of my to-do list: eat sashimi.
What are other to-do's in my to-do list that is diet related?
*Eat cake (Japanese cake is more fluffy,less sweet,less dense.. I have favorite cake shop to go)
*Eat Chinese food with family at our favorite restaurant
(Chinese dish in Japan taste much better in Japan and we have favorite restaurant to go to)
* Eat sushi
*Eat Ebi burger/ Teriyaki burger at McDonald's
(Ebi /Teriyaki Burger at McDonald's is very very good)
*Eat & enjoy my mother's dishes
(always nice to be able to eat mother's dishes)
* Cook something for my family to try,
(last time we visited them, I made risotto for my family.)
I have some more on list but above lists are some of them. There is Japanese restaurant in US and I can go there to eat Japanese food but many of so-called Japanese restaurant (Japanese steak house) here in US do not serve dishes which I think it being authentic Japanese food.
Many Japanese restaurant here in US do not have dishes I would like to have like Unagi Donburi (grilled eel with sweet teriyaki sauce over hot steamy rice) in their menu and other authentic dishes. So, this is a reason why I have so many diet related to do list when I go back to Japan. My family lives 14 hrs flight away from here and,cannot go see them as much as I would hope but it is always nice to be able to see them once in a while and enjoy meal together and enjoy activity together.
Himeji castle
(Our family took us to castle as family trip when we backed to Japan last time)
Deers that bow to you when you give them deer biscuits (Nara prefecture)
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