I have been posting photos on my Instagram of some ICHI-JUU SAN-SAI presentations, a Japanese technique for achieving balanced, nutritious dining. If you are new to ICHI-JUU SAN-SAI, it is an ideal meal structure for everyday home meals that has been conceived and tested in Japan by centuries of experience with nutrition and dining satisfaction. ICHI-JUU ??means ‘one soup dish’; SAN-SAI means ‘three side dishes’. You may find that something is missing from this basic...
Read MoreO-Chazuke, A Unique Rice Dish
‘Cha-zuke’ (the ‘O’ is an honorific) literally means cooked rice served in brewed liquid tea. It is a rice dish in which hot water, hot brewed tea or hot flavored dashi stock (Japanese stock) is poured over cooked rice in a rice bowl. Cha-zuke was born out of necessity because in the past during hard times we did not to waste cooked rice. Also, the hot liquid helped to revive old and tired long-stored cooked rice. You may have enjoyed a variant of this dish, onigiri...
Read MoreSummer Fancy Food Show, NYC, 2018
Snacks and snacks packed in fun and colorful packages, snacks on-the-go, candies, sauces for snacks….. Are we heading to a completely no-cooking wonderland? At the 2018 Summer Fancy Show I was amazed at how much the products scene has changed. Cooking sauces or basic cooking ingredients have shrunk to 10% of total products introduced at the Show. I enjoy cooking to nurture my body, health and soul as my 91 years old mother still does in Tokyo (well she cooks 3-4 days a week...
Read MoreSmudged Delicious Wild Dandelion
Eating along with the season is my motto. I purchased the first-of-the-year wild dandelion at the Union Square Market here in NYC! It is one the first local greens to show up at the farmers’market in spring. Wild dandelion has noticeable bitterness and astringency that is ubiquitous in many early spring wild, mountain and field plants and vegetables. Dandelion is rich in Vitamin A, iron, calcium, Vitamin K and potassium. My winterized body that had been fueled by many root...
Read MoreAshirai Garnish and Grilled Fish in the Japanese Way
Have you noticed that when you order grilled fish at a Japanese restaurant that the fish is always served with some accompanying condiment: grated daikon and lemon (for oily fish such as mackerel and sardine), pickled turnip, pickled hajikami ginger (ginger with a red stem), pickled cucumber, pickled myoga ginger, sweet simmered broad bean, sweet simmered kumquat to name a few. These garnishes are called ‘ashirai’. All of them serve to refresh your palate while consuming...
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