Udon Japanese  noodle soup dish.  You may heard the name Udon, before.  Udon means noodles in Japanese.  I went to Takamatsu this winter.  There are famous for Sanuki udon (讃岐うどん).  It is a noodle soup dish popular in the Kagawa Prefecture,in Japan.  The main ingredients are udon (wheat-flour noodles) served al dente with tuna and kelp.
Sanuki udon are named after the previous name of the Kagawa Prefecture, Sanuki Province.  Iwrote how to make dashi before on this page but this Sanuki udon Japanese noodle soup dish soup use different ingredents.  If you want to know more about Udon, see this page.

This picture is Udon and raw egg. The udon was just cooked from boiled hot water so it cook raw egg in this bowl. I put topping graind ginger and negi (onion) and Agedama. It comes with dashi in the small container. You pour that before you eat it. It was VERY GOOD!  It’s called KAMATAMA.  (kamaage udon and tamago=egg)

Around Tokyo, there are Mizusawa udon and this is close to where my mother grow up with so Mizusawa udon is the more familiar to me. By the way, Mizusawa udon is a one of three famous udon in Japan. And this is a very East-side type of taste of Udon.  I wrote this Osaka udon before, see this page. Also, Curry Udon page.

See this page for very intereting dashi color change where you go to West to East. East (Tokyo) is darker in color, and West (Kyushu) is lighter color. Osaka is left of the pink arrow on the picture.

Tokyo area usualy uses Katsuobushi (bonito flakes) for dashi (broth). Kansai (Osaka) area uses Konbu (sea weed) dashi and Shikoku area uses Iriko (sardine) dashi. Iriko is baby dried sardine and I often use them for my Japanese cooking.

Bonito and Konbu are kind of a delicacy in taste for cooking but Iriko is more likely ordinary mother’s taste. However Sanuki udon uses a high gluten noodle needs strong dashi flavors. Also Kagawa in Shikoku is the district the Iriko is the caught so they use strong Iriko dashi for Sanuki udon.

I have been in the United State so long, I have never went to a self service Udon restaurant. They started self service udon restaurants in Tokyo area about 15 years ago. I think it is like Japanese fast food like American McDonalds.

Any way, this is my first time going to a Self service Udon restaurant. You can choose the Udon topping.

when i asked him to taking a picutre, he smiled at camera, thanks!

this is like American Cafe (like college cafe self-service) you can pick Tempura, Tonkatsu, Eggs, Korroke and put on your Udon or side. And if you want, you can buy Onigiri (rice ball) or other things. They have Oden, too.

This is the other restaurant Udon.  I choose Tempura, but this tempura is not what you think.  This is not what Amrican know from Japanses restaurant Tempura.

There are also free toppings.  there are ground ginger, agedama (same as Tenkasu: crunchy bits of deep fried flour-batter used in Japanese cuisine, for example in takoyaki, okonomiaki, and udon.  Tenkasu is also called agedama), long onion, sudachi. 

This is an other Udon restaurant, but this is like a Mom and Pop restaurant. Customers keep coming in to eat udon for about 15min and leave. They don’t stay long. Yes just like fast food restaurant.

You are pouring Udon dashi soup into your bowl. Self-service.

This is Oden, you can pick the stick.

Global Santoku is the best Japanese kitchen knife, I think.  I tell you Global Santoku Japanese kitchen knives are the best Japanese kitchen knife for daily use in the ordinary kitchen both cooking Japanese or non-Japanese.  If you buy one knife that fits all for cooking, what would you need to buy? I really recommend Global Santoku kitchen knife. I tell you why you should buy Global Santoku and especially for Japanese cooking. 

I volunteer a lot at my friends’ kitchen. They know I can cook and they enjoy my food so I cook for them. But I have problem (most of the time, if my friends are not Japanese) because they don’t have good knives to cut food. They usually have a Chef’s knife, also known as a French knife. Those non Japanese kitchen knives are not suitable to use for Japanese cooking. Well, some Japanese person would say it is perfectly fine but I don’t like to use it for my Japanese cooking.  Simply, those are difficult to use.

