My husband loves Nikujaga as well as I do. And actually, when we started dating back in Japan almost 15 years ago (OMG!), he made me Nikujaga and I was impressed as it was really good! Unfortunately, the recipe which he was using is missing so we haven’t had it for a long time now, but when I make one with my recipe, he really enjoys it and it gives him a smile 🙂 He says Nikujaga is one of the best Japanese comfort food for him as well 🙂 He’s American, but maybe he has become a bit Japanese by living in Japan, haha.

For the ingredients, this time I used, were potatoes, thinly sliced beef, carrots, yellow onions, Edamame, and Shirataki (しらたき) which is basically a noodle version of Konnyaku (こんにゃく, konjac yam cake).

Seasonings for this dish are soy sauce, Sake, Mirin, sugar, and Shiro-Dashi. Nikujaga is actually a quite easy dish to make and there are basically 3 steps to make. First, stir fry the vegetables (except Edamame) and the meat with a little amount of oil, then add water to it to boil. Once it starts boiling, add the seasonings (soy sauce, Sake, Mirin, etc.) to it and keep it simmer until the vegetables become soft enough. Hmmm, thinking about the taste of Nikujaga makes me smile as it’s really comforting to me 🙂

What is your favorite comfort food? Please share in the comment section below, I’m interested!

If you’d like to learn more about Nikujaga’s history, check out this Wikipedia page.

If you are interested in commonly used ingredients for Japanese dishes, read this post: A Guide to Japanese Cooking Ingredients

If you enjoyed this post about Nikujaga, you might enjoy these posts as well:

• You may know Tonkatsu and Katsu Sando, but have you heard of Menchi Katsu?
• Takoyaki is My Favorite Osaka Street Food, Perhaps I’m from Osaka, Not Tokyo?!
• Tonkatsu Sause is The Magic Sauce: Japanese Stewed Hamburg Steak
• Sukiyaki (すき焼き): My Favorite Dish to Eat When I’m Missing Japan

Eat Well, Be Happy!

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My cravings drove me to make homemade Sushi rolls for the first time😋

They may look a little difficult to make yourself, but it’s actually easier than most of you think.

As it was my first attempt to make Sushi rolls myself, they don’t look perfect and there were some errors in the process, I admit, but it’s ok as it was fun and most importantly it made my stomach content :)💕

Tool to make Sushi rolls

When you make Sushi rolls, you need this special tool called Makisu (巻きす).

Makisu

巻きす

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The green part which is a flat surface is where you put rice and stuff against, and the other side (white side) which has rounded surfaces is gonna be the bottom side when you roll.

Ingredients

• Short Grain Rice
• Nori Seaweed
• Your desired ingredients to roll with rice
  
  This time I picked salmon (サーモン) and albacore (ハマチ) for the fish. And other ingredients I used were cucumbers and Japanese style omelet (玉子焼き -Tamagoyaki-).
  You could use/add avocados, Japanese Taku-an pickles (たくあん), imitation crab meat (カニカマ), Shiso herb (大葉), Tobikko (とびっこ), radish sprouts (カイワレ大根), etc.

Steps to make Sushi rolls

1. Place Makisu in the correct way

The flat side up and the rounded side down, and the end of the strings should be on the side which is farther away from you. Like this:

2. Place Nori seaweed

The rough side of Nori should be facing you. Like this:

3. Place rice on Nori

The cooked rice can be either Sushi rice (cooked rice mixed with vinegar and sugar) or regular rice. It should be short-grain rice.

4. Spread the rice

Spread the rice evenly by using your fingers. Leave the space about 1 inch in the top area on the Nori like in the picture.

5. Place Sashimi fish and other ingredients

The fish has to be fresh Sashimi-grade and cut into thin long rectangle shapes. Place them in the middle of the spread rice. Like this:

6. Roll

Hold the bottom part of the Makisu and start rolling. Lightly hold and support the ingredients with your other hand when you roll, like in the pictures below.

*Important tip
When you roll it, the key is to try to do it tightly so it doesn’t fall apart and the inside toppings won’t come out when you cut it into small pieces when you serve.

