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-

You might enjoy these posts as well:

• Curry Spiced Baked Chicken Recipe – Juicy And Spicy Asian Fusion Dish
• Takoyaki Recipe: Authentic Japanese Octopus Balls Recipe
• Sundubu Jjigae Recipe – Korean Spicy Soup With Tofu
• Ebi Mayo Recipe: Juicy Fried Prawn In Creamy Mayonnaise Sauce
• Love Kewpie Mayonnaise? Can’t Buy It? You Want A NO MSG Version? Here’s The Solution!

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The post Making Sushi Is Easier Than You Think! (Homemade Sushi Rolls – 巻き寿司) appeared first on EATwithOHASHI.

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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I always have cravings for spicy food even when I lose my appetite to eat like when it’s in hot weather. And this is one of my dishes to go when I only have cravings for spicy food like that and also when I feel like to be a bit lazy to make some complicated dishes. 😉

Hope this curry-spiced baked chicken helps some of your nights when you are too tired to make something complicated but still wanting to have something delicious at home. I’m looking forward to hearing your feed back!

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

• Sundubu Jjigae Recipe – Korean Spicy Soup with Tofu
• Enjoy Raw Vegetables and Their Health Benefits with This Japanese Spicy Miso Dipping Sauce
• Curry Powder is Such a Useful Ingredients – Asian Fusion
• My Love of Spicy Korean Food – Bibimbap: A Healthy Spicy Rice Bowl with Vegetables
• Kimchi & Pork Jjigae Udon Recipe – A Korean Spicy Udon Soup with Pork

Eat well, be happy!

Print

Curry Spiced Baked Chicken

Really easy to make Japanese and Indian fusion cuisine. If you like some juicy and spicy chicken dish, you must try this!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Fusion, Indian, Japanese

Keyword Baked, Chicken, Curry, Japanese, Spice

Difficulty Level Easy

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Marinating Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 2 people

Equipment

• Mixing Bowl (Medium)
• Folk
• Kitchen Wrap

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds Chicken Skin on bone in thigh or drums

Marinate Sauce

• 8 tbsp Japanese Mayonnaise *If you can't get one, see the note below.
• 2 tbsp Curry Powder
• 2 tbsp Chicken Bouillon Paste *Please see my recommended product below.

Instructions

Preparations:

• Stab the chicken a couple of times with folk so it gets soaked well when marinated.
• Mix all the marinate sauce ingredients well in a bowl.
• Put the chicken in the bowl and mix well with the sauce.
• Seal the bowl with kitchen wrap.
• Put it in a fridge and let it soak in at least for 30 mins.

Instructions:

• Bake the chicken in the heated oven (355-360°F) for about 25-35 mins.
• Itadaki-Masu! (Japanese greeting word to say right before you eat. It means "thank you for the food!")

Notes

If you can’t get Japanese mayonnaise, you can easily make it yourself with this recipe:

Organic Japanese Mayonnaise Recipe 

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Rate this recipe and share your thoughts. I love feedback!

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My love for Katsu (especially Menchi Katsu)

My love for Katsu is strong. I’m pretty sure that one of the things that made me fall in love with katsu was that my mom was really good at making pretty much any kind of Katsu and we regularly ate it throughout my childhood years. It was my Japanese soul food that I couldn’t live without. It’s hard to say which one is the best, but if I had to make a choice, I would say Tonkatsu is my favorite!

And I remember, when I was pregnant with my son, I was craving Katsu so bad, that I had to eat it whenever I see it. I had some hesitation to eat Katsu so often while I was pregnant and I remember thinking if it’s really fine for my little peanut growing inside me, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Katsu and nothing could stop me from having them ;P

Japanese Katsu’s growing popularity in the US

It seems Tonkatsu and Katsu Sando has started to become very popular in the US. Tonkatsu is basically a deep fried version of the American pork chop, and who doesn’t like deep fried food? 😉 But people are so busy these days, what if there was a more convenient way to eat this tasty dish, perhaps in the form of a sandwich. That’s how the Katsu Sando came about. Here is a photo of what it looks like, doesn’t that look tasty!

What do you eat Katsu with?

The way I like to eat Katsu is simply by itself, so that I can enjoy the tastes and flavors of those simple ingredients. However, if I put something on it, I usually pick soy sauce. I think Tonkatsu sauce is well known and popular as Katsu sauce for most of the various kinds of Katsu, but for vegetable Katsu, some go well with Ponzu. Try if you haven’t! 🙂

Tonkatsu sauce
(とんかつソース)

Soy Sauce
(しょうゆ／醤油)

Ponzu
(ポン酢)

Katsu Dishes

There are other ways to enjoy Katsu, like Katsu curry rice (かつカレーライス), Katsudon (かつ丼), and Katsu Curry Udon (かつカレーうどん), etc. When I make Tonkatsu, I sometimes make more than the amount I serve to my family for dinner. I use the leftover pieces in a different katsu dish (like in the below pictures) the following day for lunch.

