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Sweet spring rolls for Christmas You don't need me to remind you that Christmas is fast approaching. Last year, for the first time I can remember, there were no parties, no dinner guests - just lockdown. Let's hope this year more than makes up for that! I thought I would re-post a couple of my Christmas fusion dishes for you to experiment with now that you will be doing some seasonal entertaining again. So, this weekend's recipe is my sweet mincemeat spring rolls. Yes, a sweet spring roll! Don't be deceived, these sweet, deep fried parcels make a great alternative to traditional British mincemeat pies. They are a little smaller - maybe like me you struggle to finish a whole mincemeat pie - so there are fewer calories to pile one and I find that the soft, sweet mincemeat makes a great partner for the deep fried, slightly crunchy spring roll wrapper. I know that most people associate spring rolls with savoury foods but they really do work well with sweet flavours as well. (In my humble opinion, I think they work really well with mincemeat but you should be the judge of that.) I made my mincemeat at home with less sugar and (vegetable) suet than the mincemeat you can buy in the shops but with a tangier taste (more zest and lemon/orange juice). Use shop bought mincemeat by all means if you prefer. If you make the mincemeat yourself, my advice is to let it rest for at least a couple of hours once you've mixed all the ingredients together so that the flavours can develop. You can store any leftover mincemeat in a sterilised jar in the fridge. Sweet spring rolls for Christmas You can buy spring roll wrappers at any Asian store. (Tip: The wrappers do sometimes unravel when they're fried so I use water and cornflour to stick them closed rather than just water alone - the cornflour makes for a nice gummy seal.) If the odd wrapper still refuses to behave itself and unravels in the pan, just use chopsticks to hold it and it will some stick together again. I made up enough mincemeat for about 75 rolls. (Party time - yippee!) If you don't want to make such a large batch at one go, then, as I said above, just pop the mincemeat in the fridge in a sterilised jar and it will keep for a week or two. Any unused spring roll wrappers can also be wrapped in clingfilm and refrozen. On the other hand, you could make up more rolls than you need and pop half in the freezer to deep fry later. Your sweet spring rolls for Christmas won't take long to deep fry - just a minute or two. When they are a nice, light golden colour, remove from the pan and rest either on a rack or a square of kitchen paper for a few minutes to cool. (Don't be tempted to eat them straight out of the pan or you'll burn your tongue!) If you want to try something that's deliciously different this Christmas, give these a go! Interested? You can find the recipe below. For the Youtube tutorial click Sweet Spring Rolls or scroll to the bottom of the page. Happy Christmas cooking! Kurumi XXXX. Sweet Spring Rolls. ingredients:(makes 25 rolls) 50 (12.5x12.5cm / 5 in) frozen spring roll wrappers 120g currants 120g sultanas 120g raisins 120g vegetable suet 1 medium apple, peeled & very finely chopped 75g dark brown sugar zest & juice of 1 orange zest of 1 lemon & 1/2 juice 60ml port wine 1 tsp cornflour dissolved in 60 ml water some vegetable oil for deep frying a rack or some squares of kitchen paper for resring your spring rolls how to: to make the mincemeat: combine all the dried fruit, finely chopped apple, sugar, suet, orange and lemon zest, port wine, lemon & orange juice in a bowl. mix well and set aside for at least 2 hours place 1 tsp of mincemeat on the lower corner of a spring roll wrapper. brush the edges of the wrapper with the cornflour water mix to seal take the lower corner and cover the mincemeat. fold the two side corners inwards, then roll from the bottom & seal tightly. repeat for however many rolls you wish to make fill a pan with 1.5 - 2 cm / 1 in of veg oil & heat to 170 C. deep fry the rolls until golden brown which will take about 1 - 2 minutes. don't put too many rolls in your pan at a time - you don't want them to stick to each other rest each batch of spring rolls on a rack or kitchen paper sprinkle with some icing sugar and serve immediately. like all spring rolls, these are at their best when freshly cooked. Sweet spring rolls for Christmas

