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Traditional Japanese Recipes












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A guide to the most popular Asian ingredients:

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Sesame Oil has a nutty flavor.  It's flavor disintegrates at high or sustained temperatures.  Therefore, it is best added towards the end of your cooking.
 
Bok choy is one of my favorite vegetables.  It has a light bulb and darker leaves.   Chopped it is a great addition to any soup.  It is also known as Chinese White Cabbage but it does not have the strong taste commonly associated with cabbage.
 
Cilantro has a surprising, distinctive taste.  You can find it fresh at most grocery stores.  This is my favorite herb to use to make infused oil for cooking.  Click here to access my instructions for making infused oils.  My favorite easy to make broth - combine coconut milk, chicken broth and fresh cilantro.  I use light coconut milk and have found no difference in the quality as opposed to the full fat coconut milk.  However, even light coconut milk is high in fat. 
 
Ginger is a traditional Asian herb. A hand of it is shown in the picture above.   If you buy it fresh freeze it and hack off a piece as you need it. 
 
Lemon grass  is a  lemon flavored stalk.  I usually buy dried lemon grass for convenience.  Even the dried has a wonderful lemony smell.  If you use dried lemongrass soak it in warm water first and chop or crush to use in cooking.
 
Mirin is sweet sake.  A good substitute is dry sherry to which you have added some sugar.
 
Jasmine rice is an aromatic white rice from Thailand.  As it's name suggests, it does have a smell similar to jasmine flowers.
 
Miso paste is made from fermented soybeans.  There are many great prepared miso products in the grocery store.  I usually buy miso and ginger marinade for my fish meals instead of making the miso paste from scratch. 
 
Wasabi is that green, fiery hot condiment that is served on the side when you order sushi or a california roll.  It is normally mixed with soy sauce for dipping.  Wasabi is showing up in more and more grocery stores in the specialty section. 
 
However, check the product information prior to buying to be sure that you are not purchasing seiyo (horseradish with green food coloring).   100 percent wasabi is made from wasabi root.  The ingredient label for seiya  will list grated horseradish roots. 





























































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