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Here is a new recipe from my friend Yumiko Nikaido who lives in Tokyo - it's called Hayashi rice - this one is perfect for those chilly autumn nights when you want something warming and hearty.

Simmered Chicken and Daikon Now that autumn is here, it's time to start making some dishes for cooler darker, evenings - something warming and nutricious. This week, I'm featuring simmered chicken and daikon (white radish/mouli.) As you may know, most kitchens in Japan lack an oven but gas or electric hobs are ubiquitous. So, cooking food in a pan, either by frying, deep frying or, in this case, simmering (known as "Nimono" in Japanese) are the standard techniques for prep

I made a Seafood Doria and a Chicken Doria. This time around, I've made a Doria with a meat sauce.

My recipe this week is peppers stuffed with pork and seasoned with my Teriyaki sauce.

Sweet Potato Miso Soup Today, I'm posting one of my favourite miso soup recipes - sweet potato miso soup. This is a great combination - the sweet potato enhances the flavour of the miso and makes for a more substantial meal - you could eat this with a bowl of rice for your lunch and not feel short changed. Along with the sweet potato, you get onion and shiitake mushrooms for 3 of your 5 a day veggies. Making sweet potato miso soup is simplicity itself - as always with a miso

Quick Japanese pasta - Three Mushroom Spirali with Ishiri Sauce

Ochazuke with Salmon I hope you all had a great Christmas and saw 2020 in with lots of good things to eat and drink. If, like me, you ate more than you probably should have, you might feel in need of a little tummy physiotherapy, so over the next few weeks, I'll be posting a few lighter recipes to help you get back on the straight and narrow. The recipe featured here is Ochazuke with salmon. Ochazuke in Japanese simply means a dish that involves pouring water, dashi stock or

Simmered Turnip with Fried Tofu) My latest post is another recipe designed to help you recover from the excesses of Christmas and New Year. This dish is called Simmered Turnip with fried Tofu. Turnip is a much under-rated vegetable here in the UK (in fact, more of it is fed to cattle here than humans which is crazy!) In Japan, turnip (known as kabu ) is widely eaten in raw, cooked and also pickled forms. It's very good for you, containing high levels of vitamins a, c and k

We're approaching the end of January and for anyone out there on a diet or a detox, here's another healthy, light dish for you to try -...

Here's another simple vegetable side dish - Broccoli with black Sesame - that's packed with nutricious uber-goodness and top scoring in...

Miso Udon Hotpot I've posted a number of New Year's resolution style, light and healthy veggie dishes in recent weeks but here's something different for you (still pretty healthy though and definitely tasty) - red miso udon. I don't count myself as an authority on miso but as far as I know, this fermented soya bean paste falls into three categories - white, yellow and red. (Some people say there are four categories, with black being the fourth, but the black miso I've seen ju

Here's my latest recipe - fried aubergine in a spicy soy sauce marinade. I know aubergine (or you might know it as eggplant, melanzana,...

Japanese Tomato Hotpot is easy to cook and comfort food in cold winter.

Japanese Aubergine Katsu Curry Aubergine is one of my favourite vegetables and I think there is no better way to serve it than as a katsu - that is, deep fried in panko breadcrumbs. IMHO, deep frying aubergine in panko lifts it to another level - you get the lovely soft flesh on the inside but a nice crunchy coating on the outside - yum -nothing more, nothing less. While aubergine katsu is great by itself, it also goes brilliantly with a curry sauce. I used the S&B brand Gol

This is easy cook Japanese Potato Salad recipe using Kewpie mayonnaise.

Souffle Pancakes Here's another Japanese expression for you, "fuwa fuwa" (it's pronounced fwa fwa). What does it mean? If you imagine something light, airy and fluffy, you're headed in the right direction. The other day, I went to the Fuwa Fuwa cafe in Russell Square, London. It's a specialty outlet that sells one yummy product - you guessed it - Japanese souffle pancakes. The cafe has recently moved to bigger premises just a few units from where it began in the Brunswick Sh

This quick and easy Stir Fried Pork with 3 Vegetables is great for busy weeknight family meal.

The Japanese have a love of abbreviations and so it is with this dish - "tendon" is the short form of "tempura donburi",

Japanese Java Cheese Curry Here's a recipe that shouldn't work but it really does. I have to admit that the first time this was put in front of me by my father-in-law many years ago when we had just been introduced, I thought, "what? cheese in a curry? maybe he doesn't like me.." and then I took a taste and realised how wrong I was to doubt the combination. It's like curry + western umami flavour - weirdly, it works very well. A spicy curry mixed with little chunks of soft,

Have you ever come across the Japanese term, "sappari suru"? It means "refreshing" or "cleansing" as in when you come home after a hot...