Tonkatsu Tonkatsu must be Japan's most popular meat dish. It's a relatively recent addition to the country's national menu having only become popular during the 1960's when pork itself became more widely available and affordable in Japan. The best place to eat tonkatsu out is at a specialist "tonkatsu-ya" restaurant where tonkatsu is always the main event. These outlets usually boast their own special panko breadcrumb formula and a house made tonkatsu sauce, a fruity brown sauce specially made for use with tonkatsu. Of course, you don't need to go out to eat tonkatsu. You can quite easily make this dish yourself. When I make this dish at home, I use pork loins. I like to use a thinner loin because it reduces the cooking time and makes it easier to produce a beautiful golden brown crust without the risk of undercooking the pork. Pork apart, the only other ingredients you need to make your own tonkatsu is some "panko" breadcrumbs, a couple of eggs and some plain flour. When I make tonkatsu, I usually make a batch for 3 or 4 meals - you can also freeze tonkatsu once you've coated them in breadcrumbs. In Japan, tonkatsu are invariably served with a pile of finely shredded cabbage and often some slice of tomato. Cabbage varieties in the UK seem to be a little tougher than those available in Japan so when I make tonkatsu here in London, I use shredded lettuce as a subsititute. When the tonkatsu gets to the table, the diner can choose to garnish with tonkatsu sauce, tomato ketchup or mustard. Many Japanese use all three! If your mouth is watering at the prospect of a Tonkatsu and you would like to make your own, then take a look at my simple recipe below. For the Youtube tutorial just click Tonkatsu or scroll to the bottom of the page. Happy frying! Kurumi XXXX. Tonkatsu ingredients:(makes 4 tonkatsu) 4 boneless pork loins 80g / 2.8 oz plain flour 2 small eggs 100g / 3.5 oz panko, Japanese breadcrumbs 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper vegetable oil for deep frying how to: season the pork loins with the salt & pepper (you only need a minimum of seasoning - the sauces do this work once the tonkatsu are ready to eat) score the rind and flesh of the pork with a sharp knife to prevent the loins curling when they are fried next, coat the pork lightly in the flour. break the eggs into a dish or pyrex and whick lightly. coat each loin in the egg and then in the panko breadcrumbs. ensure the loins have a even coating with no thin patches fill a medium saucepan with 2 cm of vegetable oil and heat to 170 C / 340 F deep fry two tonkatsu for about 2-3 mins on one side until a light golden brown. turn over and fry for a further 2-3 mins or until the tonkatsu is uniform golden brown. adjust the heat as you fry to prevent burning the breadcrumb crust remove the tonkatsu and rest on some kitchen paper while you fry your next batch serve with finely shredded cabbage or lettuce, mustard, tomato ketchup and tonkatsu/ brown sauce Tonkatsu

Tarao Japanese Restaurant I live in North London, so over the years I have seen a number of Japanese restaurants come and go. Taro has been around for a long time, having operated its main, Central London outlet in Brewer St, Soho since the turn of the century. I reviewed Taro, Soho along with some other Soho based Japanese restaurants some time ago. (See my "Six Japanese Restaurants in London - a review. I've added a postscript to that blog to show you how they have fared over the 2020/21 lockdown.) Taro has a second outlet in Balham and a takeaway in Cannon Street in the City. More recently Taro has added a new dine in/take out location to its portfolio in Finchley, North London. The site is an interesting one because it has been a Japanese restaurant (under a few different names and ownerships) for as long as I can remember. It was called "Daruma" for many years but the general state of the place was in long term decline and it closed down a couple of years ago after a health and safety issue. Now, credit to Taro for taking on the challenge of reopening the site under their own brand. Taro Japanese Restaurant The exterior has been spruced up a little and it certainly looks a lot better than during the Daruma days. Taro has positioned some tables and chairs outside - I think this is more a matter of hope than expectation as the pavement is quite narrow and the road is always quite busy with traffic. Three of us visited Taro at 8.30pm on a Sunday evening so perhaps it wasn't surprising that we were the only diners there during our short stay. That said, there was a constant traffic of Deliveroo drivers and other pick ups in and out of the place. The interior was nicely done and certainly an improvement over Daruma - lots of pine, well lit and clean - a decent enough start. The cooks and the table staff were all dressed in traditional Japanese garb which was a nice touch. The table service was attentive, polite and not at all pushy, even though we took a little more time than usual to muse over the menu. Tonkotsu Ramen The menu itself was what you would expect to find in a low/mid budget Japanese restaurant: noodles, sashimi donburi, sushi sets etc etc. What did we eat? We ordered the following: a bowl of Tonkotsu ramen a Salmon Teriyaki donburi an Ebi bento box fried chicken Gyoza "pot stickers" to share The food took around 10 minutes to arrive, the gyoza, the ramen and the ebi bento first and the salmon teriyaki a couple of minutes later. How did the food score? Tonkotsu ramen 