japanese food

Japanese Chicken Skewers {yakitori}

June 9, 2014 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

It's Father's Day week!

We're starting with a BANG, kids. Seriously. This is probably in the top 10 of my all-time favorite meals, and DEFINITELY my fav Japanese bar food. The great thing is, it's EASY to recreate at home and tastes JUST like the real thing, promise. So, if you've been dying to know what my childhood tasted like when I was underage drinking in Tokyo and eating too much bar food? Look no further. I know, such a relief.

And, may we also take note that bar food doesn't usually include fried poppers of any kind, and very little dairy? It's relatively....healthy.

Which is weird but great.

When we lived in Tokyo, my mom took a cooking class by the woman who wrote this book - a cookbook that I use ALL the time when I want to really Japan it up. The recipes are incredibly simple, and much like other countries' cuisines, if you have a few staple ingredients and spices you can make a ton of different dishes. This dish uses mirin, a sweet cooking wine, and sake, rice wine, and if you have those on hand you can make tons of Japanese sauces and dips. Mirin and sake are found almost anywhere, but if you don't feel like buying sake you can sub white wine - I've done it before and it's just fine!

Besides the sauce, we char some veggies and chicken, make some rice, and we have dinner. This whole mess can be made in WELL under an hour, and it's just so tasty and delicious - DEFINITELY appropriate to celebrate the man who offered sperm to give you life? Or a man that's dedicated time and energy to making your life better? Doesn't have to be biological, fathers can be found in all forms.

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Father's Day Dinner Idea?

June 13, 2013 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

I have an idea but if you don't like it I'd understand.

I think you should make Japanese food for Father's day.

It's just my opinion, and if you need to grill out I understand, but REALLY this is a good meal and it's easy to make so....why not go for it?

I'm making French food, but that's just because we recently discovered a moderately-legit French bakery near my house and my dad loves the bread so...I'll tell you about that next week.

Serve with hot rice

This dinner, though. I actually made it for my dad a few weeks ago, and he loved it (phew, ya never know). It doesn't take a ton of time to prepare, is fresh and fairly light, and the FLAVORS. Oh, the flavors.

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Oyster Mushrooms and Scallions with Miso

June 6, 2013 by Lindsay 1 Comment

I need to share with you a side dish that would be, like, totes perfect with this here ginger chicken we made the other day.

Totes perfect, I'm telling you.

Also, it's vegetarian and cooks in 10 minutes and is DEEEEELICIOUS.

Promise.

I love Asian-style meals with lots of veggies and a super flavorful protein like this grilled tofu, and this side dish is great with ANY components of a meal like that.

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Wednesday Night Dinner

May 15, 2013 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Let's have Japanese food tonight, ok?

Do you want to?

I want to.

It's easy, I promise! Today starts 10 full weeks of summer school insanity so....get ready for ALL THE EASY RECIPES to come spewing out of me. Seriously - there's no other way to get through this together.

So, today. Easy-peasy-Japanesy, even though I hate that expression and this is kind of Asian fusion food....ok? Make sense?

I knew you'd understand.

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Tofu with Miso Paste

February 4, 2013 by Lindsay 4 Comments

Morning!

How was your weekend?

Did you eat a crap ton last night?

Me too.

We seriously need to eating something healthy today, or at least I do.

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Salmon with Miso Sauce

January 28, 2013 by Lindsay 2 Comments

Oh man.

This is one of my favorite things ever to eat.

When we lived in Japan, there was this tiny lunch place right near my dad's office. It served something similar to this dish: rice topped with a nearly-rare piece of salmon topped with a delicious miso-based sauce.

Kill me now. Why don't we have lunch options like that in this town?

Anyway. This is simple, flavorful, and so simple for a weeknight when spaghetti or chicken fingers just won't do. It's delicious enough that you could use it for entertaining, but can be done start to finish in 15 minutes or so.

You'll love it!

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Garlicky Soba with Edamame and Shiitake Mushrooms

December 17, 2012 by Lindsay 3 Comments

Yep.