After you successfully finished with the first roll part, hold it with both hands and put some pressure on it as you try to make the roll tight and stable. Like this:

Then take the end of the Makisu which you just moved to roll, like this (the right hand is doing it in the picture.):

And hold it up with one hand and try to roll the rest by pushing and rolling forward with another hand like these:

After you successfully finished rolling, hold it with your both hands and put some pressure on it as you try to make the roll tight and stable just like the previous step. Like this:

7. You made Sushi roll!

Ta-da! You made your Sushi roll yourself! Congratulations!! Now please proudly move on to the last step 😉

7. Cut and serve

Now your Sushi roll is waiting to be cut and served. Enjoy looking at the beautiful cut surface you made!

Time to enjoy!

Dip it in soy sauce mixed with a little amount of Wasabi. Be careful not to soak it in the soy sauce pool 😉

– Eat Well, Be Happy-

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What is Tonkotsu (とんこつ)?

The word “Tonkotsu (豚骨/とんこつ)” is often used as “Tonkotsu Ramen (豚骨ラーメン)”. Did you just have that “ah-ha!” moment? Fantastic! 😀

Tonkotsu Ramen
(豚骨ラーメン)

In Japanese, ”Ton (豚)” in “Tonkotsu (豚骨)” means “pig (Buta/豚)” and “Kotsu (骨)” means “bone (Hone/骨)”. So “Tonkotsu” means “pig bone”. Can you guess why? That’s because the broth of Tonkotsu Ramen is made with pig bones. “Yay!” to your new knowledge if you did not already know! 😀 And yeah, that may not sound so delicious, but Tonkotsu is definitely one of the amazing Japanese dishes loved by many people around the world.

Tonkotsu Ramen is originally from one of the heavily populated prefectures in Japan, called Kyushu (九州). There are several variations of Tonkotsu Ramen, such as Hakata Ramen (博多ラーメン), Nagahama Ramen (長浜ラーメン), and Kurume Ramen (久留米ラーメン) to name a few. These names – Hakata, Nagahama, and Kurume – are the names of cities located in Kyushu, but Hakata Ramen is the most well known version of Tonkotsu Ramen. But a fun fact, Kurume Ramen, is actually known as the “original” Tonkotsu Ramen.

If you are interested to read more about Tonkotsu ramen, check out this Ramen shop called Ichiran (一蘭), which is very popular for Hakata style Tonkotsu Ramen in Japan. You can read more about this ramen shop on this website. Ok, now let’s move on to the next topic, Tonkatsu. 😀

What is Tonkatsu (とんかつ)?

With the growing popularity of Tonkatsu in the US, I think most people have now heard of Tonkatsu (豚かつ/とんかつ). Do you remember what “Ton” meant? Yes, it means “pig”, the same as in “Tonkotsu”. Well then, what does “Katsu (かつ)” mean…do you know? “Katsu” means “cutlet”, so “Tonkatsu” means “pig/pork cutlet”. Doesn’t the photo below look so delicious!

Tonkatsu
(とんかつ)

In Japanese cuisine, there are several different kinds of Katsu, and Tonkatsu is one of them. If you want to hear about my big love for Katsu or read more about Japanese Katsu, please check out this post: You may know Tonkatsu and Katsu Sando, but have you heard of Menchi Katsu?

There is this super popular Tonkatsu place in Tokyo Japan, which is called Tonkatsu Narikura (なりくら/成蔵). There is always a long line at this shop, even more than hour before their opening time. On a typical day, you will have to wait at least an hour. I often recommend people to try to get in line before they open, as you have the best chance to be seated within the first group after opening the doors.