6/10 The ramen broth (above) arrived hot but was a little thin to start with. This is a tonkotsu dish so the broth should be rich and almost a meal in itself. The noodles were thin and a little droopy and lacked the keynote "bite" of a good ramen noodle. The fillings were as one would expect for a tonkotsu ramen - a slice of rolled pork, half a boiled egg, some beansprouts, spring onion and some pickled ginger. The pork was as tasty as you might expect. The boiled egg was....well, a boiled egg - a pukka ramen egg really should be steep in a soy marinade to colour the egg white brown. They should also be "hanjuku" - semi-soft with the yoke still oozy. Anyway, back to the dish - the broth became tastier towards the bottom of the bowl which might imply that it was made up from a concentrate. Conclusion: I've tasted better tonkotsu ramen but I've also tasted worse. Satisfactory. Salmon Teriyaki Donburi 5/10 Salmon Teriyaki Donburi This dish (right) was quite substantial and my co-diner struggled to finish it - there was a lot of rice. The salmon was rather dry and looked a little anaemic. The teriyaki sauce dressing was much too sweet. Rather than being cooked in the teriyaki sauce, the salmon appeared to have simply been brushed with teriyaki sauce post frying, so it lacked any real teriyaki flavour. The rice was fresh but appeared a little bit mashed. Conclusion: Fine if you really have a gaping hole to fill in your stomach but really not a satisfying eating experience. Teriyaki salmon can be much better than this. Ebi Bento box 7/10 Ebi Bento box This dish was the best of the bunch, albeit the most expensive. The 4 king prawn "ebi furai" were good enough - not fresh out of the frying pan but fresh enough. The two "nigiri" sushi were freshly made and the two inside out "uramaki" rolls were generously filled. The slices of salmon sashimi were fresh and of good quality, if a little on the thin side. The rest of the dish didn't contain any surprises - a few edamame, a little pile of (rather dehydrated) beansprouts, some slices of cucumber and some shredded carrot (whereas a stickler would insist on shredded daikon, the carrot substitute was fine by me.). The bento box was complimented with a bowl of miso soup. We all took a little taste and concluded that it might contain just a little dashi stock along with miso and hot water. Conclusion: If you like ebi furai and you like salmon sashimi, you would walk away satisfied after this dish. Fried Gyoza pot stickers 5/10 Fried Gyoza Of the four dishes we tried, this was the biggest disappointment. While it might be too much to expect freshly made gyoza at this price point, there are both good and bad frozen gyoza and these were at the poorer end of the scale. The filling, (what there was of it,) was soggy and none of us could determine what the contents might actually consist of - but it was difficult to estabish that it was chicken. That said, the gyoza arrived hot and nicely fried. Conclusion: The cook did the best he/she could with some rather mediocre "chicken" gyoza. Sake menu The bill: Chicken gyoza (5 pieces) £ 4.90 Tonkotsu ramen £10.90 Salmon teriyaki donburi £11.90 Ebi bento £14.90 Total £43.50 Summary: To my mind, Taro Finchley seems to be following the trend of prioritising its delivery trade over in-house dining. Those chairs set up outside on the pavement might well be meant to seat waiting pick ups rather than anyone wanting to eat al fresco. The food we ate was acceptable but nothing more than acceptable. But that probably misses the point, doesn't it? Most diners ordering a delivery online aren't expecting to be blown away - for the most part, they are expecting, well....acceptable, filling food...and if they want to order a Japanese delivery, that is what they will get from Taro Finchley. Food: ★★☆☆☆ Ambience: ★★☆☆☆ Value for Money: ★★★☆☆ You can find Taro Finchley Central at 356 Regents Park Rd, London N3 2LJ. Reservations via quandoo.co.uk and delivery via deliveroo.co.uk (PS: the restaurants I review are unaware that I am reviewing their fare and service. I pay for what I eat. My opinions are honest and unbiased....) Why not make it yourself? We all love to dine out. But don't forget you can make Japanese food at home which will not only taste as good or better than what you eat out (or order in) and for a fraction of the cost too! I've listed two recipes below for items I ordered during my review. Just follow the links to the written recipes and Youtube tutorials. Pickled egg Recipe idea #1: Like many ramen shops outside of Japan, Taro's ramen eggs were not prepared in the "old school" way befitting this dish. If you want to discover how to make a pukka "hanjuku" egg yourself, you need look no further than my recipe Pickled Egg. If you just want to see the Youbtube tutorial, you can find that by clicking Pickled egg. Hanjuku in Japanese means "semi-ripe" or in the case of an egg, semi-soft. But you don't have to do your