What is Santoku knife?
If you want a great knife for ordinary use, I recommend Global Santoku kitchen knife. This is not only for Japanese cooking but also any kind of your cooking!  You may have heard of this name. Santoku translates from Japanese to – “developed knife”. San means three the number and Toku means benevolence. That means you can have three times benevolence. Because this knife is good benevolent for meat, fish and vegetables (three). Also these are very popular knives in a Japanese household.
And I found it is not heavier than a Chef’s knife and it is usually shorter. So especially for women, I think it is easy to handle this Japanese-knife than Chef’s knife. You can even peel the vegetables or fruits skins with it. Chef’s knife is too difficult to do so.

The best Knife for Japanese cooking
Vegetables are big ingredients for Japanese cooking because Japanese people eat so many vegetables. Also, they cut them very small or thin. Cutting small is important for Japanese cooking.
Japanese use chopsticks, not knives and forks. You can not really cut anything using chopsticks. I think Japanese cooking is prepared to eat in a one bite size so you don’t need to cut on the plate (actually you can not cut it). So if you were a chef, you have to prepare to cut a certain way for people who can eat the food easily.

Japanese or German brand
I usually recommend my friends Japanese or German brand knives. Those two countries are very famous for knives. Both have very good knives traditionally. Also Gloval Santoku knife is coming from Japan but German company makes this Santoku type.
You can choose whatever you like, but I will put my two recommendation here.

My favorite Japanese kitchen knife
I tell you my favorite Japanese knife name. Global knife is Japanese brand and I have this one for my own Global Global G48 7-Inch Hollow-Ground Santoku. You may also like Global 5-1/4Inch Hollow Ground Santokuor Global G-46 7-Inch Santoku Knife.
I like Global brand because it is light weight and is made from one piece of metal. No wooden handles to worry about. It is very easy to clean and stylish also.  Most of all, very sharp and very good quality.

The second best Japanese kitchen knife

If you would buy a second knife, I recommend Global Petty knife. Petty knives are the Japanese version of a paring knife. Actually, this is my favorite. I use this knife for almost everything! They typically are thin without a bolster on the blade and are very light. This is very good for pastry cooking or fruits. It is great as a peeling, paring, boning and carving knife for vegetables, fruits, herbs and other delicate work. It will also take on some of the slicing and dicing jobs of a large chef knife. Also, it is small and light – very handy! Actually, I like this size knife so very much and I am usually use this knife most of the time. Time to time, I need to have bigger knife so I use santoku. If you have Chef knive you already satisfy, but looking for next one, I strongly recommend this one!

Global G48338 3-Piece Hollow Ground Santoku Knife Set

However, I prefer having Global Santoku and Petty knives when you start cooking Japanese. If you try it, you maybe surprised that you are enjoying cutting many things on the board!
You may think, all knives are the same. I just need to cut food. Well, the way you can makes your end result which food taste different (believe me!). Also looks better (presentation) like art. Plus, it is easy and make enjoyable when you cook food!

When I bought this Global Petty knife and cut Chinese scallion first time, I was very surprised the way I cut them. I am telling you, probably it was my first time I cut them like a professional very skilled person. I cut them for Yakumi (small cut vegetables for flavor) for Soba (Japanese buck wheat noodle) and it was a very fine cut. I used the same technique, so it was obviously that my new tool, which is Global knife, is the difference. So I really recommend this product for your happy Japanese cooking.

By the way, Amazon doesn’t sell Perry knife alone, so if you are interested to buy Global knife, this is the set Global G48338 3-Piece Hollow Ground Santoku Knife Set. They have Santoku and Petty knife in the set.
I really recommend this. I think you will appreciate and be glad that you have these Japanese knives for your kitchen!

The first tools hat human being have invented were the knives, which were made of stone. Thus, cutlery is the most important tool for humans to live. After the Stone Age, in a long period of history, no matter which region in Europe, people have offered knives with wishes for prosperity at wedding and festival. Of course, cutlery is still important in our daily lives. With wishes to make a happy family life, please use the Global knife.

