Japanese Food
Japanese food encompasses regional and traditional foods of Japan, which has developed through centuries of history and culture. The traditional cuisine of Japan is based on rice with miso soup and other dishes.
Apart from rice, a staple includes noodles, like Soba and Udon. Most side dishes often consist of fish, pickled vegetables and vegetables cooked in broth. Seafood is also common, often grilled, but also served raw in Sushi or as Sashimi. Seafood and vegetables can also deep-fried in light batter, as Tempura.
Japan also has many simmering dishes like fish products in broth called Oden or Beef in Sukiyaki and Nikujaga.
Different Types of Japanese Dishes
- Sushi: One of the best-known Japanese foods around the world, offered in various ways. Sushi usually refers to a dish of pressed Vinegared Rice with a piece of raw fish or shellfish, called neta on top. Sushi is generally eaten with Soy Sauce or Wasabi.
- Sashimi: Similar to Sushi, but without the rice, Sashimi is raw fish sliced in to easy to eat pieces. The high quality fish is caught in all regions of Japan. Just like Sushi, you can enjoy dozens of variations of Sashimi. The most common and popular are Maguro and other varieties of Tuna, Salmon, Mackerel, and Sea Bream ect. Sashimi is usually eaten with Soy Sauce flavouring.
- Unagi: Unagi, or eel, is a fish known to be found mainly in rivers. In Japan, it is a delicacy typical in high-class Japanese dining. At Unagi restaurants, you will be able to enjoy Kabayaki, where the Unagi is placed on skewers and grilled wit a special sauce containing soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and sake.
- Tempura: A dish that involves ingredients like seafood, meat and vegetables covered in batter and deep-fried in oil. The batter usually contains flour and egg. Tempura is generally dipped in a special sauce called tentsuyu before eating.
- Onigiri (Rice Balls): Onigiri, or rice balls, also called omusubi, may look just like plain rice, but they often have a savoury filling inside and are wrapped with a salty sheet of nori seaweed. Common flavours for Onigiri include kelp, pickled plum (Umeboshi), salmon and bonito flakes. There are also many other flavours.
- Soba (Buckwheat Noodles) & Udon (Wheat Noodles):
Soba is a noodle dish made from buckwheat flour with water and flour, thinly spread and cut into noodles with widths of 1cm-2cm. After boiling the noodles in hot water, it is eaten dipped in cold soup, or by pouring hot soup over it.
Udon is a unique dish known for its thick noodles and is a very popular and traditional Japanese dish. The Dough is made from flour and salt water that is well-kneaded and cut into noodles. After the noodles are boiled in hot water, Udon is enjoyed in a seafood broth soup, or by pouring soup and toppings like tempura on top. Like Soba, you can savour udon hot or cold.
- Yakitori: This is popular food where chicken is cut into small pieces, then placed on bamboo skewers and grilled. It is also delicious when paired with alcohol. Yakitori is ordered by the part of the chicken. You will also find other types of meat and vegetables on skewers, too. It is usually season lightly with salt when it comes.
- Sukiyaki: This dish is cooked in a shallow iron pan, traditionally enjoyed in the fall and winter seasons in Japan. It became popular in Japan around the 19th Century being cooked in both homes and restaurants. Sukiyaki is made with several different ingredients, like thin slices of beef, green onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, and tofu. After the ingredients are cooked thoroughly, to eat you dip the meat or vegetable into a bowl of beaten egg.
- Oden (Simmered Ingredients): Oden is a dish of various ingredients simmered in broth. The ingredients are meant to bring out the flavour of the dashi (consisting usually of a mixture of seafood and kelp) and have a savoury, salty taste. Mild-tasting vegetables, tofu, and fish are common ingredients in oden. Oden has been eaten for a long time and is thought to have been first made during the Muromachi Period (1336-1573) of Japan.
- Miso Soup: This is another famous Japanese dish, renowned both for it’s great taste and health benefits. This soup is drunk accompanied by other side and main dishes. Miso soup is made simply, with the fermented miso base, which has a flavourful taste full of depth, added to Japanese Dashi. There are hundred of regional varieties on miso soup, from simple soup with just seaweed and tofu to ones with crab and a variety of vegetables.
Why Take Part in a Cookery Class?
There are several benefits to taking a cookery class; It will help enhance your cooking skills and even if you already know how to cook, you could still enhance your current cookery skills by learning new ones. If you can’t cook, it will give you a good chance to improve your cooking skills. Taking a cooking class could give you the aid to familiarise yourself with your own kitchen and kitchen apparatus.
Attending a Cookery Class would allow you to get to know other.
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