All About Foods Court

Making delicious ramen noodles isn't easy. Ramen chefs in Japan usually train hard to make good ramen. This is a quick recipe to make soy sauce flavored ramen at home.
About Ramen Noodles

Ingredients:
2 Chukamen (raw Chinese noodles)
1 clove finely chopped garlic
1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
2 cup chicken soup stock
1 cup kombu dashi soup stock
1 tbsp sake
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
*For toppings:
Chopped negi
Nori (dried seaweed)
Pepper

Preparation:
Heat sesami oil in a deep pan. Saute chopped ginger and garlic in the pan. Lower the heat. Add chicken soup stock and kombu dashi soup stock in the pan and bring to a boil. Add sugar, salt, sake, and soy sauce in the soup. Run the soup through a strainer. Serve hot soup into individual bowls. In the meantime, boil water in a large pan. Add chukamen noodles in the boiling water and cook for a few minutes. Drain the noodles and serve in the hot soup. Place toppings, such as chopped negi and nori seaweed. Sprinkle some pepper if you would like.
*Makes 2 servings

Deep-fried oyster (kaki fry) is a popular dish in winter.

Ingredients:
16 oysters
2 eggs
1 cup panko (bread crumb)
1/4 cup flour
*oil for frying
*salt and pepper to season
*shredded cabbage

Preparation:
Clean oysters in salted water. Dry oysters with a paper towel. Sprinkle salt and pepper over oysters. Put flour, beaten eggs, and panko in separate plates. Coat oysters with flour, eggs, then panko. Fry oysters in 340F oil until they turn brown. Place shredded cabbage in a plate and serve fried oysters on the side.

*Makes 4 servings.

Yokan is a tradional Japanese sweet, which is made of azuki beans, agar agar, and sugar. This is a type of yokan called mizu-yokan. Mizu means water in Japanese. Mizu-yokan includes more water than other kinds of yokan. This yokan makes a cool summertime dessert.

Japanese Food Pictures
Ingredients:
1 stick kanten (agar agar), or 1/6 oz. kanten powder
1 1/4 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 lb. anko (1 1/2 cup)
Preparation:
Soak kanten in lots of water for about one hour. Squeeze the kanten and tear it into small pieces. Put the kanten in 1 and 1/4 cup of water in a deep pot. Heat it on low heat until the kanten dissolves. Add sugar and stir well. Next, add anko. Stir constantly and simmer until thickened. Stop the heat. Pour the mixture in a flat container. Cool it until harden. Cut the yokan into small blocks to serve.

Makes 4 servings.

2 cups Poha (Beaten Rice)
1 Potatoes
1 Onions
2 Green Chillies
1 tsp Chana dal
1 tsp Urad dal
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 sprig Curry leaves
2 tsp Peanuts
4 tblsp Oil
1 pinch Turmeric powder
1 Lemon
Few Corainder leaves
Salt to taste

Method to make this recipe : aloo poha :

Soak the poha in water. Wash and drain all the water.
Add some salt , turmeric powder , keep aside.
Peel and cut the potatoes into small cubes, chop the onions, chillies, corainder leaves.
Heat oil and put chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds, peanuts, curry leaves and fry until they crackle.
Add potatoes , saute for few minutes, then add chopped onions, chillies.
Cook till they are done. Add the poha, corainder leaves and stir.
Keep it on slow flame for 5- 7 minutes.
Let it cool for sometime and add then lemon juice.

Takenoko (bamboo shoots) is a popular ingredient in Japanese cooking, and this is the most popular Japanese takenoko dish. It's a kind of Japanese takikomi gohan (mixed rice).
How to Precook Fresh Bamboo Shoots

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup Japanese rice
2 1/2 cup dashi
1 Tbsp sake
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp mirin
1/2 lb. boiled bamboo shoots, thinly slice into small pieces
1 aburaage (fried tofu), pour boiling water over them and cut into thin strips
*sansho leaves for garnishing if available

Preparation:
Wash Japanese rice and drain in a colander. Set aside for 30 minutes. Put washed rice in rice cooker and pour dashi soup stock over the rice. Add soy sauce, sake, and mirin. Put takenoko and aburaage on the top. Start cooking the rice. When rice is cooked, let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Serve into individual rice bowls. Garnish with sansho leaves. *makes 4 servings
By Setsuko Yoshizuka

Takikomi gohan is known as mixed rice since a number of ingredients are added in the rice.
Japanese Rice Recipes

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup Japanese rice
4 shiitake mushrooms
1/4 gobo (burdock root)
1/4 konnyaku
3 inches carrot
1/4 lb.boneless chicken thigh
1 tbsp sake
2 tbsp soy sauce / 1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1/2 tsp salt

Preparation:
Wash Japanese rice and drain in a colander. Set aside. Cut chicken into small pieces. Season the chicken with 1 tsp of soy sauce. Shred gobo thinly and soak in water for a few minutes. Drain the gobo. Boil konnyaku once and cut it into small rectangles. Peel and cut carrot into small rectangles. Remove stems from shiitake mushrooms and thinly slice them. Put 2 1/2 cup of water in a pan. Add sake, mirin, 2 tbsps of soy sauce, and salt. Heat the soup. Add chicken, carrot, gobo, shiitake, and konnyaku in the soup and simmer for about five minutes, skimming off any foam or impurities that rise to the surface. Stop the heat and cool it off. Separate the simmered ingredients and the soup, using a colander. Add some water in the soup to make 2 1/2 cup of liquid. Put washed rice in rice cooker and pour the liquid over the rice. Place simmered ingredients on the top. Start cooking the rice.
*makes 4 servings
By Setsuko Yoshizuka

Hiyashi chuka is a cold noodle dish popular in summer. It's served with lots of toppings and sour dressing. Various vegetables can be added as toppings.

Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
4 packages of chuka noodle/chinese egg noodle
1/4 lb. strips of ham / boiled chicken breasts
1 cucumber
2 eggs
1 tsp sugar
For Garnish:
beni shoga (pickled red ginger)
For Dressing:
1/3 cup water / 3 tbsps rice wine vinegar / 2 tbsps soysauce / 3 tbsps sugar / 1tsp sesame oil
*karashi mustard

Preparation:
Beat eggs in a bowl and add sugar and mix well. Heat some oil in a frying pan and pour about one quarter of the egg mixture over the pan. Spread the egg thinly and fry for one min. Make four thin and round omelets like crepes. Slice the omelets into thin strips. Cut cucumber into thin strips. Boil lots of water in a large pot and add chuka noodles. Boil for a couple minutes. Drain noodles and pour cold water quickly to cool them. Put cold noodles in a plate. Arrange cucumber, ham, and egg strips on the noodles colorfully. Garnish with beni shoga. Pour dressing over noodles just before serving. Put some karashi on the plate if you would like.
By Setsuko Yoshizuka

It's a kind of chirashizushi for Japanese Girl's Day (hina doll festival) celebration. It's OK to use various toppings for this sushi. Be creative and make sushi appealing to kids.

Sushi Recipes
Ingredients:
3 cups sushi rice
8 dried shiitake mushrooms
1/2 large carrot
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
2 eggs and 1 tsp sugar
2 tbsps sakura denbu (seasoned fish powder)
2 tbsps white sesame seeds
a half bunch of nabana (rape flowers) or green vegetables

Preparation:
Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in 3/4 cup of warm water. Cut carrots into thin flower-shaped pieces. Remove shiitake mushrooms from the water and slice them thinly. Put the water in a pan and heat on low heat. Simmer shiitake slices and carrot pieces in the pan. Add soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in the pan and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Whisk eggs with 1 tsp of sugar. Make fine scrambled eggs. Boil nabana in a pan and cool in cold water. Chop nabana finely. Prepare sushi rice and mix sesame seeds in the rice. Serve the rice on a large plate. Sprinkle simmered shiitake mushrooms over the rice. Sprinkle scrambled eggs, carrots, boiled nabana, and sakura denbu over the rice.
By Setsuko Yoshizuka

Pickled ginger is usually served with sushi. Try to eat pieces of pickled ginger between different kinds of sushi. It helps to clean your mouth and enhance the flavors. It's best to use fresh young ginger (shin shoga) to make pickled ginger.

Ingredients:
2 lb fresh young ginger (shin shoga)
3 cups rice vinegar
2 cups sugar
2 tsps salt

Preparation:
Wash young ginger root and rub off skin. Slice the ginger thinly and salt them. Leave salted ginger slices in a bowl for one hour. Dry the ginger slices with paper towels and put them in a sterilized container/jar. Mix rice vinegar and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil. Pour the hot mixture of vinegar and sugar over the ginger slices. Cool them. Pickled ginger changes its color to light pink. (*If you are using old ginger, it might not turn pink naturally.)Cover the jar and store it in the refrigerator.
*Makes about 2 cups
By Setsuko Yoshizuka

Gunkan-maki is a kind of sushi, which is a mound of sushi rice wrapped with a strip of nori and topped with soft ingredients, such as uni (sea urchin) and ikura (salmon roe). Gunkan means a battleship in Japanese. This gunkan-maki uses corn as topping.
Photo Tutorial: How to Make Gunkan-maki

Japanese Sushi
Ingredients:
4 sheets nori (dried seaweed)
*For sushi rice:
1 1/2 cup Japanese rice
1 2/3 cup water
3 Tbsp vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
*For topping:
1/2 can, or 6oz. whole kernel corn, drained
3 Tbsp Mayonnaise
1 tsp soy sauce

Preparation:
Start cooking rice. Cut a sheet of nori into 1 1/2 inch wide strips. Mix corn, mayonnaise, and soy sauce in a bowl. Prepare sushi rice. Wet your palms and fingers with sushi vinegar mixture used to make sushi rice. Take about two tablespoons of sushi rice in your hand and lightly shape it into an oval. Repeat the process to make mounds of sushi rice. Dry your hands. Take a nori strip and wrap it around a mound of sushi rice. The nori should be higher than the rice. Press nori gently to rice and form a base. Place corn topping on the rice.
*Makes 16-20 pieces