Characteristic
The design which integrates the handle and the blade into one is beautiful, not only in the kitchen, but also on the dining table. It has been receiving a high appraisal from Sweden, Germany, Italy, Holland, France, England, United States, and other countries all over the world.

Hygienic Concern
The idea of easy grip makes the handle fit firmly inside the hand. By all-in-one structure of blade and handle keeps the knife sanitary and rejects bacteria.

Resistance
The all in one structure of the blade and handle is easy to wash and keep sanitary. As a matter of fact, it solved the problem of the handle slipping off from the blade, caused by rust.

Sharpness
The secret of the long lasting sharpness of the thin blade, it the super hand molybdenum vanadium stainless steel which contains 18% of chrome. This stainless steel is the same grade used for the medical implements, which were developed in the medical science field. Therefore, it is tougher and more durable than previous knives.

Caution
DO NOT cut the bone of fish and meat directly. The blade may chip. Please cut at the joint.
To avoid from damaging the blade, DO NOT use this knife to cut frozen food.

Maintenance
DO NOT use dishwasher or dish dryer. The ingredient of detergent used for the dishwasher and the use of dish dryer is uncongenial to the stainless steel. They may cause rust on the knife.
Please wash with dishwashing liquid and after washing, wipe the water completely off from the knife. The knife will not rust if properly cleaned and dried before putting away.

I wrote Japanese new years food Osechi Ryori before and it is this page.  This is my second time writing about Osechi.  So it:s been 2 years after I startedd this blog.  I just came back from Japan visit my parents this New Year.  I post pictures of my mother’s Osech and my family’s Osechi.

The term osechi originally referred to o-sechi, a season or significant period. New Year’s Day was one of the five seasonal festivals (節句 sekku) in the Imperial Court in Kyoto. This custom of celebrating particular days was introduced from China into Japan. If you read more about Osaechi ryori, go this page.

I realized this year that Osechi doesn’t have much meat. Traditionally, Japanese people eat fish. So, there are many cooked fish and vegetable foods. Also those are preserved foods, so they use a lot of sugar. I figure out, that is why I like Osechi Ryori so much!

Some of my friends said they don’t care about Osechi. I love this food very much and I must have them once a year, otherwise, I don’t feel like New Year come.

Also i write about my family traditions here. We have a New Year’s reunion every year. I missed it these past 2 years, because I didn’t go back home.

My grandmother is very good with Osekihan which is red bean (azuki) bean rice. Azuki bean rice is famous for celebration food. It is very popular that Japanese people eat this rice when they have some celebration. (ex:new year, marriage ceremony, have a baby, etc) If you want to read more about Osekihan, go to this page.

I think still my grandmother’s Osekihan is the best, but her son’s wife (my aunt) is continuing making it every year after my grandmother passed away. Those are mother’s taste which is comfort food for Japanese and rustic food but I love them. She is very good at making it just like my grandma. Some of the other dishes on this page, I made these differently. I truly love my aunt taste of those foods when I go to her house for New Year’s day reunion.

This is my favorite Japanese restaurant that I go out to if I want to eat Sushi. The sushi Chef is Japanese and he knows about raw fish. Recently he started using real dashi, not artificial powder dashi which has MSG in it, for their miso soup, recently.The soup tastes different if you use real dashi or artificial dashi. He also said he started to prepare fish by himself. For example, mackerel sushi, which mackerel was treated with salt and marinated in vinegar. Many restaurants use frozen ingredients. Restaurant food supply companies sell  already prepared frozen fish in the bag. However, the Yamato Japanese Steakhouse Restaurants in Charleston, Chef Mura, does his own preparation. Those things make a difference than in other restaurants.  That makes me want to go back to eat sushi there. Plus, I can talk to him in Japanese, also. He knows what I want without telling a lot because he knows the real Japanese taste. I trust his cooking and preparing for me, I feel like I am at home in Japan.

