Tachiuo Takikomigohan 太刀魚炊き込みご飯

Takikomigohan is a great way to change-up our usual routine of white rice. Simply grill a fish. Ideally a boneless filet or you'll have to deal with the bones later on. It's hard to see in this photo, but in the rice bowl there are small flakes of fish studding the rice.

Rinse the rice as usual. Add the water as usual. Then simply add the grilled fish to the rice pot. We used tachiuo (cutlassfish) for this takikomigohan. Add a little bit of salt to the pot and cook as you would normally cook your rice.

Before serving simply break up the fish and mix into the rice.

This works with a variety of fish. Usually we choose lean white fish like tai (sea bream) or a fatty fish like salmon. Even better when making salmon takikomigohan is to add some ikura to the rice after it is cooked.

Three Tuna Recipes

Tuna is one of the easiest fish to start with in the kitchen, especially if you find sashimi grade tuna. Check with your fishmonger. At some stores, like some Whole Foods in and around New York City, the tuna is kept in a super-freezer. It's easy to defrost at home. I hope to post on it in the future.

This first recipe is simply sashimi grade tuna that is rough chopped and quickly seasoned with soy sauce and shichimi (seven spice). But feel free to use whatever you want like sesame oil, some Korean kochujan, etc. We marinate the fish for about five minutes and then serve it over rice.

This zuke couldn't be easier. Thinly slice the sashimi grade tuna, put in a bowl with

2 parts soy sauce
1 part mirin
1 part sake

and marinate overnight in a refrigerator. Serve over a bowl over hot rice.

This tuna tataki dish is always satisfying. There is something about the texture of the cooked exterior and the raw interior that makes this an appealing dish. Also, the nuttiness of the sesame seeds is a nice partner to the meaty maguro. Simply roll a sashimi grade tuna steak in sesame seeds, white or black. Then heat up a saute pan, ideally a non-stick one, add oil, and sear all sides. Let it rest before slicing. Serve with soy sauce and wasabi.

One dishes like this are mastered it becomes easier to branch out to cooking with other seafood.

Soy Paper Wraps for Sushi

Curious how many readers of this blog out there have tried the soy wraps for sushi and what your impressions are. I am currently recipe testing and some of the recipes in this book use soy wraps. I've tried them at home and don't understand the texture. I am also a traditionalist and much prefer the classic black nori for its minerality and crisp.

I'd love to hear from you if you like, or don't like soy wraps. Just a curiosity for me. Is it because nori is something that people don't like at first?

Looking at the ingredients listed on this company's website it looks like it is filled with things I don't know:

Ingredients: Non-GMO soybean protein, 

Non-GMO soy flour, vegetable glycerin,
organic soybean oil, waterorganic soybean oil, water, paprika extract color(glycerol, paprika, deionized water, sucrose esters, mono & diglycerides of fatty acids, ascorbyl palmitate, DL alpha tocopherol {vitamin E]).


The soy wraps come in green, yellow, pink, orange, and sesame. It looks a bit like Ninben's katsuobushi sushi wraps.

Thanks in advance for your feedback. It doesn't affect the cookbook at all, just my curiosity. Arigato.

Katsuo Sashimi Platter

Not confident making sashimi? Do you find it challenging to make thin slices of raw fish for sashimi platters? Katsuo (bonito skipjack) or maguro (tuna) are two fish that are good to start with in the kitchen. These style of meaty fish have dense flesh and easy to work with. Best of all, when making a sashimi plate for a casual meal at home, one needn't concern themselves with presentation.

While I trained as a chef, when it comes to Japanese seafood I let Shinji do all of the work. This dish is one he put together in a few minutes. In Japan sashimi quality fish comes in different shapes and sizes. Katsuo and maguro often come in long saku filets. Best of all, these are boneless and just need to be sliced. Katsuo may be seared on the outside and sold as tataki-katsuo. The inside is still raw and eaten like sashimi.

Simply slice the katsuo in the thick cuts and lay on a plate. Top with roughly chopped leeks. Season with soy sauce. Shinji added a bit of Japanese mayonnaise and mustard on the side. That's it. Quick, easy, and delicious.

Ninben Temaki Katsuo にんべん手巻きかつお

Ninben is a famous shop in Nihonbashi that specializes in katsuobushi. Katsuobushi is an essential ingredient for dashi. It's also used as a topping for vegetables, okonomiyaki, and much more. A friend gave this to us and we were very curious to try temaki made with katsuobushi instead of nori.

The pre-cut sheets of katsuobushi were very small and hard to work with.

And here is the resulting temaki-zushi. I can't say that I'll try it again. I love the minerality and earthiness of nori when eating hand rolls. I do love the creativity and originality of the product, just not sure if this was a hit.

Kiriboshi Daikon Sunomono

The sweet vinegar dressing on this dish reminds me of coleslaw for some reason. Perfect for a hot summer day. 

kiriboshi daikon

carrots, julienned

ham, julienned

1 Tablespoon vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

1 generous teaspoon soy sauce

Reconstitute the kiriboshi daikon in water for about 10-15 minutes. Not too long or the kiriboshi daikon will be too soft. Combine the vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce in a bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the kiriboshi daikon, carrots, and ham. Marinate for at least 20 minutes. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Sweet Potato Chips 野菜チップス

I was inspired to make chips from sweet potatoes after seeing a post by Andrea Nguyen. If I remember correctly, she was served these at a meal with food stylist Karen Shinto. For the first version I simply peeled long slices of sweet potato using a vegetable peeler. These fry up quickly and had a nice crunch.

This sweet potato was sliced with a mandolin and deep-fried. I much preferred the first version above. Keep the skin on the sweet potatoes for a nice pop of color in the bowl. Both of these are seasoned with salt.

You may also like renkon lotus root chips, which are so beautiful.

Kiriboshi Daikon and Pork

Some of my favorite Japanese cookbooks are authored by chef Hiromitsu Nozaki of Waketokuyama. He was on NHK's Asaichi, a morning variety program, with some great ideas. This one adds some thinly slicked pork belly to the kiriboshi daikon. What is brilliant is about this is that the pork is so flavorful that there is no need to add dashi.

100 grams kiriboshi daikon
50 grams thinly sliced pork belly
25 grams julienned carrots
1/2 Tablespoon vegetable oil
green part of a leek

Simmering Liquid
75 ml water
15 ml soy sauce
15 ml mirin
1/2 Tablespoon sugar

Reconstitute the kiriboshi daikon in water. Cut into bite-size pieces. Blanch in hot water for one minute and drain in a strainer.

Cut the pork belly into 2 cm slices. Blanch in hot water.

Julienne the carrots.

In a pot saute the kiriboshi daikon in the vegetable oil. Add the Simmering Liquid and the leek (which adds some sweetness to the dish). Simmer until the broth reduces to half. Remove the leek. Add the pork and carrots. Simmer until most of the liquid has dissipated. Allow to cool in the hot pan. (This is when most of the flavors soak into the vegetables.)