Blog Categories

Japanese Spinach & Sesame "Goma Ae" This is, in my humble opinion, one of the best Japanese vegetable dishes you will ever try. It's very nutricious, low calorie, requires only a few ingredients and can be ready in under 15 minutes. Not only that it is one of the tastiest Japanese vegetable dishes I know. Sesame - both black and white - finds its way into a lot of Japanese dishes - it's used as a garnish (like this recipe where tosted sesame is used) as a salad dressing and

Sweet Soy Aubergine Donburi If you read my recipe blog regularly, you probably know that I love aubergine. I think it is a much under rated vegetable here in the UK, unlike in Japan where it is one of the most popular vegetables in the kitchen. Aubergine is good for you, it contains high amounts of anti-oxidants as well as plenty of trace minerals and elemtns such as folate, copper, magnesium and iron. Aubergine is also very good at soaking up different flavours. In this r

Simple and easy Daikon SaladRecipe.

Shiso Miso The Japanese love to have a selection of fermented and pickled foods to eat with their rice at dinner and today, I'm looking at one of the best - shiso-miso. It's a great way to give your miso a sweeter flavour. Shisomiso hails from Tohoku prefecture in northern Japan. The original version (where miso is mixed with sugar, sesame and/or crushed walnuts and wrapped in a shiso leaf, then fried) is quite salty but as it has become more popular in Japan, the flavours ha

Natto Battleship Rolls Here's another recipe using the Japanese superfood - Natto. In this recipe, I use natto in a popular Japanese sushi dish - Gunkan Maki / Natto Battlship Rolls. So, first things first, what does Gunkan Maki mean? You probably know that maki = roll. Next, gunkan = battleship. So, gunkan-maki = battleship roll. Why? Because these sushi rolls are said to resemble the shape of a battleship. I know what you're thinking....I don't think they do either but th

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

Here's a light salad dish that's easy to make, healthy and, best of all, delicious!

Marinated Turnip and Choy sum I don't think there can be any doubt that the Japanese love their veggies - it's not uncommon for a Japanese dinner to include 2 or 3 separate marinated or pickled vegetable side dishes for the diners to consume. In the uk, the government advise a 5 - a - day regime for eating vegetables and fruit - in Japan, that's a whopping 13 - a - day and that's only the vegetables! One vegetable that is really commonplace on a Japanese table is the kabu

Aubergine / Eggplant recipe.

Daigaku Imo means Caramelised Sweet Potato and this is popular side dish in Japan.

This is a quick easy salad recipe with the tahini create a really rich umami flavour when combined with soy sauce in this dressing.

Miso Tahini sauce I am a big fan of combining Japanese ingredients with foods from other cultures. So the other day, I tried out a new sauce combining Japanese miso with tahini. Both miso and tahini are quite rich and I thought the combination might be a bit overwhelming but, somewhat to my surprise, the result is truly outstanding. What you get is a thick, rich sauce with a big umami-ful nutty miso flavour. Combining miso and tahini also means you're getting a lot of protein

Aubergine (Eggplant) with a spicy Soy sauce marinade Here's my latest recipe - fried aubergine (Eggplant) in a spicy soy sauce marinade. I know aubergine (or you might know it as eggplant, melanzana, brinjal, patlican or berenjena depending on where you come from!) isn't a very popular vegetable choice here in the UK but it is used a lot more in Japanese cooking and Asian cooking generally. (In Japan, aubergine is known as Nasu). Aubergine is a good source of fibre and the m

This is easy and quick Edamame Salad.

Daikon in Miso sauce The daikon (AKA white radish or mooli) is a much beloved vegetable in Japan - you'll find it featured in many classic Japanese woodblock prints and today, people even make daikon into very cute food sculptures! Daikon isn't so popular here in the UK and that's a shame as it is considered a very healthy thing to eat (lots of fibre, high vitamin C and phosphorus and potassium.) It can also be made into many delicious dishes - daikon is especially good for s