Easy Japanese Food Recipes

Japanese cuisine is one of the most exotic and appreciated cuisines all over the world. Not only is one of the healthiest, it’s also one of the most delicious and vibrant, yet very simple and cheap.

Japanese cuisine is based on combining staple foods typically rice or noodles, with a soup and simple dishes made from fish, meat, vegetables and tofu to add flavor to the staple food.

My love for Japanese food comes a long way, a while ago I decided to learn how to cook some traditional Japanese food and was surprised how easy most of the recipes are. Having said this I bring you some very easy Japanese recipes for you to try in your house.

Some of the ingredients presented in this recipes are very hard to get if you are in Europe or USA and don’t know any oriental store. But for those ingredients, we can find some suitable replacements. That’s the beauty of cooking; we can always improvise and still have a delicious meal!

Onigiri is basically rice. Rice is a very important ingredient in Japanese food, and is practically in all their meals. It’s Japan most important crop, and is cultivated there for almost 2000 years!

There are a lot of recipes for onigiri, but they all involve the same, a triangle of cooked rice wrapped in a roasted Nori seaweed sheet. They can have some nourishment inside (beef, tuna, etc), or simple. I’m cooking to show you one of my favourites, Tanuki Onigiri:

For this you will need:

180-200g rice;

Chopped green onion:

1 tbsp of mentsuyu or soy souce;

For the Agedama batter:

2 tbsp water;

½ tbsp vinegar;

2 tbsp Flour;

Mix the batter ingredients until you have consistent dough. Fry little bits of this dough in very hot oil until they are golden brown, this is Agedama. Set aside.

Chop the green onion. In a large bowl mix the Agedama, chopped green onion and the Mentsuyu (or soy souce).

Mix this with the rice very well mixed. Shaped this in triangles and wrap in a roasted Nori sheet.

There you have it, Tanuki Onigiri.

Now that we have our rice, let´s cheat some meat to go along. Let’s make a very very simple Teriyaki Chicken, it’s not like the one you eat in a restaurant, but still very delicious.

You will need:

Chicken breasts

Orange jam

Soy souce

Cut the chicken breasts into smaller pieces. I prefer to cut them in stripes, but I leave that to your taste.

Warm some olive oil on a fridge. When it’s hot, add the chicken (skin on the bottom), turn the heat to medium when the chicken is almost cooked and add the jam and soy sauce. Mix well. Let the chicken cook until it has a nice almost caramelized coat, and the sauce is thick.

There you have it, Cheated Chicken Teriyaki!

Now that we have our main course ready, let’s make some entries. Who doesn’t like Spring rolls??? Spring rolls were the reason I used to go to Japanese restaurants a couple years ago!

For the spring rolls you will need:

For the seasoning sauce:

1 tbsp white wine;

1 tbsp soy sauce;

½ tbsp oil;

½ sugar;

1 tbsp flour;

3 tbsp chicken broth;

Also you will need:

Chicken;

Green bell peppers;

Carrots;

Mushrooms;

Ginger;

Wrappers;

Mix all the ingredients of the seasoning sauce and set aside. Chop all the other ingredients into small pieces.

In a hot pan, add some olive oil and add the chopped ginger. Stir well and stir fry the chicken for about 20 seconds. Add the rest of the vegetables and stir fry until the chicken is almost cooked. Add the seasoning sauce. Let it cook. When the mixture becomes a little bit sticky (you will notice that) turn off the heat, and set aside to cool down.

Now fill the wrappers with this mixture.

Deep fry them on medium heat for about 7 or 8 minutes until they are crispy. Serve with some soy sauce.

Spring Rolls! Have I told you that I love spring rolls?

You have to try these recipes; they are all very easy and delicious.  I know a lot more, and will be happy to share if you are interested.

Eating Japanese food without chopsticks it’s not the same thing, with chopsticks the food as another taste to it, so for those who don’t know how to use them, here’s a quick video that shows how to: