I wish I could live through all the memories again ! How I miss everything in my 10 weeks stay in Japan, and FOOD is just one of them. Hope you enjoy this little slideshow, with the pictures taken originally, not grabbing from any sources on the net. All meals were prepared by 2 lady chefs, who took very good care of our lunch & dinner. We hardly had repeated meals in a week! Amazing huh? How did they come up with all the cooking-ideas? The ladies showed me piles of cooking magazines, which comes in WEEKLY! So, my curiosity subsided!
Ok, some of you might wonder why I’m not showing any Sushi here? Well, the point of this post is to intro some other great home-made dishes (katee ryoori) that worth people’s attention as well. Some you’ll find it familiar, of course. I’m no expert in Japanese cuisines, but hopefully the simple intros could give some ideas about its specialty:
1. Donburi & Tofu – The word ‘Donburi’ means hot steamed rice (‘gohan’, in Japanese) that comes with various savory toppings, from vege, meat to sliced omelet. Besides Donburi, we also had bean curd (‘Tofu’) or even salad as our side dish.
2. Tempuras – Another well-known cuisine in Japan. It’s a dish of deep-fried prawns or vege in batter. It served great with wasabi & soy sauce. Extra tip, Tempura that served as toppings for a bowl of rice is called ‘Ten-don’.
3. Sashimi & Negitorodon – Sashimi !! None other than the famous ‘raw’ fish. Something I would never dared to try before this! Come on, it’s RAW ! The ‘Sashimi’ picture you just saw was actually tuna (‘Maguro’ in Japanese), brought in from Oshima by our trainer Dr. Seoka, who’s a great and diligent mentor. Despite being anxious, I was encouraged to taste it, eventually. To my surprise, it was not bad at all! The tuna meat is very rich with vitamin E, and the texture was soft indeed. Tasted good with wasabi though. I had my second chance with ‘Maguro’ while visiting to the Whale Museum in Wakayama. ‘Magurodon’ or ‘Negitorodon’, they called it, because the rice is served with toppings of minced sashimi (‘Maguro’) and seaweed (‘Nori’ in Japanese). Great experience I would say.
4. Korokke – This is one of my favourites! ‘Korokke’ is a kind of deep fried dish, that is very much associated to a French dish called croquette. Well, I don’t know anything about the croquette, but ‘Korokke’ is a mixture of cooked chopped meat (or vegetables) with mashed potatoes, rolling them with wheat flour and crispy coating before deep fry them in pan. The one I had was Chicken ‘Korokke’, and it was absolutely delicious! I remembered Hui Lin (my training partner) & I would count the days for ‘Korokke’to appear on the dining table, we only had them 2 or 3 times, but it’s worth all the wait!
5. Okonomiyaki – It is actually known as a type of Japanese-style hotplate pizza ! A yummy fast food I would say. The toppings are thinly-chopped cabbage, ‘yakisoba’ (noodles), shrimp, sliced pork etc., and were cooked on the thinly spread batter.
6. Karee Raisu (Curry Rice) – Curry (Karee) is quite common here, where I stayed. In fact, that’s the only meal we could predict its serving time ’cause it was destined to be our lunch every Saturday. The Japanese curry tasted sweet, less spicy, or not spicy at all. Still, it goes so well with a big bowl of hot steamed rice. We had our REAL Curry when we visited to Dr. Biswas house (who’s a postdoctoral researcher from Bangladesh & he speaks Japanese fluently). His wife surprised us with various types of curry – Fish, Vegetable & Chicken curry! Just like what you’ve seen in the photos, it’s smoking HOT!
7. Tamagoyaki or Omuretsu – Yes, you got it right, it’s Japanese Omelet! Reminded me so much of the Pataya fried rice back in hometown, and also Tortilla, from my Spanish class ! I guess they are from the same family. The beaten egg is cooked, and then folded around fillings such as meat and vegetables, cheese, or even altogether. Japanese could go anything with rice, so when omelet + rice, you will get ‘omurice’. It is common to have rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner here. In fact, I find the Japanese rice very soft and tasty. My seniors even brought quite a few kg’s of Japanese rice home with them, and ended up overloaded prior to departure at the airport. Imagine that.
8. Manjuu – This is actually a popular traditional food. The one shown in the slide is ‘Matcha Manjuu’ (green tea flavour on the outside but nothing inside though). Manjuu is actually originated from China, called Mantou. It is one of the delights that could be found with cheap price in almost any stalls, like ‘An-pan’ (sweet bean paste bread) and ‘Karee-pan’ (Curry bread).
9. Others:
a. Oden – This dish is categorized as ‘Yudemono’, which means One Pot Cooking, boiling style.
tyle="color:#336666;">b. Takoyaki – Fried dumpling that consists of octopus meat & bater.
c. ‘Yakimeshi’ (Fried rice), ‘Menrui’ (Noodles) and side dishes like salads, fillets, meatballs, fried chickens, were awesome too! And of course, ‘Miso-shiru’ (miso soup), another MUST in every meal we had.
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE! Some of you might notice there is one un-likeliness food among the slides – Maggie Mee, and that is the only exceptional food that’s not Japanese-made. Just so you know, we do get homesick at times, despite with all the yummy food. Haha..
~~Extra tips when eating in Japan:~~
a. Japanese usually says “itadaki-mas” before they start their meal, meaning ‘Thank you, let’s eat.’
b. After eating, you should say “gochisoosama deshita” to the host or someone who pays the bill, meaning ‘thank you for the meal’.
?????????????!????????????????????????slide??????????????????????????????????????????Uragami???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
1?Donburi & Tofu–????????????????????gohan?????????????????????????????????????????
2?Tempuras –???, ????????‘???’? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????‘??’??????????
3?Sashimi & Negitorodon –??????‘???’??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Seoka???Oshima ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????E??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????‘Magurodon’ or ‘Negitorodon’??‘Maguro’????????????????
4?Korokke – ?????Uragami????????????‘???’????????????????????????????????????(croquette)????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
5?Okonomiyaki – ???????????????‘???’?‘???’??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
6?Karee Raisu (Curry) – ?????????????????Uragami??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Dr.Biswas?????????????????????????????????????????????–???????????????????????????????
7?Tamagoyaki or Omuretsu –‘??’?????????Pataya???????Tortilla???????????????????????omelet??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????‘omurice’???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
8?Manjuu – ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
9????
a) Oden –?????????????????????????????????????
b) Takoyaki – ???????????????????
c) Yakimeshi (??), Menrui (??) ??????????????????????????????????????????????????
??????????????????????‘???’???–Maggie Mee????????????????????????????????????????????
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????????“itadaki-mas”????????
?????????????“gochisoosama deshita”??????????????
Copyright © 2008 by Wong Ching Ya, All Rights Reserved, “Japanese Cuisines ~ ????”.
