Japanese Recipes

509 Japanese recipes. Page 20 of 22. Compare ingredients and cooking times. Niai (Sweet-Sour Simmered Root Vegetables), Niku Dofu Beef and Tofu Simmer.

Asian Medium

Niai (Sweet-Sour Simmered Root Vegetables)

Vinegar is added only at the very end, so a sweet soy simmer of burdock, carrot, lotus root, shiitake, shirataki, and fried tofu picks up a bright sour note while the lotus root keeps some crunch. It comes from around Mito in Ibaraki, and one theory traces the name to nite aeru, to simmer and then dress. Families made big batches for New Year and ceremonies and ate it the next day, and it still tastes best after a night in the refrigerator.

Prep 35min Cook 35min 4 servings

Asian Easy

Niku Dofu Beef and Tofu Simmer

The name leads with meat, but tofu is the center of the pot, with thin beef and Kujo negi, Kyoto's long green onion, in a sweet soy broth around it. It is a winter home dish in Kyoto. The slick gel inside the onion leaves is not rinsed off, and the onion cooks for only the last two minutes to keep its sweetness and aroma.

🏠 Everyday

Prep 20min Cook 20min 3 servings

Asian Easy

Nikujaga (Japanese Beef Potato Onion Soy-Sweet Stew)

Thin slices of beef, potatoes, onion, carrot, and shirataki noodles simmer in dashi sweetened with mirin and sugar and seasoned with soy sauce, a combination many Japanese people tie to home cooking. One story traces it to a Meiji-era naval officer trying to recreate British beef stew with Japanese ingredients, which would explain why the result is a clear soy braise rather than a thick, flour-bound stew.

Prep 15min Cook 30min 4 servings

Asian Hard

Steamed Pork Buns

The cabbage mixed into the ground pork gives off its water, keeping the filling juicy inside the fluffy steamed dough. The filling is seasoned with ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil, and a little sugar makes the dough faintly sweet.

At least 1 hr 38 min 4 servings

Asian Medium

Nimiso Red Miso Vegetable Stew

Red soybean miso, aged from a soybean koji, gives this Aichi stew a dark broth with deep savoriness, a little acidity, and a faint astringency. Also called misoni, it grew out of the soybean miso tradition best known through Hatcho miso. Every household loads the pot with daikon, carrot, burdock, taro, konnyaku, and fried tofu, but some keep plenty of broth and eat it like a hot pot while others cook it down to a thicker simmer.

Prep 30min Cook 45min 4 servings

Asian Hard

Noppe (Niigata Taro and Vegetable Simmer)

In Niigata's noppe, the broth thickens lightly from the taro's own starch, with no thickener added. Water from soaking dried scallops and shiitake forms the base, and taro, bamboo shoot, carrot, konnyaku, kamaboko fish cake, ginkgo nuts, and salted salmon are cut to similar sizes. Families make big pots for New Year, weddings, memorial services, and funerals, eat it warm or cold, and top each bowl with salmon roe.

Prep 30min Cook 35min 6 servings

Asian Hard

Iwashi no Unohana-zuke (Vinegared Sardines with Okara)

Small sardines cured first in salt and then in vinegar are opened flat and filled with sweet-sour okara, the soybean pulp left from tofu making, with a thin coat on the skin side too. The okara, cooked dry with carrot and dried chili and then brightened with yuzu zest and juice, comes across soft, citrusy, and tangy against the firm, vinegared fish. This Ibaraki dish is eaten the day it is made, and only sardines sold for raw eating after commercial freezing will do, since salt and vinegar do not kill anisakis.

Prep 35min Cook 12min 4 servings

Asian Hard

Mushidai (Whole Sea Bream Steamed with Okara Stuffing)

A whole sea bream of about 1 kg is opened from the back with its fins and shape intact, packed with sweetened okara, and steamed in one piece for celebrations in Kochi. Sieved hard-boiled egg yolk goes over the top at the end, and the fish is presented on a large sawachi platter at weddings, New Year, and the banquets locals call okyaku. A sweet potato steamed alongside is the old way of judging doneness, and this recipe keeps that habit.

