Local Japanese Cuisine

From Wikiasiantravel

Local Japanese Cuisine

The Japanese Cuisine makes use of staple food in much of its local menu. Many Japanese food are based on rice, noodles and bread. It keeps many traditional foods though it has been influenced by some foreign ingredients and styles of cooking. Japan is an island country, making seafood a common food source. Many nations have adapted Japanese food such as sushi, which has gained a significant rise in fame overseas. The consumption of raw seafood, known as sashimi, has also gained a considerable reputation.

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Contents 1 Main dishes 2 Rice Dishes 3 Noodle Dishes 4 Soups and Stews 5 Snacks and Sweets

Main dishes

• Chanpuru - an Okinawan stir-fried dish made with bitter melon, tofu, spam, egg, meat or fish and other vegetables. The meat and spam are omitted in the vegetarian version. Variants are named depending on the main ingredients used.

• Gyoza - Japanese dumplings stuffed with meat and vegetables. It is made with a rich garlic flavor in comparison to the Chinese jiaozi and Korean mandu.

• Kabayaki - Japanese eel marinated in sweet soy sauce then broiled.

• Karaage - meat fried Japanese-style. Small pieces of meat, usually chicken, are marinated in soy sauce, garlic and ginger. It is usually served with mayonnaise for dipping.

• Kinpira - a style of cooking involving sauteing and simmering using soy sauce and mirin. Burdock, carrots, tofu, seaweed along with other food, are cooked in this style.

• Korokke - Japanese croquette consisting of cooked meat, seafood or vegetables mixed with mashed potato or white sauce. It is then rolled in wheat flour, eggs and breadcrumbs and deep fried.

• Kushikatsu - Japanese-kebab made with chicken, pork, seafood or even vegetables. Instead of the usual grilling/broiling, as with other countries, kushikatsu is deep-fried.

• Kushiyaki - grilled meat and vegetables on skewers similar to yakitori.

• Okonomiyaki - batter cake that is fried in a pan with other ingredients such as meat, octopus, shrimp, squid, vegetables and cheese used as toppings. The ingredients tend to vary depending on the regions.

• Sashimi - thin slices of fish or shellfish eaten raw, served with dipping sauce or wasabi. A variant uses poisonous pufferfish that must be prepared by a licensed chef. Other variants include beef, horse meat, chicken breast, calf liver and deer meat. Most of the variants are regional specialties.

• Takoyaki - a Japanese dumpling usually containing pieces of octopus and tempura with spices. Making this Japanese fast food requires a special frying pan due to its round shape.

• Tempura - a classic dish made of vegetables or seafood deep-fried with light batter. The batter may be a mixture of eggs, baking powder, starch, oil and spices. Tempura is eaten with dipping sauce or used to make other dishes.

• Teriyaki - fish grilled in soy sauce marinade. Squid and konjac are also sometimes used.

• Tonkatsu - pork cutlets coated with breading mix and deep-fried. It is a western style dish usually served with cabbage.

• Yakiniku - grilled meat and vegetables known in other places as Japanese BBQ. The bite sized meat are often beef and offal. It is served with a Japanese style dipping sauce. In some restaurants, yakiniku is cooked at the table by the diner.

• Yakitori - barbecued chicken meat skewered in bamboo skewers. Most parts of the chicken are used in this Japanese dish.

Rice Dishes

• Cha Han - Japanese style fried rice catered for the Japanese taste.

• Donburi - a rice dish usually served in a bowl with toppings consisting of meat and vegetables. Donburi has different varieties:
  • Gyudon - beef and onion topped rice with sweet sauce.
  • Katsudon - rice topped with pork cutlets, egg and spices.
  • Oyakodon - rice bowl dish topped with chicken, egg and green onion.
  • Tekkadon - donburi having raw tuna slices as topping. It is also served spicy.
  • Unadon - a bowl of rice topped with grilled eel coated with a sweet sauce.

• Hayashi Rice - a popular rice dish having beef, onions, mushroom in a rich brown sauce. The demi-glace sauce is often made with tomato sauce or wine. The sauce and other ingredients are placed on top or beside the rice.

• Kamameshi - a traditional rice based-dish cooked with meat, seafood and vegetables. It is often cooked in a pot and also sold as boxed meals.

• Ochazuke - a Japanese dish made by pouring green tea on rice and adding toppings such as pickles, seaweed, furikake and wasabi. Leftover rice is also used to make this simple dish.

• Omurice - a dish made by combining omelet and rice. The omelet is stuffed with fried rice and added with ketchup, white sauce or plain pepper and salt. The fried rice may consist of meat and vegetables.

• Rice Curry - a dish popular in Japan due to the ease in its preparation. It is usually made with rice, curry mix, meat, potatoes, onions and carrots. Ready-made curry mix, sold in supermarkets, may also be used. The curry dish has other variations using noodles or bread instead of rice.

