Cultural Corner

Have you ever wondered about...

Japanese Cuisine?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Also from previous Cultural Corner articles
Anecdotal information
(In Four Parts)

By Emy Murakawa

Part II

 

Essential Japanese Ingredients

• Short or medium grained white rice
• Vegetables -- Chinese leek (nira), spinach, cucumber, eggplant, burdock (gobo), daikon, sweet taro (satoimo), lotus root (renkon), bamboo shoots (takenoko), green onion (naganegi)
• Seafood
• Pickled Vegetables
• Mushrooms -- shiitake, matsutake, enokitake, nameko, shimeji
• Seaweeds -- nori, konbu, wakame, hijiki
• Noodles -- udon, soba, somen, ramen, shirataki
• Processed Seafood -- dried baby sardines (niboshi), dried cuttlefish, kamaboko, satsuma-age
• Eggs (chicken, quail)
• Meats -- pork, beef, chicken, lamb, horse
• Beans -- soy (edamame), azuki
• Fruits – persimmon (kaki), chestnut (kuri), Japanese pear (nashi), Mandarin orange (mikan)

Essential Japanese Flavorings

It is not generally thought possible to make authentic Japanese food without shoyu, miso and dashi.

• Shoyu (fermented soy sauce), dashi (fish broth), mirin (sweet rice wine), sato (sugar), Nihon su (rice vinegar), miso (grain and soybean fermented with salt to make a paste), sake (Japanese rice wine)
• Konbu (kelp), katsuobushi (dried and smoked bonito), niboshi (dried baby sardines)
• Onion, garlic, leek, chive, shallot -- all discouraged by Buddhism, but popular in modern Japan
• Sesame seeds (goma), sesame oil (goma abura), walnuts or peanuts

Wasabi and imitation wasabi from horseradish (daikon), mustard, red pepper, ginger (sh­δga), shiso leaves, sansho, citrus

Back to Top