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I have a love/hate relationship with Japanese shiso (which you might know as green perilla) - you know, those large sweet mint leaves with serrated edges you get when you eat sushi and sashimi at a restaurant.) don't get me wrong - I love eating the leaves - not just with sushi but also in salad, or mixed with miso (a dish which is called shiso miso) on rice but I hate buying shiso leaves - they are sooo expensive! Shiso So, the ideal solution is to grow them myself which I n

Introducing some Japanese leaf garden - Mitsuba.

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

This quick Japanese Steak salad is served with Japanese Onion Sauce.

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

Turnip & Smoked Salmon Have you ever come across the Japanese term, "sappari suru"? It means "refreshing" or "cleansing" as in when you come home after a hot day and you take a shower and then maybe enjoy a cold beer. "Sappari suru" describes this dish of salted turnip, onion and smoked salmon perfectly - it has a lovely combination of salty and smoky flavours and the crunch of raw turnip and onion. The onion is pre-soaked in water to extract any bitterness. In Japan, I'd us

How to grow your Edamame at home.