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Simmered Hijiki Here's a very traditional Japanese side dish that uses a seaweed common in East Asia but (as far as I know) nowhere else - it's called hijiki. You can buy hijiki in most Japanese and Chinese food stores, as well as health food shops, in its dried form. As with other seaweeds, there's a lot to like about hijiki nutritionally - it's high in magnesium, iron, calcium and iodine and is full of dietary fibre. I should point out that it does also contain traces of ar

Chocolate desserts probably wouldn't be high on your list if you were asked to name Japanese foods but the Japanese actually consume more...

Soy Butter Vegetable stir fry It seems difficult to believe now, but time was when butter was almost unknown in Japan. I admit I'm going back a few years but even in my childhood in the 1960s, butter was regarded as something of an out of reach luxury. Like many Western things, butter (known as " bata " in Japanese) began to be assimilated into Japanese cooking during the post-war years of the US military occupation. At that time, butter was still so rare in Japanese food cul

Easy recipe for coconut flavoured chicken curry.

Now that the days are growing shorter and the nights a little chilly, my thoughts turn to warming autumn drinks and there's nothing...

Matcha Muffinscheese cake Have you ever seen the very entertaining "Paul Hollywood in Japan" series? Yes, that Paul Hollywood , the celebrity chef and baker. He goes to Japan to sample the food culture and entertain us with a few quirky features of Japanese life. Anyway, I was interested to see how surprised he was by the quantity and quality of Japanese bakeries. But I'd forgotten that most people react like that when they're in Japan for the first time - they just don't e

Easy recipe for Japanese Hamberg steak with Daikon sauce Blog.

I like to think my latest recipe holds true to the origin of the poke bowl in that it is very much a fish dish.

This is a quick and easy Thai green curry and less spicy version.

Chicken Nanbanzuke Here's a recipe from my good friend Yumiko Nikaido who lives in Tokyo. The dish is called chicken nanbanzuke . The word "nanbanzuke" translates roughly as "southern style taste." The nanbanzuke method of cooking originated on the southermost of Japan's main islands, Kyushu, where it was learned from Portugese traders several centuries ago. In Portugal, the method is known as escabeche and consists of a vinegar marinade usually combined with olive oil a

Here's a winter salmon miso hotpot or Ishikari nabe in Japanese recipe from Japan's northernmost island, Hokkaido.

Katsu dishes are uber-popular in Japan.

Sesame and Soya Milk Hotpot When I first came to England (nearly thirty years ago, OMG!), soya milk was something you found in health food shops and just about nowhere else. Today, things are very different - you can find soya milk stocked in just about every supermarket and you have a choice of a whole heap of brands and flavours. I use soya milk as a dairy substitute and I also use it in cooking, so I thought I would put a soya milk dish on the website. Using soya milk in

Try my Japanese fusion spaghetti.

Why not try my Japanese -Hawaiian fusion dish - the Teriyaki Chicken Poke bowl?

Easy quick recipe for Kimchi Omurice.

Bang bang chicken is a very popular Chinese dish in Japan.

Fried Scallops in Breadcrumbs Scallops, or hotate in Japanese, are one of my favourite sea foods. In japan, these are popular in their raw state as sushi or sashimi (particularly on the northern island, Hokkaido, where they are so abundant). For those who don't fancy eating raw shellfish, hotate are also found in Japanese yakitori bars where they're usually served grilled or fried in butter. Now I can eat scallops every which way, but the way iIlike them best is deep fri

Massaman curry is really a fusion dish being part Thai, part Indian and part Malay.

For all you cod lovers out there, my good friend Yumiko Nikaido's latest recipe should get your vote - pan fried cod in a yuzu butter...