It's Monday, it's raining, and I've got a crapton to do after work and all I really want to do is sit on the couch and drink wine and watch DVR because EVERYTHING CAN WAIT dang it and I don't feel like being productive.

But, I have to.

So, to console myself, I'm going to daydream about this pasta.

It's salty and garlicky and healthy and vegetarian and FAST to make, I promise. You'll love it, and it's super simple and so delicious.

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Roasted Eggplant Salad with Miso Dressing

September 6, 2012 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

We haven't had any Japanese food in, like, totes a long time, have we?

Sorry about that.

I cook it all the time, and I don't tell you about it.

That's on me.

This is a new one, though! I made this last week when we celebrated my dad's birthday - he hems and haws every year about what to have, and then invariably requests homemade sushi, which suits everyone just fine.

This year, I added this salad, which was DANG good. It was easy too, and you'll want to add it to your roster of Asian Things To Try (hehe) asap.

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Sesame Cucumber Salad

January 6, 2012 by Lindsay 5 Comments

To finish this week of healthy Asian food, let's make a salad to go with our hibachi shrimp and spicy cabbage, OK?

It's the perfect complement to any Asian meal, and it takes MINUTES to make - trust me!

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Health Kick - Low-Fat Fried Rice

December 30, 2011 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Fried rice is super delicious and FUN to make at home, but by the time we factor in eggs, oil, carbs, and meat, it can end up pretty heavy!

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Tempura For Dinner, Oh My!

December 1, 2011 by Lindsay 4 Comments

You know that I think I'm Japanese, and I'm like, totally dragging Jay down that tunnel of disillusionment with me.

It's fun!

In Japan, tempura is served all the time, from one piece in lunch boxes to as a full meal with just rice and dipping sauce for dinner.

The whole meal option is my favorite.

When I studied abroad in Osaka my host mother would have tempura night when she needed to get rid of a lot of ingredients. She'd fry ANYTHING, and it was a blast to watch and eat! I don't do it often, but this is a great fun way to eat some fried foods and veggies all at the same time. It's easy, too!

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Make Your Own....SUSHI!?!?!

October 13, 2011 by Lindsay 5 Comments

Yep, you read that right! I am going to now write you a novel about how Japanese people eat hand-rolled sushi when they make it at their house.

They get a lot of crap out, roll it up in seaweed and sushi rice, and eat it.

It's very complicated, I wouldn't expect you to understand.

After I lived in Japan I was lucky enough to study abroad near Osaka and live with a host family that had an AMAZING cook for a mother. She taught me how to make fried rice and lots of other Japanese culinary gems that I'll share with you here! Sushi night was a favorite, and when I moved back my family and I started making it together. It's fun, interactive, and you can make it using whatever you'd like so that your family loves it too!

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Leftovers - Fried Rice

October 3, 2011 by Lindsay 6 Comments

I love Asian food. All of it. I was lucky enough to live in Japan for 4 years growing up, and I'm pretty sure it was while living there that I decided I needed to cook all the time and eat everything in sight.

My really healthy parents are so proud.

While I was in college I lived in Japan again, but with a host family in Osaka instead of Tokyo, where I had lived before. My host mother, Keiko, was a fabulous cook and had mad skillz when it came to cooking a few things on Sunday and preparing several meals throughout the week using several ingredients or incarnations of the same thing over and over again while still making each meal different and special. This saved her time and money, which was essential since she worked 12 hours a day and had to feed 3 kids, me, and a rude husband each night!

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Asian Salad

October 3, 2011 by Lindsay 12 Comments

I've noticed since moving back to America (I lived in Japan for 4 years and think I"m Japanese about 97% of the time), I noticed that Asian Salad, Sesame Chicken Salad, or some variation of the former appear on a wide variety of restaurant menus from Wendy's to upscale fusion restaurants.

Some of them are great, some of them are gross.

I made this salad last night using a dressing that I believe has the good qualities of a generic soy-based dressing without any of the bad (read: chemicals, sugar, anti-caking agents, animal parts) ingredients from restaurant versions of this salad. This is a veggie-only presentation, but throw some grilled chicken on this bad boy and call it a meal!