Back to Japan

Leaving Durham where we had lived for 8 years in the morning 12/28/2012,  we arrived new house in Gifu, Japan in the night 12/29/2012.  15 hours flight made me totally dizzy and still have foggy brain after some of naps.

Although the night when we stood on Chubu international airport in Nagoya was surprisingly warm, around 50°F,  winter weather with cold rain came back today.  We may have a sprinkle of snow tomorrow.  Children are really looking forward to seeing snow.  I wonder if I should tell them we don't have so much snow as they expect.  We need to drive over a mountain to see heavy accumulate snow. 

Miso soup

Basic, but endless recipe.
Every family has own recipe and there is no right one. It is OK if you like it.

But I write here just for you. This is my basic recipe.


4 cups boiling water with 1 tsp Dashi (Hon dashi granules)
4 tsp or less Miso

with ingredients like;

1/2 pack Tofu cut cubes
1 Tsp Dry seaweed (Wakame)
1 Tsp green onion, thin sliced
Boring?

1 fried tofu, sliced
2 round potato, cut dice
1 Tsp dry seaweed

or

1/2 cup of carrot, cut dice
1/2 cup of turnip, cut dice
1/2 cup of squash, cut dice
1/2 medium onion, cut half and sliced
1 or 2 slice of bacon, 1/4" wide sliced
1 or 2 tsp butter, unsalted
wow, far from traditional, but tasty. Believe me.

Broccoli, sweet yam, beans, peas, spinach, radish, any veggies can be good ingredients. Egg, meat, pieces of fish are good, too.
I always pick at least three ingredients considering about color of foods. Good color combination makes good taste.


Add Miso when ingredients are cooked well. Don't boil after Miso added.
You should add miso 3 tsp first, taste it, then add more if you feel it less taste. The taste is depend on the ingredients and different every day. You must trust your tongue.

Yield; 4 servings



There are many kinds of Miso. The big three are shiro(white), aka(red) and awase(mixed). Shiro miso is pale yellow one, sweet and temder smell. Aka miso is reddish brown, strong taste and salty. Awase miso is mixed one. They are used depend on the area that the family comes from. So when you ask somebody the miso style, you can find where he comes from.
I use koji miso which made with soy bean and rice. Yes, I am from the area having good quality rice and water.
As koji miso isn't popular, you may not find near your area. You may use awase miso instead. I hope you can find your favorite one.

If you can't find dashi, you may ignore it. Dashi is a broth made from dried fish (sardin, bonito, etc.) and seaweed. Some misos contain dashi.

Mayo-Teriyaki Zuccini and Chicken

送信者 cook book for my children

This is my original recipe for my family. We enjoyed crispy Zucchini and tender chicken with sweet and sour teriyaki sauce. You can use poke or shrimps instead of chicken.

4 boneless skinless chicken tight, cut bite size, covered with 1 Tsp corn or potato starch
2 zucchinis, sliced
2 Tsp vegetable oil
2 Tsp sugar*
2 Tsp Mayo light*
3 Tsp Soy sauce*
1 Tsp Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar*

Mix sauce marked *.
In a large skillet, heat oil and stir zucchini for 2-3 minutes or until crispy tender. Remove and keep warm.
In the same skillet, heat chicken for 4 minutes one side or until get light brown, and turn and heat the other side as same. Chicken must be cooked well. Add zucchini.
Add sauce into the skillet. Stir well until sauce get smooth and coat veggie and meat.

Yield; 4 servings.


We can buy many kinds of starch. I like potato starch for Japanese recipe, which is more sticky than corn starch when heated. When the dish with potato starch gets cold, it turns more liquidized. So the dish must be served hot. If you want to keep this for lunch of next day, you should use corn starch and cook longer,in order to reduce the bitterness and smell.

In this recipe, meat is covered with potato starch before cook. Starch keeps gravy juice when meat is cooked and makes meat juicy and tender but crispy outside. When it is steamed, meat is covered with smooth clear coat. Try both way and tell me which you like.

Fish Nitsuke

送信者 cook book for my children

Nitsuke(knee-too-kei?) is a basic fish cook. Very easy and tasty. No odor with ginger.


2 piece of white fish (tilapia, flounder, etc) fresh or thawn
1 Tsp Sake
1 Tsp mirin
1 Tsp sugar
2 Tsp soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1,2 slice ginger root, optional

Yield 2 servings.

In a skillet, let sauce boil. Turn off heat and put fish in. Cover with paper towel. Cook on medium heat for 15-17 min. Don't stir.

As side dish, you can cook vegetables (you always like chopped broccoli and snow peas) in same sauce with fish.

Japanese food

In Japan, we eat white steam rice every day, oh yes, every meal in many family. A bowl of rice (the most important meal for us), a bowl of soup, a main dish and two side dishes; this combination is our basic style.

To eat rice, the main dish is a slightly salty but not big amount.
Side dishes may be different taste and texture.
Usually we take a Miso soup, but sometimes a Sumashi-jiru, soy source taste, too.


We also like noodles. Our most favorite noodle is a Ramen. But it is quite different from thing from ones you can buy in the grocery. As it is very difficult to prepare perfectly, so I gave up to eat it here.
We eat Udon and Somen much more frequently. There are many various recipes in every family. It may be fun to collect them.


In long history, Japanese have absorbed new food and new taste form many country and area of whole world, mixed with our traditional style and made up new dishes. Curry with rice is good example: Curry is India origin and passed to England in the colonial era, and introduced in Japan. Japanese curry is completely different food of Indians. Which is better? I don't know. I like both, as different things.


Anyway, I will show some not-traditional food. They may be non-bordered food. But I think they are arranged by Japanese for Japanese and sometimes makes us feel our home country.

About me

I am a Japanese mother living in Durham, NC with my sweety and two children, and temporaly two crikets.

I have been in the US for 8 years and this life has been a sort of survival, especially in language and food. We have some Oriental markets in this area and we can buy many Japanese food. But sometimes they are expensive. So, I have had to try to make up our coutry food with more familier staffs in local groceries. Fortunately, in these days it is easy to find basic seasonings and sorces of Japanese food in the oriental food shelves in any grocery, at least in this area.

In this blog, I will write some Japanese recipe which I use in daily and which my friends tell me.