• Sekihan - a dish made with sticky rice and azuki beans. The beans contribute to the reddish color of the dish. This traditional dish is often prepared during celebrations.

• Sushi - vinegared rice topped or rolled with fresh ingredients such as fish or seafood, raw or cooked. Sushi is often confused with sashimi, which is raw fish or seafood.

• Takikomi Gohan - boiled rice dish cooked with soy sauce and a various ingredients of choice. Common ingredients added to rice are vegetables and seafood.

• Zosui - a rice soup made from cooked rice, meat, seafood, vegetables and egg.

Noodle Dishes

• Champon - a noodle dish having Chinese influence. It is prepared as a noodle soup with vegetable and seafood toppings.

• Okinawa Soba - wheat noodles served in broth. Common toppings are fish cake, scallions and cooked pork belly or boneless pork ribs. It is a regional dish native to Okinawa.

• Ramen - a Japanese noodle dish of Chinese origin. It is made with a meat-based broth and usually topped with pork, seafood, seaweed, egg and other noodle soup toppings. The different regions have their own variations of ramen.

• Soba - thin buckwheat noodles served cold or in a hot noodle soup. The cold variant often comes with toppings and served with dipping sauce. It is also served hot with different toppings in a hot soup broth.

• Somen - noodle made of wheat flour. It is usually served cold, prepared with vegetables or with dipping sauce. In contrast to the thick udon, somen noodles are very thin.

• Udon - a wheat-based noodle usually prepared as a hot noodle soup. Variations mostly depend on the ingredients used as toppings. Some common toppings are meat, vegetables, tofu, tempura, mochi and seafood. There are also particular dishes where udon is served cold.

• Yakisoba - stir-fried noodles cooked with pork and vegetables, seasoned with a Japanese condiment, salt and pepper. Yakisoba is also served stuffed in a bun. It is commonly sold during festivals.

• Yakiudon - a variation of yakisoba using udon noodles.

Soups and Stews

• Butajiru - pork soup made with vegetables and flavored with miso. It is also known as tonjiru.

• Imoni - a traditional potato and meat soup. The ingredients vary depending on the region from which the soup is made but some common ingredients such as taro roots, mushrooms, tofu, carrots and soy sauce are used.

• Kakuni - a Japanese stew made by boiling cubes of pork in soy sauce, sugar, sake and mirin.

• Kiritanpo - refers to pounded cooked rice toasted over open heat. It is used as a kind of dumpling in soups.

• Miso Soup - a traditional soup made with a dashi stock and miso paste. The ingredients used in the soup is preferred to contrast each other to each contribute to the soup. Ingredients vary from mushrooms, tofu, seaweed, potato, onions, shrimp or fish.

• Motsunabe - beef or pork offal prepared in light soup with cabbage and spices.

• Nikujaga - a Japanese winter dish made from beef, potatoes, onion and vegetables stewed in sweet soy sauce. The meat is either sliced or ground. Pork is preferred in eastern Japan.

• Nizakana - fish stewed in soy sauce, mirin, sake, water and sugar.

• Oden - a Japanese winter dish that may consist of a single or several main ingredients. Some usual ingredients are tofu, Japanese radish, eggs, mushrooms, meat and seafood. Oden is sold on food carts and convenience stores.

• Soki - stewed pork spare ribs with the cartilage but without the bone.

• Shabu-shabu - a Japanese hot pot consisting of thinly sliced beef served with vegetables and dipping sauces.

• Sukiyaki - a popular Japanese steamboat dish usually cooked at the table. Some common ingredients are thinly-sliced beef, leafy vegetables, scallions, mushrooms and noodles. The vegetarian version uses firm tofu instead of meat.

• Zoni - mochi soup served during the Japanese New Year. In addition to mochi, meat and vegetables are also common ingredients. Tofu is used as a substitute to mochi in some places.

Snacks and Sweets

• Anpan - a Japanese bun filled with red bean paste. Other variations of this sweet bun use different bean pastes.

• Bokun Habanero - a Japanese snack made of potato rings and is served moderately spicy.

• Castella - a Japanese sponge cake. It is made of sugar, flour, eggs and starch syrup. It is a common street food and in festivals.

• Curry Bread - a Japanese bread stuffed with Japanese curry.

• Melonpan - a sweet bun having the appearance of a melon but does not necessarily taste like one. It is a semi-French bread style bun with a crispy outer layer.

• Mochi - a traditional Japanese rice cake commonly eaten during Japanese New Year but is also served all year-round. It consist mainly of glutinous rice and is pounded and shaped into a sticky treat.

• Onigiri - a popular rice snack wrapped in edible seaweed. It is usually triangle or oval-shaped. Some common fillings are fish, seafood and pickles.

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