Japanese Recipes Archives

Kombu Tsukudani – A Japanese Relish

This Kombu Tsukudani Recipe simmers seaweed in a rich sauce to produce a Japanese condiment that can be used in cooking, or at the table.

Kombu Tsukudani is a Japanese preparation, similar in some ways to a Korean Banchan, along the lines, of my Namul of Daikon Greens. Here, though, this Tsukudani uses the edible seaweed known as Kombu for its main ingredient. Like its Korean counterparts, it keeps very well, can be used as a cold side-dish, and is particularly good as a flavorful topping for plain rice.

A Tsukudani made with Kombu often includes other umami marine ingredients such as Katsuobushi (dried, smoked tuna flakes) while a preparation consisting only of Kombu boiled down in Japanese soy sauce is more properly called ‘Shiokombu’. The preparation you see above is somewhere between the two. It is a little more complex than a very basic Shiokombu, but it contains no animal products and thus could be used as part of a vegetarian meal.

Basic Beef Tataki Recipe

This Basic Beef Tataki Recipe illustrates a Japanese grilling style which produces lovely rare beef slices that can be used in many dishes.

You could probably call this a Japanese Carpaccio, but the proper appellation is Beef Tataki, where the ‘Tataki’ is actually the name of the specific cookery technique involved. This technique was originally used specifically for steaks of Bonito Tuna but has now been widely adapted for beef as well.

Essentially, the technique involves grilling beef very briefly over high heat to sear the outside and then cooling it rapidly to prevent further cooking. This results in an umami rich dark surface with an interior that is almost raw. The result is most commonly served sashimi style, much as you see pictured above, but a prepared pieces of Beef prepared this way be easily put to other uses as well. In either event, the technique is one well worth having in your repertoire…

Mizuna Potato Nimono Recipe

This Mizuna Potato Nimono features morsels of potato with peppery Mizuma leaves, all simmered in a broth of Dashi, Mirin and Soy Sauce.

A ‘Nimono’, in Japanese cuisine, is a dish in which the main ingredients are simmered in broth. Generally, the broth will be made with Dashi, and enhanced with Soy, Sake or Mirin, Miso, or other seasonings.

In this recipe, Potato is paired with Mizuna, which is a peppery salad herb quite commonly used in Japanese cookery, but not yet widely known in the west. It can be found in markets occasionally, but if it is not available, substitutions are easy.

Japanese Cucumber Salad

This Japanese Cucumber Salad is an example of a ‘Sunomono’, or Japanese ‘vinegared’ preparation. It is as elegant as it is easy to prepare. There are all sorts of variations on the general theme but this is about as basic as it gets. You can, if you like, simply use plain rice vinegar for the dressing but, here, we will be using a pre-made Japanese Nihaizu Seasoned Vinegar.