But once you “experience” their Tonkatsu on that first bite, you will immediately understand the reason why people wait in that line. It’s like you enjoy the crunchiness of the deep-fried bread crumbs outside of the Tonkatsu first and right after that, this amazing softness of the pork follows with all the mouth-watering goodness of the oil from the pork meat and the Tonkatsu sauce. Sounds too good right? Here are some pictures of my last visit to this shop. It was well worth the 1hr wait! The only sad part, is that these photos simply do not tell the right tale. 😉

Now You Know the Difference Between Tonkatsu and Tonkotsu

The reason why I wrote about this post is because of the experience I had since moving to the US. I’ve seen several menus at Japanese restaurants, which had written, “Tonkatsu Ramen” with a picture of Tonkotsu Ramen. Even my husband from time to time mixes up the two words. And he has lived in Japan for more than 10 years! 😉 So I find it fairly common to hear people use Tonkatsu and Tonkotsu interchangeably, even though they are very different things. 😉

At first, I thought the menus were just a typo, but I’ve seen the same thing more than a couple of times, and it made me think, perhaps some people may be a bit misinformed. And of course, they also sound very very similar, so I think it’s easy to mix them up, for non native Japanese speakers. And if today was the first time learning one of these foods, then I hope you get the pleasure of eating it soon! They are both amazing dishes. It’s on my to do list, but I hope to add my Tonkatsu recipe to my website soon. Please comment below if you would like to see that. Your encouragement always helps and it helps me to prioritize what I add to my site.

Well, I’ve wanted to have the chance to tell people who don’t know about them well, and now I’m really happy that I could share this knowledge with you! Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope this helped to add some new Japanese food culture knowledge that you can share with others.

Eat Well, Be Happy!

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This homemade biscuit recipe only takes about 15 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to bake. You most likely have all the ingredients in your kitchen. In our home, a holiday dinner is not complete without these amazingly simple to make, yet insanely delicious homemade biscuits. Serve them hot and fresh out of the oven for an unforgettable experience. Serve them with butter, honey or both!

Did you think homemade biscuits would be so easy to make?

Print

Homemade Biscuits

A quick and easy recipe for homemade biscuits. Don't buy store made or biscuits from a can. You most likely have all the ingredients in your cupboard and this only takes 30-40minutes (including bake time). Wow your guests with these delicious biscuits at your next dinner party.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword Biscuits, Festive

Difficulty Level Easy

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 8 biscuits

Equipment

• 1 Oven
• 1 Rolling Pin

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 tbsp Baking Powder
• 1 tbsp Granulated Sugar
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• 8 tbsp Butter Chill butter in the freezer 30-60minutes prior to using.
• 1 cup Buttermilk If you don't have buttermilk, see my notes below. You can make buttermilk with milk and lemon juice or white vinegar.

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
• Grate butter using a box grater into the flour mixture. Be sure to toss the flour throughout this process to incorporate the butter evenly. The trick is to have very cold butter, as you do not want it to melt until it's baking in the oven.
• Create a well in the middle of the dough and pour in 1 cup buttermilk. Stir to combine. Just before it begins to come together, dump out onto your lightly floured work surface.
• Bring your dough together and work into a 1" thick rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds (e.g. imagine folding a letter to place in an envelope). Using a rolling pin (or your hands), gently pat your dough back into a 1” thick rectangle. Repeat this process two more times. Work quickly, to avoid melting the butter.
• Roll your dough back into a 1” thick rectangle. Using a 2½” round biscuit or cookie cutter, press down to cut out the biscuits and place onto baking sheet at least a half inch apart (Tip: Do not twist, pull dough away from the cutter and lift up and place on baking sheet. Bring together dough scraps and form another 1" thick rectangle and cut more biscuits.
• Brush the tops of your biscuits with melted butter and bake until tops are lightly golden in color, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately with butter and/or honey.

Notes

Tips:

Cold Butter – Be sure to chill your butter (in the freezer) at least 30 to 60 minutes prior to grating it into your flour mixture. You want the butter as cold as possible, so that it does not melt while you are mixing and folding your dough. This is the secret technique which ensures you get those extra fluffy biscuits.

Buttermilk – most of us don’t have buttermilk in our fridge. Not a problem as long as you have milk and lemon juice or white vinegar. Just add 1 tbsp of lemon juice or white vinegar per 1 cup of milk. Drop in, stir and let sit for at least 5 minutes. In my experience, you will want the milk to be around room temperature for this to work. If the milk is very cold and fresh out of the fridge, it doesn’t seem to take. If I’m in a rush, I will zap it in the microwave in a glass measuring cup for about 15-20 seconds and then add the lemon juice/white vinegar.

