Athentic Japanese Recipees?!
I am going to be from Japan. I already have a kimono, and my grandpa speaks Japanese (how fortunate). I was wondering if someone could help me find the perfect Japanese dish. I would like it to be as Athentic as possible. I'm leaning more towards deserts, but main dishes are fine too. THANKS!!
Answers: Every year my history class has a "history ball". We are to write a paper on the country of our choice. At this ball, we have to dress and talk as someone would from our country. We also have to bring a dish.
I am going to be from Japan. I already have a kimono, and my grandpa speaks Japanese (how fortunate). I was wondering if someone could help me find the perfect Japanese dish. I would like it to be as Athentic as possible. I'm leaning more towards deserts, but main dishes are fine too. THANKS!!
Like some people already stay, it's going to be hard to keep it authentic and not worry about scaring people away.
But since you mention you need to write a paper, I will recomand you made Onigiri a simple Japanese rice ball we usually eat went we are traveling. Or you can go with Ochazuke usually green tea or fish broth over rice with choice of toppings such as Nori (sea vegetable) and Ume (pickled plum), a easy way to use leftover rice as a quick snack, it also use as a food to ask a overstayed guest to leave.
Origiri histary - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onigiri
recipes - http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:On...
Ochazuke histary - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochazuke
recipes - not much there just leftover rice, food and
tea / broth
I will stay away from dessert as much as possiable, caz' there not such thing as dessert in Japan. Unlike America to us dressert mean snack, we eat it througt out the day.
Japanese food histary - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_re...
if you do decide to make dressert, i'll recomond you made Dorayaki a kind of traditional Japanese cake with anko sweet azuki beans filling. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorayaki, the cake is farmous because it also asocate with a is a Japanese manga series created by Fujiko F. Fujio called Doraemon a cultural icon of Japan.
Dorayaki receipte - http://www.recipezaar.com/120221
just for a foot note - all the item I mention you can buy pre-made one in any Asian food market and some larger supermarket. Best of all they all have a piece of Japanese history to it, don't forget to teach your friend how to say itadakimasu ("I shall receive") before starting to eat a meal, and gochisōsama deshita, ごちそうさまでした ("That was a feast") to the host after the meal and the restaurant staff when leaving. Hope you goy a A out of it.
JAPANESE DESSERT
2 sticks Kanten (agar-agar)
1 can cooked Azuki beans with sugar
Wash kanten and tear it into small pieces into a bowl full of water. Squeeze out the water.
Put kanten and 10 ounces of water in a pan and cook over low heat until the kanten is melted.
Add the can of cooked beans to the kanten and pour into mold. Chill until it is set. Remove kanten from mold and cut into squares.
These items can be purchased at a Japanese market.
JAPANESE FRUIT CAKE
1 c. Crisco
1 stick butter
3 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. soda
1 c. raisins, ground
4 eggs
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. sweet milk
1 tbsp. vanilla
2 lemons seeded and ground
Combine Crisco, butter and sugar, beat until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each one. Add soda to flour, and add flour and milk alternately. Add vanilla. Divide this mixture into half. Add raisins in one half and lemons in the other. Two layers with raisins and two with lemons when putting together start with raisin layer, then a lemon layer, another raisin, and end with a lemon.
FILLING FOR JAPANESE FRUIT CAKE
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 stick butter
1 lg. pkg. and 1 sm. pkg. of fresh frozen coconut
1 1/2 c. sweet milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Cook this all together for about 10 minutes on medium heat. Put together while warm. Put coconut on each layer after you put the filling. Stick a knife blade down through layers so filling will seep in.
You should probably pick something most people are familiar with so that it adds to your authenticity. Sushi is probably the most recognizable Japanese cooking, but look at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Cu... if you want to get fancy. Just remember a lot of people don't know the difference between China and Japan even geographically so you might want to keep it simple.
A lot of japanese food are relatively easy to prepare.
Magnus is right... I understand that you want to keep it authentic and all but if you keep it too authentic, the people might not be able to appreciate it (all your efforts might go to waste).
Check out this site: http://www.authenticjapanesefood.com/en/...
shiruko
1 Wash 200 grams of adzuki beans. Soak them in plenty of water overnight.
2 Drain. Add enough fresh water to more than cover the beans. Heat to boiling, then remove from heat.
3 Drain in a strainer, then rinse under a tap.
4 Add tap water and heat again. After the water boils, add about 400 ml of cool water to lower the temperature. Simmer at low heat.
5 Fill the pot with water, after the beans are soft enough to mash them easily with a finger. Remove any scum that comes to the water surface. Let stand for a while.
6 Discard the top part of the water, after the beans and tiny bean particles sink to the bottom of the pot.
7 Simmer again, while skimming off any scum that rises to the surface. Add 250 grams of sugar and a half-teaspoon of salt. Before serving, add some grilled mochi rice cake to each bowl.
http://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia28...
An easy one is mini chicken yakitori - great finger food.
Forstly boil together soy sauce and mirin (mirin is sweet rice wine used for cooking - you can buy it at asian food stores), in quantities 50:50. You will need to keep it boiling for 10 mins.
Meanwhile cut raw chicken breasts into 1cm cubes and thread onto wooden skewers (about 4-5 pieces per skewer). Once the soy/mirin mix is cooled, marinade the chicken skewers for around 2 hours in it.
Once your 2 hours are up, grill the chicken skewers on the BBQ or under a grill. You can serve them hot straight from the grill, or let them cool and refigerate.
Serve with Shichimi Togarashi - Japanese 7 spice seasoning available at Asian Food shops.