This is what he made for me, last night. I had rice and miso soup with it.  Just like Japanese sashimi teishoku. I felt like I was in Japan! If you want to eat real Japanese sushi, go this restaurant and say hi to Chef Mura.

By the way, the right top fish is his own preperation Saba, mackerel, sashimi.

I went to Osaka this summer.  This is the 2nd version of Japanese tapas bar.  Just introduction of Japanese tipical tapas bar food.

Karaage (唐揚げ or 空揚げ or から揚げ^?) is Japanese cooking technique in which various foods — most often meat, and specifically chicken — are deep fried in oil. Small pieces of the food are marinated in a mix of soy sauce, garlic, and/or ginger, then lightly coated with a seasoned wheat flour or potato starch mix, and fried in a light oil — similar to the preparation of tempura.  Read more from thi page.

This is yellow tail sashimi.
It is very tipical to find sashimi in Izakaya.
The sliced seafood that composes the main ingredient is typically draped over a garnish. The typical garnish is Asian white radish, daikon, shredded into long thin strands, accompanied by one green perilla leaf per slice. Wasabi paste is sometimes mixed directly into soy sauce as a dipping sauce, which is generally not done when eating sushi, however. Purists denounce the practice of mixing wasabi into soy sauce, saying that this dilutes the sharp hot flavor of wasabi. Another more correct way to flavor soy sauce with wasabi is to place the wasabi mound into the soy sauce dish and then pour it in. This allows the wasabi to infuse the soy sauce more subtly. A reputed motivation for serving wasabi with sashimi (and also gari, pickled ginger), besides its flavor, is killing harmful bacteria and parasites that could be present in raw seafood.[1]
If you want to read more, go to this page.

Korokke (croquette　コロッケ): breaded and deep-fried patties, containing either mashed potato or white sauce mixed with minced meat, vegetables or seafood. Popular everyday food.

This one is octopus and onion sunomono.
Sunomono (酢の物): vegetables such as cucumber or wakame, or sometimes crab, marinated in rice vinegar.

This time I order those for this restaurant.
Every restaurant different but those are very tipical popular dishes. Usually 400 yen to 600 yen par plate. And friend share the plates so they can eat many variety.

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One of very popular cake is Roll Cake, Jelly roll, Swiss roll in Japan. I think recently (about 10 years ago) started getting more popular. We had Jelly roll cake when I was kid more, but now more decoration and better taste roll cakes anywhere in Japanese cake shop. Bûche de Noël is very popular when I was kid for Christmas. Bûche de Noël is very popular when I was kid for Christmas. If you want to read more about Bûche de Noël, go to this page.

A Swiss roll or jelly roll is a type of sponge cake roll. The thin cake is made of eggs, flour and sugar and baked in a very shallow rectangular baking tray, called a sheet pan. The cake is removed from the pan and spread with jam or buttercream, rolled up, and served in circular slices.
The origins of the term “Swiss” roll are unclear and the cake originated in Central Europe and not Switzerland. It is a traditional German, Hungarian and probably Austrian type of cake. The shape of the Swiss roll has inspired usage of the term as a descriptive term in other fields, such as in optics. If you want to know about Roll Cake go to this page.

This time, I use chestnuts cream from France. When I went to France I bought them a lot and brought back home. I had never found this in the store near my house. However, I finally found one from Whole Food store, recently. I was very very happy at that day!
Not so many chestnuts cake in United States. I don’t know why people not eat this. They may not discover this taste? They just don’t know the existing? I don’t know! But as a Japanese person, I like chestnuts taste and miss them once and a while.
I can not find it, so I have to make it by myself. And this is the easiest, simple cake you can make it. My Japanese girl friend who lives in Germany thought me this recipe. And she is the one said I should buy these chestnuts cream when I go to France. And in France, it is very easy to find this can chestnuts, I think almost any glossary store carry this product.