Working your Dough – as with all baking, don’t overwork the dough. Be gentle, pat into 1″ thick rectangles, fold into thirds and then repeat. Don’t stress out the dough more than you have to.

Biscuit Cutter – Don’t twist. Simply push down the cutter into the dough and pull away the surrounding dough to cleanly separate and transfer your biscuit to your baking sheet. If you twist, you won’t get a proper rise on your biscuits.

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Enjoy having fun tossing this salad, making your own homemade dressing, and enjoy it until the last bite. Honestly, it’s so good, that I need to come up with another salad recipe so that I can alternate. I’d would be so sad to grow old of this one…it’s just perfect!

Eat Well, Be Happy!

Print

Heart Healthy Delicious Apple Salad

A delicious healthy salad that is irresistible. Customize to your liking, but I prefer the combination of blue cheese crumbles with apple slices, dried cranberries, and pecans, mixed in a dijon mustard vinaigrette. You just have to try it! Also, be sure to always use organic ingridients as it will make a huge difference in the taste of this dish.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Keyword Apple, Healthy, Heart Healthy, Salad

Difficulty Level Easy

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6 people

Equipment

• Mixing Bowl (Large)
• Salad Mixing Spoons
• Measuring Cups and Spoons
• Skillet
• Whisk

Ingredients

For Candied Pecans

• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
• 2 tbsp Water
• 1 cup Pecans Organic

For Dressing

• 2 tbsp Rice Vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
• 1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 Shallot Finely Chopped

For Salad

• 6 cups Mixed Greens Or substitute with Spinach
• 1 Apples Organic Honeycrisp or Fuji Apples
• 1/4 cup Crumbled Blue Cheese
• 1/4 cup Dried Cranberries Organic

Instructions

Candied Pecans

• Heat water, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a skillet over medium heat.
• Stir until sugar and cinnamon are dissolved
• Add pecans and toss until completely covered
• Simmer for 5 minutes until sticky and then remove from heat.
• Place candied pecans on parchment paper in a single layer and let cool. (Note: for any pecans you don't use, you can keep for up to 5-7 days).

Dressing

• Whisk together rice vinegar, shallot, dijon mustard, and olive oil in a glass bowl.

Salad

• Thinly slice apples to your preference.
• Combine mixed greens, sliced apples, candied pecans, crumbled blue cheese, and dried cranberries in a large bowl.
• Drizzle salad with dressing, toss, and serve immediately.

Notes

Serving Size:
This recipe yields 6 to 8 servings. For those looking to create a salad for 2 adults. We recommend to create the dressing and candied pecans as described above. For the salad itself, you can use half of the quantities listed. You can then keep the pecans and dressing in the refrigerator to create another salad later in the week.

Healthier Version:
For an even healthier version of this salad, skip the work of creating candied pecans and just use pecans, swap out mixed greens for spinach, and add chopped yellow or red onions.

Other Tip:
The important thing to follow in this recipe is the quantities listed for the salad ingredients. Add greens to your mixing bowl with all ingredients and toss. Add greens as needed to create a good balance between the cranberries, crumbled blue cheese, and pecans. Experiment with the balance to see what you like best. Refer to our photo for a good idea.

If you are interested in commonly used ingredients for Japanese dishes, read this post: A Guide to Japanese Cooking Ingredients

For other heart-healthy recipes, check out this page on Mayoclinic.com

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The post Apple Salad Recipe – A Heart-Healthy Side Dish appeared first on EATwithOHASHI.

A little tip is to add those ginger powder and garlic powder more than you think it’s enough so it come out full of the flavors in your mouth and also through your nose when you bite😁 Mmmmmm🤤💕

I always ended up eating too much of it as I love it too much🤣

What is the food that you can’t stop eating even if you are already full?

If you like to check out other fried dishes, I recommend you these posts:

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