eggs hanjuku (semi-soft), just boil the egg for the full 6 minutes, if you prefer a harder boiled version! Either way, once you steeped your boiled eggs in their soy marinade, they'll have the proper brown colouration and you'll earn some serious cooking cred points from friends and family! Teriyaki Salmon Donburi Recipe idea #2: One taste of Taro's Salmon Teriyaki donburi and my co-diner shook his head and said, "It would be so easy to get this dish so much better." He was 100% correct. A Teriyaki Salmon donburi only needs to things for success - a good teriyaki sauce and some good salmon fillets. If you tick both of those boxes, you can prepare your own 5-star Teriyaki Salmon donburi in less than 30 minutes in your own kitchen! Just click on Teriyaki Salmon Donburi to find the Youtube tutorial. If you just want to see the written recipe, click Teriyaki Salmon Donburi recipe. Once you've tried this dish out, you might find it difficult to eat salmon any other way! About the reviewer. Hi, I'm Kurumi, a cooking writer and blogger. I'm Japanese but I have lived in London for the last kurumi 30 thirty years. Back in the days before the internet (and Youtube), I was a food writer. My first book published in English was called Japanese Cooking for Two which I wrote in 1994. It has become the 9th best selling Japanese cookbook ever… yaaay! My other books were ‘The Noodle Cookbook”, “The Soy for Health Cookbook” and “Healthy Noodles.” I also published a book in Japanese “English Home Cooking”. Then I had children and my life changed! By the time my children had grown up, the world had changed quite a lot too! Internet, Youtube, Insta etc. So, these days, instead of books, I publish recipe and articles on my website and on my Youtube channel. I hope you'll check out my recipes - they are all tried and tested (some more times than I care to mention!) until I think you will get them right first time when you make them and enjoy eating them. If you’d like to read more about me or my books, then follow the link here: https://www.kurumicooks.co.uk/about Happy eating! Kurumi XXXX.

Stir fried Corned Beef and Sugarsnaps This recipe takes me back to when my first English language cookbook was published in 1994. The book was called 'Japanese Cooking for Two' and this recipe - "Stir Fried Corned Beef and Sugar Snaps" was one of the recipes inside. You might be thinking that corned beef doesn't exactly sound Japanese but it has quite a history in Japan - there is even a Japanese Corned Beef Day - April 6th! Corned beef became popular after the end of the Second World War and Japan's first product - Nozaki Corned Beef - was first sold in 1948. There may have been other Japanese brands but Nozaki has stood the test of time and is still widely sold today. Japanese Cooking for Two by Kurumi Hayter I learned how to make Corned Beef & Sugar Snaps from my mother more years ago than I care to remember - it's a simple way to combine corned beef with a vegetable as a side dish. The sugar snaps adds a crunchy texture contrast and a sweet flavour. You can use mangetoutes instead of sugar snaps but I prefer sugar snaps because they are more crunchy and sweeter. I remove the strings from the sugar snaps before I fry them. You don't need to do this but I think they cook a little quicker without the strings and honestly, I never like the stringy bits when I eat sugar snaps, so I always remove them. After frying the sugar snaps for a minute, I add the corned beef. Frying the corned beef not only accentuates the salty flavour but also soften the texture. The stir fry should take 4-5 minutes - you should be aiming for crunchy sugar snaps (as well as cleaning them, this is the reason why I put them in water for a few seconds prior to frying) and soft, salty corned beef - when the corned beef has softened it will begin to break up a little and this is your signal to turn off the heat and serve. This dish is easy, quick and quite strongly flavoured. I usually pair this with rice and another vegetable dish - the corned beef gives you ample protein from this dish alone. If you'd like to try it out, you can find the youtube tutorial by clicking Stir Fried Corned Beef with Sugar Snaps or scroll down to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below. Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX. Stir fried Corned Beef and Sugar Snaps. ingredients: 2 servings 160g / 6 oz sugar snaps or mangetout 200g / 7 ounces can of corned beef 1/2 tsp soy sauce a little pepper 1/2 tbsp veg oil how to: rinse the sugar snaps remove the strings (if you want to) open your can of corned beef slice the beef into 1 cm / 1/2 inch slices then cut each slice into 1 cm / 1/2 inch cubes heat the veg oil in a frying pan and add the sugar snaps stir fry for 1 min sprinkle with a little pepper then add the corned beef cubes stir fry for a further 2 mins sprinkle over the soy sauce and stir fry until the corned beef begins to break up a little, then remove from the heat your dish is now ready to serve. I usually garnish with a little chopped parsley but I leave that up to you! Stir fried Corned Beef and Sugar snaps