What is Menchi Katsu?

Now I would like to introduce Menchi Katsu. If you describe Menchi Katsu in a simple way, it is a deep fried minced beef ball. You make minced beef into ball shapes like this:

And dress them up with flour, beaten egg, and bread crumbs (パン粉), and then deep fry it in heated oil.

Yum, I can hear the sizzling sound from this picture and it’s making me want to have them right now!

If you want to know how to make Menchi Katsu, please let me know in the comments below and I will prioritize adding it to my growing list of recipes just for you!

Here is a photo of a recent Menchi Katsu dish I made for my family…Eat Well, Be Happy!

Read more about Tonkatsu in this blog post: Tonkatsu and Tonkotsu: Do You Get Them Confused?

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The Mnemonic is a combination of the acronyms of traditional Japanese ingredients. It is a reminder to help you to have a healthy diet by evenly incorporating 7 kinds of ingredients.

ま (pronounced ma) is an acronym of 豆 (pronounced mame) and it means “beans”. It represents foods, such as green peas, red beans, black beans, fried tofu, etc. Beans are rich in high-quality proteins and minerals. Rather than raw soybeans, fermented soybeans such as Natto, Tofu, and Miso are better.

ご (pronounced go) is an acronym of ごま (pronounced goma) and it means “sesame”. It represents foods, such as sesame, almonds, chestnuts, peanuts, walnuts, chestnuts, ginkgo nuts, pine nuts, etc. Sesame and nuts are high in protein, minerals, and fats, and in particular, sesame is known to have antioxidant properties.

わ (pronounced wa) is an acronym of わかめ (pronounced wakame) and it means “Wakame seaweed”. It represents foods, such as Wakame seaweed, Hijiki seaweed, Nori seaweed, kelp, Mozuku seaweed, etc. Seaweeds are high in minerals such as calcium. It goes well with vinegar and oil, and you can get nutrients efficiently by eating them together.

や (pronounced ya) is an acronym of 野菜 (pronounced yasai) and it means “vegetable”. Nutrients contained in vegetables such as green-yellow vegetables, light-colored vegetables, and root vegetables differ, but almost all contain vitamins and minerals. You can eat a lot of vegetables when heated because they lose their bulk, but be aware that some vegetables lose their nutrients when heated. Vegetable juice is an easy way to consume vegetables, but they may also be processed to reduce their nutritional value or contain added sugar. It’s a good idea to consume vegetables from salads, raw vegetables, and homemade smoothies.

さ (pronounced sa) is an acronym of 魚 (sakana) and it means “fish”. Examples include Salmon, tuna, octopus, shrimp, oysters, sardines, clams, mackerel, horse mackerel, freshwater clams, etc. Fish are a great source of proteins. Among them, bluefish are expected to reduce cholesterol in the blood and are known to have a fatigue recovery effect.

し (pronounced shi) is an acronym of しいたけ (pronounced Shiitake) and it means “Shiitake mushroom”. It represents foods such as Shiitake mushrooms, Maitake mushrooms, Enoki mushrooms, Nameko mushrooms, etc. Among the vitamins, mushrooms are especially rich in vitamin D and are expected to be effective in repairing calcium in bones. It also contains a lot of other minerals and dietary fiber.

い (pronounced ee) is an acronym of いも (pronounced ee-mo) and it means “Potato”. It represents foods such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, taro, yam, konjac, etc. Potatoes are rich in carbohydrates, and also rich in vitamins and dietary fiber, which can be expected to have the effect of improving the intestinal environment.

Do you now remember those 7 ingredients? Don’t worry, it’s ok if there are the days that you missed some of them and couldn’t have all those 7 kinds of ingredients in your dishes. It’s just a Mnemonic to kindly remind you, encourage you, and to give you an idea of how to enjoy healthier and more nutritional meals. But when you are planning meals or cooking and this Mnemonic pops into your mind, you could get an idea like “oh, I can add sesame seeds in this dish” or “oh, maybe it’ll taste better if I add Shimeji mushroom to this dish”, or something like that. Sounds good?

I hope this Mnemonic comes in handy and helps you to have a healthier mealtime! 🙂

Eat Well, Be Happy!

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The post The Japanese Magic Word for a Healthy Diet, まごわやさしい (Grandkids are Kind) appeared first on EATwithOHASHI.