Japanese Food

by : Reiko Japanese Food, Potatoes/Squash

Mmmmm… Roasted Satsuma-Imo
うまっ！焼き芋

Although Japanese cuisine has become pretty popular around the world, there are still so many amazing Japanese foods people are missing out on.

One of them is Satsuma-Imo, or Japanese sweet potato.

Yes, it’s a personal opinion, but a lot of people who did try it, including my husband, as well as many Japanese people who live abroad would agree with me.

In the U.S., they may be sold as “Oriental Sweet Potato”, “Asian Sweet Potato”, “Japanese Sweet Potato”, or “Satsuma Potato”.

They have unmistakably dark maroon colored skin (inside is white).

The ones (above) I picked up are a bit chubby, but usually the shape is just like regular sweet potatoes.

How do you cook it?

Well, the best way is roasting it.

When roasted, it brings intense sweetness.

During the roasting process, I noticed that syrup-like liquid was woozing out of the potatoes, which really shows how sweet these potatoes can be.

I love the taste, but the texture is also wonderful.

It’s soft and moist, but not too moist and it keeps the texture satisfying and pleasant.

You can add it to your dinner plate, but it also makes a great snack as it is.

The potato is just so delicious as it is that I typically do not add anything.

No salt, not syrup (please DON’T), no sauce, but the only thing I may do is putting a little piece of butter, which is a whole another story and will probably deserve its own post about it (lol)!

Other ways I enjoy Satsuma Potatoes include tempura and miso soup.

So yesterday we checked out a cactus shop that recently opened in Minneapolis.

This (above) was one of the cacti I really liked, but I came home with…

This one!

It was love at first sight for me.

Isn’t she just lovely?

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July 1, 2018

by : Reiko Asian Food, Japanese Food, Main Dish, Noodles/Pasta

Wasabi Shiso Salad Soba
冷やし蕎麦はじめました。

We had a beautiful day today.

It was warm, but not too hot like the last few days.

So I took advantage of it and went for a long walk..

I mean, a really long walk!

I was out for over two hours, and when I got home I was tired and sweaty.

Walking in the city is my choice of workout, and I really enjoy it.

There are a lot of good things about working out, but one of the best things I think is that after a workout I want to eat something healthy.

When I’m hungry, I’m often tempted to have rich foods like something deep-fried or sugary.

But after a workout even when I’m hungry, I want something light and fresh.

So after a bath (I was too tired to stand in a shower, so sitting in the tub was more appealing to me), I began chopping vegetables.

You can really use any vegetables, but one of my favorites is “shiso” or Japanese basil which you see in the middle of the bowl.

This really gives great refreshing favors to the dish.

Another “must” for me is wasabi.

Wasabi adds a clean spiciness, and it’s too good to be served only with sushi.

The dressing was simply made with soy sauce, white vinegar, sesame oil, and salt.

So yum!

This is something I bought at the Japanese grocery store, Mitsuwa, in Chicago when we visited the city a few weeks ago.

It’s dried roasted sweet potato, and it’s absolutely delicious!

It has been my go-to snack the last few days, and I’m sad that it’s almost gone…

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June 1, 2018

by : Reiko Asian Food, Breakfast, Japanese Food, Rice/Grains

J-Style Country Breakfast: Onigiri
田舎めし

I just got back from a two-day trip to Chicago.

Love the windy city.

It was a short trip, but I ran into the fabulous donut shop where I had one of the best donuts (vegan) ever: Firecakes Donuts.

If you visit or live in Chicago, go there!

I had dark chocolate donut and it was insanely good.

The donut alone was worth traveling to the city.

I also got to try delicious Korean food at Amitabul.

I had their Dr. K’s Cure All Noodle Soup and All-Vegan Pizza, and they were both delicious!

But there is always a must-stop place in Chicago when we drive there, Mitsuwa, a Japanese grocery store.

Although our Twin Cities local Asian grocery stores carry a lot of Japanese foods now, there are still things you only find at Mitsuwa.

I got several goodies, and these are one of them: traditional Japanese fermented pickles.

I decided to make onigiri (Japanese rice ball) using these pickles for breakfast this morning.

The dark one is “Pickled Melon with Bake Less”; that’s what the package says.

And the lighter one is “Natural Nuka Takuan; Pickled Rice Bran Radish”.

I love Japanese pickles, and I grew up eating a lot of these.

My parents used to call me “Miss Tsukemono (pickles in Japanese)”.

Freshly cooked brown rice.

This country style breakfast was exactly what I wanted to create after a long drive home from the city.

I even made miso soup, and I was proud of myself!

This is something my husband picked up at Mitsuwa.

This is a type of sencha green tea, called “Gyoku-ro”.

Gyoku-ro is the king of sencha green tea, and of course, the “Grower’s Reserve” sign got his attention.

We tried a cup last night, and he really liked it.

But he said it’s going to be a weekend tea, because it’s special (well, it’s expensive for sure, lol).

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May 20, 2018

by : Reiko Asian Food, Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta

J-Style Sweet and Sour V-Balls
V団子の甘酢あんかけ

When I came to the US for college many years ago, there weren’t a lot of Asian restaurants.

My school was located in a very rural part of the country, so when I found a small Chinese restaurant that was a 30 minute drive away, I was ecstatic (lol).

Things have since changed, and now we have so many various Asian restaurants in our neighborhood; I did move to the city setting.

A Chinese dish called “Amazu-an” in Japanese was always one of my favorites, and I was hoping to find the same dish in the U.S.

Finding it was not much of a problem, because the name itself was so self-explanatory, “Sweet and Sour”.

But finding a high-quality sweet and sour dish has been somewhat more challenging.

I happened to have homemade V-meatballs, and I decided to make my own sweet sour using a Japanese recipe.

Even though there are a ton of veggies in my v-balls, I still like to have additional veggies.

Isn’t it beautiful?!

Make sure to coat the v-balls and vegetables with this scrumptious thick sauce well.

The sweet and sour is delicious over rice, but I decided to use my recent favorite, Japanese-style fried noodles.

I cooked the noodles over high heat until they were really crunchy.

This turned out to be a great lunch!

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April 28, 2018

by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Breakfast, Japanese Food

Ogura Toast Flight
小倉トーストよろずプレート

Ogura toast is a popular breakfast dish particularly in the area where I grew up.

Many cafes called “kissa-ten” which is an old-styled coffee shop serve breakfast (for free!) if you order a cup of coffee during the “morning” hour, and if you’re lucky, you may get ogura toast.