Osumashi with Egg, Shiitake and Leek I can't think of a more quintessential Japanese light healthy meal than a small bowl of "osumashi with egg, shiitake and leek" clear soup and a bowl of rice, served in a lacquered bowl. Picture the scene - it's warm, rather muggy but you need some nourishment. So you slice some shiitake and leek, make up a consomme style dashi base and cook for a few minutes until the vegetables are softened. Stir in a raw egg for each serving (It will cook in the heat of the soup) and your dish is ready - nourishing, hydrating and easily digested. Pair your osumashi with a bowl of rice perhaps topped with some fermented pickles for some tangy, palate clearing flavour and there you have it - you'll rise from your table feeling sustained, hydrated and ready to take on the summer's warmth again. Of course, the contents of an osumashi are variable and to a great extent depend on what you have available. A classic osumashi should be made using a little fish or chicken but egg works equally well - rather than enriching the flavour of the consomme as chicken and fish would, the egg is there for nutrition only and let's the diner enjoy the taste of the osumashi accompanied by the subtle flavours of the shiitake and leek. I used dashi granules to make the consomme base but if you wanted something a little more refined in terms of flavour, you could use a "dashi bag" which I find provides a richer flavour. Making your own dashi from scratch is the most authentic solution and you can find some dashi recipes in the Soups and Stocks recipes section on my site but I appreciate that you might want something a little faster, so this time, I went with the fastest route by using dashi granules from a jar. If you would like to take a look at how to make this recipe, you can find the Youtube tutorial by clicking Osumashi with Egg, Shiitake and Leek or scroll to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below. Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX Osumashi with Egg, Shiitake and Leek ingredients:(makes 2 servings) 500ml / 17 fl oz water 1 tsp Japanese instant dashi stock granules 1/2 tsp salt 3cm / 1.5 in piece leek 2 shiitake or medium button mushrooms 1/2 tsp soy sauce 1 large egg how to: halve the piece of leek longways, then slice into matchsticks remove the shiitake mushrooms stalk ends and slice each mushroom into 4-5 pieces mix the water, dashi stock granules and salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil add the leak and shiitake mushrooms, and simmer for 2-3 mins whisk the egg in a bowl and then pour the whisked egg into the soup. stir the egg around in the soup gently, so you achieve wispy strands of eg rather than lumps finally add the soy sauce and stir gently your Osumashi clear soup is ready to serve. pair with a bowl of rice. Osumashi is also a great accompaniment for sushi & sashimi. Osumashi with Egg, Shiitake and Leek

Baking food in salt (often but not exclusively fish) has a long history in Japan. Apparently, it goes back several hundred years to the reign of one of Japan's great military rulers, Toyotomo Hideyoshi, who used to send whole fished baked in salt as a gift. At the time, salt was a rare and precious commodity, so much so that it was regarded as sacred. (So the gift of a fish baked in a coat of salt was both a symbol of wealth and divinity. My, how times have changed! fast forward to the 21st century and sea bream (Tai, in Japanese) baked in salt is still regarded as a dish for a special occasion. Chefs still use the salt baking technique as it roasts, steams and seasons a fish all at the same time. For this recipe, I used a half side of salmon (de-boned) and seasoned the fish with lemon and kombu (Japanese kelp) before packing in in a mixture of salt and whipped egg white. (There's a debate about whether the egg whites should be whisked or not - I find whisking reduces the cooking time a little and produces a nice firm, crunchy - but not too crunchy - coat. When the dish is cooked, you simply remove it from the oven, use a heavy spoon or a rolling pin to break open the salt crust and inside you have a nicely seasoned piece of salmon. For something that's been cooked inside a salt jacket, the flavour isn't overly salty, no more so than if you'd sprinkled a pinch of salt over the fish. One tip is to use a sheet of greaseproof paper if you cook this dish in a casserole dish rather than using an over tray, otherwise, the salt mixture will glue itself to your casserole which may end out cracking in the oven (as mine did when I made this recipe the other day!) If you'd like to give this lordly cooking technique a try, you can find the youtube tutorial by clicking Salt Baked Salmon . Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX.

