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 III

 

Japanese foods and dishes

• Agemono (Deep-fried dishes)
  
• Donburi - one-bowl dishes of hot steamed rice with various savory toppings like
• Katsudon - deep-fried breaded cutlet of pork (tonkatsudon) or chicken (chicken katsudon)
• Fish (e.g., magurodon)
• Oyakodon - (Parent and Child) usually chicken and egg but sometimes salmon and salmon roe
• Gyudon - seasoned beef
• Tendon - battered, deep fried bite-sized foods
  
• Yakimono (Grilled and Pan-fried dishes)
• Teriyaki - grilled, broiled, or pan-fried meat, fish, chicken or vegetables glazed with a sweetened soy sauce
• Gyoza - Japanese version of Chinese dumplings (potstickers), usually filled with pork and vegetables
• Hamachi kama - grilled yellow tail tuna jaw and cheek bone
• Okonomiyaki - pan-fried batter cakes with various savory ingredients (like an open-faced omelette)
• Unagi - grilled eel
• Yakitori - chicken kebabs
• Kushiyaki - meat and vegetable kebabs
• Takoyaki - a spherical, fried dumpling consisting primarily of octopus and batter
• Yakisoba - Japanese style fried noodles
• Yakimeshi – fried rice
  
• One Pot Cooking (Nabemono or yudemono)
• Sukiyaki - mixture of noodles, thinly sliced beef, egg and vegetables boiled in a special sauce made of fish broth, soy sauce, sugar and sake
• Shabu-shabu - noodles, vegetables and shrimp or thinly sliced beef boiled in a thin stock and dipped in a soy or sesame sauce before eating
• Motsunabe - cow intestine, hakusai (bok choi) and various vegetables are cooked in a light soup base
• Kimuchinabe- similar to motsunabe, except with a kimuchi base and using thinly sliced pork. Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish, but it has also become very popular in Japan, particularly in the southern island of Kyushu, which is situated closest to South Korea.
• Yudemono (include dishes like butadofu, nikudofu, oden, nishime, etc.)
  
• Noodles (Menrui)
• Soba - thin brown buckwheat noodles served chilled with various toppings or in hot broth
• Ramen - thin light yellow noodles served in hot broth with various toppings; of Chinese origin, it is a popular and common item in Japan
• Udon - thick wheat noodles served with various toppings or in a hot shoyu and dashi broth.
• Champon - yellow noodles of medium thickness served with a great variety of seafood and vegetable toppings in a hot broth; originated in Nagasaki as a cheap food for students
  
• Other
• Agedashi tofu - cubes of deep-fried silken tofu served in hot broth
• Bento or Obento - combination meal served in a wooden box
• Hiyayakko-cold tofu dish
• Osechi - traditional food eaten at the New Year
• Natto - fermented soybeans, stringy like melted cheese, infamous amongst non-Japanese for its strong smell and slippery texture. Often eaten for breakfast over hot rice.
  
• Rice (Gohanmono)
• Mochi - rice cake
• Ochazuke - green tea poured over white rice.
• Onigiri - Japanese rice balls (seasoned or salted), popularly with nori (seaweed) on it and umeboshi (pickled plum) in it.
• Sekihan - red rice with azuki beans
• Kamameshi - rice topped with vegetables and chicken or seafood, then baked in an individual-sized pot
• Takekomi gohan – rice with seasonings, vegetables and/or meats mixed and steamed together 
  
• Sashimi - raw, thinly sliced foods served with a dipping sauce and simple garnishes; usually fish or shellfish but can be almost anything including beef, horse and chicken.  I might consider the beef, which I have seen at specialty restaurants, but please excuse me from horse or chicken!  But I have had fugu (blowfish), considered a delicacy.  The blowfish is a uniquely Japanese specialty.  There is a gland secretion which can make this fish poisonous if it taints the meat, and preparers in Japan must be licensed.
  
• Soups (Suimono & Shirumono)
• Misoshiru - soup made with miso, dashi and seasonal ingredients like fish, kamaboko, onions, clams, satoimo, etc.
• Dangojiru - soup made with dumplings along with seaweed, tofu, lotus root (renkon), or any number of other vegetables and roots
• Butajiru or nikujiru- similar to Dangojiru, except with pork (buta) or beef (niku) being its principle ingredient

Sushi - vinegared rice (su – vinegar and shi, from meshi, - rice) topped or mixed with various fresh ingredients.  This is a separate Cultural Corner topic of its own.

 

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