I whipped cram, no addition of any sugar but I put this whole can of chestnut cream and mix with it.  It is already sweet chestnuts.  Put on the sponge and roll!  It is so easy.  I serve this to my American friends, they all liked it.  I still don’t know why they don’t have this great sweets in this country…

I made Curry bread which called Curry pan in Japanese.  Occasionaly, I crave to eat this bread.  It is very popular, so if you go to any Japanese bakary, you can find it easily (cost about $2 U.S. dollar).  If you had Curry and rice with Katsu (in my other page, they have a recipe), you will understand why this bread is so good.  I, personaly, think  sauce is very good with crunchy texture.  And if this is just came from the deep fryer, you would like to eat more than one, I almost garantee it!    When I made Curry, usually it doesn’t last long but sometimes I made too much and eat couple of day’s straight.  Then I feel  tired eating it.  Then, I use those left over curry to make this Bread.  If I am living in Japan, I won’t make this.  However, if you are living somewhere you can not easily buy Japanese bread, you have to make it.  For my opinion, it’s worth trouble making this recipe!

 What is Curry bread?

Curry bread (カレーパン karē pan), also called curry doughnut, is a popular Japanese food. An amount of Japanese curry is wrapped in a piece of dough, and the dough breaded in panko, and deep fried. On occasion it is baked instead of deep fried, but deep frying is the most common method of cooking. Curry bread is usually found in bakeries and convenience stores. If you want to read more, go to this page.

 bread about 12 to 14 of them

Bread flour ————————-400g
Skim milk ————————–8g
Yeast —————————–7g
Sugar —————————–20g
Salt ——————————-7g
Egg ——————————-40g
Water—————————–210cc
Butter —————————-20g

Curry —————————–See my other curry page, when you use curry for the curry bread, you should cook low heat and evaporate water, so it is not so supy curry, or mush the potato and make it thicker curry.

Batter —–See my Tonkatsu page how to make deep fry———7oz
Egg —————————2
Milk ————————-1 1/4cip
Panko———————— amount of cover all pork loin meat (I used about 10 sliced sandwitch bread)

I was invited every year for Japanese Children’s day Festival, Kodomonohi festa at my friend house in Charleston. This couple of years I hadn’t went but this year, finally, I went. What they do is just meet Japanese people and Children who live in around Charleston area and cerebrate Children’s day together. It is a great day to see your friends.

We do potluck (spell?) so you can see many foods there. However, the main thing is a Anime charactor cake and cup cakes for the kids. Some volunteer mother get together a day before and make a cake and cup cakes. They decorate cakes for Japanese Children’s Day Festival. You may not know but Anpan-man who is a big cartoon, anime charactor for Japanese kids. About this past 15 plus years, every kids (3 to 5 years old) know the hero Anpan-man.
This is the Anpan-man character and his friends. And this is the Cakes! I found Pika-chu, too.
You can not find this in the American cap cake shop!

Children’s Day (こどもの日 Kodomo no hi?) is a Japanese national holiday which takes place annually on May 5, the fifth day of the fifth month, and is part of the Golden Week. It is a day set aside to respect children’s personalities and to celebrate their happiness. It was designated a national holiday by the Japanese government in 1948.

Although it is not known precisely when this day started to be celebrated, it was probably during the reign of the Empress Suiko (593–628 A.D.). In Japan, Tango no Sekku was assigned to the fifth day of the fifth month after the Nara period.
Until recently, Tango no Sekku was known as Boys’ Day (also known as Feast of Banners) while Girls’ Day (Hinamatsuri) was celebrated on March 3. In 1948, the government decreed this day to be a national holiday to celebrate the happiness of all children and to express gratitude toward mothers. It was renamed Kodomo no Hi. If you want to read more about Kodomo no hi, go this page.

I just went to Japan and this time I went to Osaka.  I had Kitsune Udon in Osaka and I wanted to let you know about Japanese Udon.  I had to have this Osaka flavor Kitsune Udon in Osaka.

• Kitsune udon: “Fox udon”. Topped with Aburaage (sweetened deep-fried tofu pockets). A favorite in the Kansai region, particularly Osaka.  If you want to read more about Udon, go this page.