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 - Marinated Turnip with smoked Salmon. My last post featured turnip as well, so I shan't go into it's health benefits again but I will repeat that turnip is a versatile and tasty vegetable that is much under-appreciated here in the UK. In this recipe, the turnip is thinly sliced and marinated in rice vinegar - the result is a slightly crunchy, sweet and sour taste that is a perfect compliment to the smoked salmon. This dish makes a great starter or light lunch. You could also serve it as a side dish in a two- or three-dish dinner. What's more, this dish looks attractive too - as long as the turnip and cucumber are thinly sliced, they are a cinch to roll. I decorated the plate with some cress and chopped okra. If you'd like to give this recipe a go, you can find the Youtube video by clicking Marinated turnip and smoked Salmon . Happy healthy cooking! Kurumi XXXX. If you interested in other turnip recipes, you can browse my Marinated Turnip and Choysum recipe?

This week's recipe features fillets of salmon marinated in soy sauce & mirin then wrapped in a sesame coating. This is a combination that provides a double dose of goodness - the salmon gives you omega-3 fatty acids, protein, b vitamins, selenium and potassium while the sesame coating provides extra protein and fibre along with a whole smorgasbord of minerals - copper, calcium, manganese, magnesium, iron & zinc. What's more this is yummy to eat and ready in only a few minutes. I ate this along with some lightly fried courgette and red pepper but it would work equally well with a host of other vegetables. This is quite easy to prepare - my one tip would be to keep an eye on the heat when you fry the salmon - you don't want the sesame to burn while you're cooking. If this is the kind of cooking that gets your juices flowing, you can find the written recipe just below and the Youtube tutorial by clicking Sesame coated Salmon Fillets or scroll to the bottom of the page. Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX. For an alternative salmon recipe, why not try my Teriyaki Salmon recipe? Sesame coated Salmon Fillets ingredients: (makes 2 servings) 2 salmon fillets (260g) 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp mirin 5 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds 2 tsp toasted black sesame seeds 4 x 1 cm courgette slices 1/3 red bell pepper some cress for garnishing (optional) some veg oil for frying kitchen paper how to: cut the red pepper into 4 pieces cut each salmon fillet in half then marinade with the soy sauce & mirin for at least 20 mins combine the black & white sesame and mix well coat the salmon fillets on both sides with the a thick coat ofsesame seeds heat 3 tbsp of vegetable oil in a frying pan and shallow fry the salmon for 2 mins turn the salmon over and fry for a further 2 mins, then rest on kitchen paper heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a clean frying pan, fry the courgettes & peppers and turn over when lightly browned serve the salmon garnish with fried courgettes & pepper serve with some salad & rice

If you checked out my latest Youtube tutorial on interesting Japanese foods, you'll know that I recently started using an unusual Japanese seasoning, Ishiri sauce, in some recipes. Ishiri sauce has a long history going back hundreds of years to times before soy sauce won the race to be Japan's food seasoning of choice. Back then, different regions had their own unique ways of flavouring and preserving food. You could think of Ishiri sauce as a substitute for soy sauce but I think it's much more than that. It has a very strong flavour ( a little really does go a long way - think of super concentrated Thai fish sauce.) It really is a great source of umami flavour. In this recipe, I've combined some Ishiri sauce with a little lemon juice as a flavouring for a dish of cod steaks just garnished with a little asparagus. This is a quick and simple dish but the flavour you get is rich and complex. Eat with a bowl of steamed rice and perhaps another vegetable side dish for a perfectly healthy, richly flavoured eating experience. You can find the Youtube tutorial by clicking Pan fried Cod with Ishiri and Lemon sauce or scroll to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below. Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX. You might also like to check out my Squid Spaghetti with Ishiri sauce recipe for more Ishiri inspiration. Pan fried Cod with Ishiri and Lemon sauce. ingredients: (makes 2 servings) 2 cod fillets, approx. 280g 3 tbsp plain flour 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1 tbsp ishiri sauce 1 tsp lemon juice 1 tsp sugar 1 asparagus spear for garnishing how to: cut each cod fillet in half and coat with the plain flour slice the asparagus diagonally heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the cod & asparagus for 5 mins with a lid on, remove the asparagus and set aside for garnishing turn the cod over and fry for a further 4-5 mins then remove put the ishiri sauce, lemon juice & sugar into the pan and cook until the sauce starts to bubble then remove from the heat spoon the half of the sauce onto the middle of a plate, then place the two pieces of cod on top garnish with some asparagus

Ah, natto....that great divider of opinions. Are you a lover or a hater, or just a, "never tried that before" kind of person? If you've read my other articles about these fermented soya beans, you'll know that I fall into the "lover" camp (as does everyone in my family - my husband even makes natto regularly and he is English!) I shan't go into the health benefits of natto here - suffice to say it is a very, very healthy thing to eat at least now and then and better, on a regular basis. One of the most popular ways to eat natto in Japan, is in sushi, as Natto Maki, meaning in a sushi roll. I think eating natto rolled up in sushi rice hides the stickiness of natto from people's senses and makes it easier for them to eat. I think it's a great way to eat natto, so, I've provided an easy "how to" recipe here to do just that. You can buy natto in Asian and Japanese food stores or over the internet and it isn't at all expensive. Then again, you could follow my recipe and make it yourself - there's a little bit of faff involved but it really is worth the effort as you get a whole lot of natto for not much effort or money. However you choose to obtain your natto, once you've got it and prepared some sushi rice, you're a mere 20 minutes away from a nutritious meal of Natto Maki sushi rolls. As always, if you haven't made your own sushi before, I do encourage you to take a look at the video tutorial to get a visual idea of what to do. You can find the written recipe for this dish just below and for the Youtube tutorial click Natto Maki sushi rolls. Or scroll to the bottom of the page. If you would like to learn more about making you own natto, you can find the Youtube tutorial for that by clicking How to Make Natto. Happy rolling! Kurumi XXXX. If you want to browse another natto dish, why not try my Natto Linguine recipe. Natto maki sushi rolls ingredients: (makes 2 rolls/16 pieces of rolled sushi) 40g natto (sticky fermented soya beans) 1/2 tsp soy sauce 1/4 tsp mustard 1 spring onion 1 sheet of nori, halved 160g cooked sushi rice* 1 sushi mat a bowl of water (for wetting your knife when you slice the sushi roll into pieces) *if you don't know how to make sushi rice, you can find the recipe in the sushi and sashimi section of the recipes page. how to: finely chop the spring onion roughly chop the natto combine the natto, spring onion, soy sauce & mustard & mix well spread 1/2 the sushi rice thinly onto a 1/2 sheet of nori leaving a 1 cm strip at the top end without rice spoon 1/2 the natto across the rice in a narrow strip about 2 cm above the bottom edge now, take hold of the bottom edge of the sushi mat with your thumbs, steady the nori with your index fingers and roll the sushi into shape when the roll is formed, give the mat a light squeeze with your fingers to create a tighter roll, then unroll the mat slice the maki into 6 - 8 pieces per roll, wiping & wetting your knife every time you cut, to keep the blade from sticking. your natto maki sushi rolls are ready - serve with small, individual bowls of soy sauce and a little wasabi

Here's a recipe from my good friend, Yumiko Nikaido who resides in Tokyo. This is her sanshokudon which in Japanese (literally means Three Colour Donburi. This one really takes me back to my childhood (a long time ago!) when it was a super popular home recipe. I think the popularity of this dish coincided with processed meats becoming more available in Japan - this dish features ham, minced beef and egg. In the days when the Japanese were still in thrall to those big, blond Americans they were seeing on their new TVs and occasionally on the streets of the big cities, this dish provided a big hit of body building protein on top of a bed of rice for those who dreamt of being six feet tall. As I said, this was a long time ago when a lot of people thought the Japanese diet was destined for the scrapheap - how wrong they were! The founder of MacDonalds in Japan even promised (wait for this one) that people who ate his hamburgers would find their hair turning blond! Anyway, back to the Three Colours Donburi. The reason I loved it was the taste, especially the minced beef which is cooked in a sweet soy sauce. I know times change, but this dish has stood the test of time and is still a favourite with Japanese both young and old despite the fact that people long ago gave up on the idea of being blond and six feet tall! If you want to try this recipe out, the written recipe is just below. For the youtube tutorial click Three Colours Donburi or scroll to the bottom of the page. Thanks again for the recipe, Yumiko-chan! Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX Three Colour Donburi ingredients: (makes 2 servings) 200g minced beef 3 eggs 3 slices cooked ham 2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp soy sauce 1 tbsp japanese cooking sake 3 tbsp mirin 4 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp grated ginger 3 mangetout for garnishing 400g cooked Japanese rice (if you don't have a rice cooker - you can still cook Japanese rice in a saucepan over a hob. see my "how to" recipe in the Sushi and Sashimi section of the site.) how to: blanch the mangetoute in boiling water for 30 seconds, then finely slice put the minced beef, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of cooking sake, 2 tbsp of mirin, 2 tbsp of sugar & ginger in a small pan and mix together well stir over a medium heat, making sure you break up any lumps of mince using a spatula simmer until the mince is cooked and any liquid has evaporated, then set aside put the eggs, 2 tbsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of mirin & 1/2 tsp of soy sauce in a pan and stir over a medium heat (like making scramble eggs) and mix well, using a spatula break the egg into small pieces (like the minced beef) halve & slice the ham into shreds to assemble the dish, lay 1/2 the rice in each bowl, then add 1/2 of minced meat, 1/2 of egg, and 1/2 of ham on the rice in a 3 colour pattern your Three Colour Donburi is now ready to serve. just garnish with the chopped mangetoute

Teriyaki Salmon Donburi This week's recipe is Teriyaki Salmon Donburi. As you probably know, donburi in Japanese describes a dish where foods are presented on a bowl of white rice. So, this dish is really quite simple, salmon + teriyaki sauce + rice = Teriyaki Salmon Donburi. (I took the liberty of adding some vegetables in the form of a couple of stems of broccoli). But don't let this dish deceive you, while it looks quite simple, the tastes, done right, can be rich and complex. Or at least, they should be. I recently visited a new local Japanese restaurant in North London. (I'll post a review of what I thought about it next month.) One of my co-diners ordered a Teriyaki Salmon Donburi as his dinner. Teriyaki Salmon Donburi Unfortunately, it quickly quickly got the thumbs down. The salmon looked anaemic, had been overcooked and was sat on a bed of rather mashed, dense rice. (You can see the photo on the right.) I thought it was such a shame that a dish which should be very easy to prepare, attractive to the eye and delicious to eat, should have been done so poorly. So, I thought I would provide my own DIY recipe to show you how quick and easy it can be to create this dish properly. There are really only two tips that need to be passed on here: The teriyaki sauce should be prepared not bought. Off the shelf teriyaki sauce is always far too sweet. Making it yourself also avoids consuming emulsifiers, stabilisers and all the other things that go into a factory produced sauce. (Don't worry, making your own teriyaki sauce is simplicity itself and done in just a few minutes. It's also much cheaper!) Your teriyaki sauce should be added to the salmon while it is frying. That way, the salmon absorbs the colour and flavour of the sauce while it is cooking. If you simply add the sauce post cooking, you get neither the true colour or flavour of the dish. Compare the colour of the dish I made to the restaurant prepared version. (In case you are wondering, I didn't post process the photos to look that way!) If you need further persuasion, the shop bought version of this dish cost £12 for one dish. My version cost £5 for two servings. As they say, you do the math.... So, with no further ado, take a look at my recipe below. If a visual tutorial is more your thing, then you can find the Youtube tutorial by clicking Teriyaki Salmon Donburi or by scrolling to the bottom of the page. Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX. Teriyaki Salmon Donburi ingredients: (2 servings) 300g /1oz of fresh salmon salmon (skin on) 2 tsp plain flour 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil for the teriyaki sauce: 1 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp mirin 2 tbsp Japanese cooking sake (or sherry, if you have no sake) 2 tbsp soy sauce 4 long stem broccoli a pinch of salt 450g / 16 oz / 2 portions of cooked rice how to: cut the salmon into 4 fillets (or have your fishmonger do this for you) sprinkle with the plain flour heat the vegetable oil in a small / medium frying pan cook the salmon skin side down for 4-5 mins or until lightly browned turn the salmon over and cook for 2-3 mins more, then turn the salmon on its side next, add the sugar, mirin, Japanese cooking sake & soy sauce to the pan. cook for 2-3 minutes. turn the fillets onto their other side and cook for another 2-3 minutes after a few minutes, the sauce will begin to thicken. give the salmon fillets a final turn to absorb a little more flavour and then remove the pan from the heat (you want the sauce to stay quite loose) blanch 4 small long stem broccoli and drain you are now ready to assemble your donburi: place the cooked rice in two bowls. place 2 fillets of salmon side by side on the rice. add some broccoli and drizzle over the teriyaki sauce Teriyaki Salmon Donburi