Do you love Japanese meals? Do you love fun cooking? Do you love learning something new? Udon noodles from scratch, perfect dashi stock, yakitori over Bincho-tan charcoal, filleting whole fluke for sushi and sashimi, sparerib in the Japanese way, varieties of sushi rolls, vegetable cutting into neat flower shape before simmering and savoring healthy meals. Everything is in the upcoming Essentials of Japanese Cooking Course at International Culinary Center, New York...
Read MoreConstruction is Over
News from Hiroko; 1. New website construction is over; new, clean, updated site is up; Please visit www.hirokoskitchen.com 2. Summer has come in New York area after long weeks of cold spring; I have been enjoying early spring delicacies such as ramps, fiddle-head fern, rhubarb and asparagus. If you live in the area where season changes do not miss consuming spring vegetables now. Each vegetable growing in specific season offers us specific nutritional benefits which we need...
Read MoreSHIO-KOJI MAKES EVERYONE HAPPY
So many articles have been written about shio-koji. You may have made it in your kitchen, and have been using it to cook up delicious meals. Shio-koji is a seasoning, which makes everything taste delicious and everyone happy. If you don’t know about it, or haven’t made or used it before, I will show you how to do. Two weeks ago I did Shio-koji workshop at MOFAD, Brooklyn. All attendees prepared their shio-koji from scratch. After 10 days of nursing them, by now, everyone is...
Read MoreDiscover Osechi Ryori (5) Kazunoko – Family Prosperity
Are you still with me in the preparation of Osechi Ryori? Hope that you are not put off with too much superstitious ideas. Kazunoko is a salt-cured herring roe consists of hundreds of tiny eggs grouped together in one piece, encased in a very thin membrane. The size of dried herring roe is about 5 inches long. We hydrate it and marinate it in the mixture of shoyu and mirin overnight. Kazunoko symbolizes family prosperity. Properly prepared kazunoko presents golden yellow...
Read MoreDiscover Osechi Ryori (4) Kobumaki – Longevity
Kelp, which is an indispensable ingredient in Japanese cooking, plays an important role to bring longevity and good luck to the people who consume it at the beginning of the New Year. Kobumaki is a dish in which hydrated dried herring is wrapped and rolled in a piece of hydrated kelp sheet, and simmered tender. Here is the old post of the dish where you find the recipe. Since dried herring is not available here, I use smoked...
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