Tokyo has same Kitsune Udon in the Udon restaurant.  You may think what is the different between Tokyo and Osaka.  Well, flavor is different.  When you take Dashi (read my other page how to make Dashi), Tokyo use Katsuo (fish) and Osaka use Konbu (sea weeds).  Also looks are different.  You will see the above picture soup color.  It is clear.  Tokyo udon soup is darker and you may not see the udon in the soup.  If you go to Kyushu, the soup is clearer and taste sweeter.

You may not be able to find Osaka style udon in Tokyo so I had to have Kitsune udon in this trip to Osaka! – mission accomplished.

One more thing, if you read my other Curry Udon page, you may know this restaurant.  I went to there again.  Yes, it was after had my hair cut, again.  I wanted to try new flavor there.  My beautician said spicy curry is good. 

So, I tried this time spicy curry udon!  It was good, but I was bit disappointed.  Because, taste was just like Thai red curry sauce.  Yes, udon in the Thai red curry, that I thought. 

You have to really careful when you eat this noodle.  Even I ate very carefully, I splash the sauce on my t-shirts.  Curry is known to be very difficult to take off from clothe once you put it on your clothe.  Yes, I did some..  You must to have bib on you.

A happy new year 2011! (too late to say it!) (^へ^;)
The year of rabbit!!  This rabbit made by potato, and you can eat them all.

I went on a trip to Hakone when I visited Japan this February. Hakone has onsen and I stayed one of the hotels (Ryokan) there. This was my second private trip to Hakone. I had had stayed there a couple of times for my job when I was young.  I chose this hotel because it was reasonable and good advertised food. I felt like this hotel is targeted to women customers and they did a good job.

What is ONSEN?

An onsen (温泉^?) is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth. Onsen were traditionally used as public bathing places and today play a central role in directing Japanese domestic tourism.  If you want to read more, read this wiki page.

What is Ryokan and their food?

A ryokan (旅館^?) is a type of traditional Japanese inn that originated in the Edo period (1603–1868), when such inns served travelers along Japan’s highways. They typically feature tatami-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear yukata and talk with the owner.

Most ryokan offer dinner and breakfast, which are often included in the price of the room. Most visitors do take their meals at the ryokan, which usually promote themselves on the quality of their food. Meals consist of traditional Japanese cuisine known as kaiseki, which features seasonal and regional specialties. (Kaiseki originally referred to light meals served during a tea ceremony, and today refers to a meal consisting of a number of small, varied dishes.) In order for each dish to be enjoyed at the proper temperature, ryokan stress that guests should be punctual for their meals. For this reason, most ryokan ask guests to confirm the time they want to take their meals.Some ryokan have a communal dining area, but most serve meals in the guests’ rooms. Ryokan which are likely to serve non-Japanese guests may also have a selection of Western food.  If you want to read more, go to this page.

I will put a bunch of this hotel’s dinners here. This was West meet East kind of dinner. And this was very popular dinner (that is what the hotel said).  I wanted to have a complete Japanese dinner but I didn’t order before I got there, so they decided for me. Well, I am an easy going person, so I said it was OK! (Actually, I am happy if the food is good, kind of person, so I didn’t care. Just feed me!!)

So, those are the dinner pictures! Enjoy!!

This is sake and inarizushi. But it is black. Black inarizushi is rare thing; this is this hotel’s signature food. It’s called Chakin inari. If you don’t know Inarizushi, see my Inarizushi page.

Bad picture, sorry.  It is like a small bag.  There is sushi rice inside.

This is main course. Much small stuff!! THAT IS WHAT I LOVE ABOUT JAPANESE FOOD!!

いただきます！！

Cute bunnies!!  This is definetly targeted to women customers!!

↑

DON”T LOOK AT ME!  I WILL EAT YOU!!

The food is good, I expected better.  Because this hotel advertised that they were an award winning hotel for Rakuten travel, which is one of the biggest website companies.   The last picture on the bunny is a pot beef stew.  This was disappointing, I remember.

The bunny tail, so cute!!