Prep 60min Cook 60min 8 servings

Asian Hard

Kibinago no Hokaburi (Vinegar-Cured Fish and Okara Sushi)

Okara, the soybean pulp left from making tofu, stands in for rice in this sushi from Kochi, cooked with ginger, sugar, soy sauce, and vinegar until sweet and tart. Under a small vinegar-cured kibinago draped over each ball, the filling crumbles softly while the fish adds salt and a firm bite. The name hokaburi compares the fish to a cloth pulled over someone's head and cheeks. It belongs to the tamazushi family of rice-saving sushi and is tied especially to Sukumo, where Sukumo Bay once yielded large kibinago catches.

Prep 45min Cook 10min 4 servings

Asian Easy

Okiagari (Sakura Shrimp and Tofu Hot Pot)

Fishermen in Yui, Shizuoka, came ashore after the sakura shrimp catch and shared this hot pot, which is where the name okiagari comes from. The shrimp go in fresh, seasoning a sweet soy, sugar, and sake broth before large blocks of firm tofu soak it up. Each spoonful takes shrimp, tofu, and scallion together, eaten hot.

Prep 10min Cook 18min 4 servings

Asian Medium

Oyaki with Eggplant and Sweet Miso

Round eggplant slices, slit into pockets and stuffed with sugar-sweetened miso, sit inside a plain wheat wrapper. Nagano's oyaki can hold many seasonal vegetables, and in this filling the eggplant turns soft and juicy as it steams, soaking up the salty-sweet miso. Some oyaki are only grilled or only steamed, but these are browned in a pan first and then steamed, leaving the wrapper chewy-soft with a toasted bottom. The batch makes twenty.

Prep 75min Cook 30min 20 servings

Asian Easy

Hokkaido Potato Imomochi

In Hokkaido, where potatoes were plentiful and glutinous rice was not, potatoes took the place of rice to give this snack, also called imodango, its mochi-like chew. Browned slowly in butter, each thick round turns golden and crisp outside while the center stays dense and stretchy. A sauce of ground perilla seeds and white sesame with sugar and soy sauce adds a nutty, sweet-salty finish.

Prep 15min Cook 30min 4 servings

Asian Medium

Mizu-tataki Pounded Wild Greens

Pounded and then minced, the red stem bases of mizu turn sticky and stringy, much like grated mountain yam, and are dressed with miso, mirin, soy sauce, and sugar. Mizu, formally uwabamiso, grows in colonies along clean mountain streams in Iwate's Ou and Kitakami ranges. The deeper the red at the base, the stronger the stickiness, while the watery stem keeps both crunch and a slippery feel. Tender spring and early-summer stems are the most prized. Serve it cold, on the day it is made.

Prep 40min Cook 3min 10 servings

Asian Easy

Shoyu Mame (Kagawa Roasted Broad Beans in Soy Marinade)

Rather than boiling, the dried broad beans are roasted dry in a pan first, which gives the skins a toasty smell and leaves a center that crumbles when bitten. Still hot, they drop into a sweet soy and chili marinade and sit overnight. Sanuki farmers in Kagawa grew broad beans after the rice harvest and kept shoyu mame on hand for everyday meals and sake. One story says roasted beans meant for pilgrims rolled into a soy sauce jar and came out nicely seasoned, and some homes set them out at New Year in place of sweet black beans.

🏠 Everyday 🍺 Bar Snacks

Prep 5min Cook 60min 4 servings

Asian Hard

Akagarei no Komaburi (Flounder Sashimi Coated with Roe)

One roe-bearing female flathead flounder supplies both parts of this winter celebration dish from Iwami in Tottori: the white flesh is sliced as sashimi, and the roe is cooked through, crumbled into dry grains, and coated over each slice. The fish stays clean and springy under a thin, rich, slightly sandy layer of roe. It comes with soy sauce and wasabi and is eaten as soon as it is mixed; leftovers are not kept.

Prep 40min Cook 15min 6 servings

Asian Medium

Saba Misoni (Japanese Miso Mackerel Recipe)

Mackerel fillets simmer skin-side up under a glossy glaze of miso, mirin, sake, and sugar, a staple of Japanese home cooking. Pouring boiling water over the fish first takes away surface odor, and thin slices of ginger in the pan deal with the rest.

🏠 Everyday

Prep 8min Cook 18min 2 servings

Asian Medium

King Oyster Mushroom Katsu

King oyster mushrooms are cut lengthwise into wide slabs 1.5 cm thick and breaded like tonkatsu, and the thickness gives them a meaty chew without any meat. Like the pork version, they go to the table with tonkatsu sauce.

Prep 15min Cook 20min 2 servings

Asian Medium

Tsukeage (Satsuma Fried Fish Cakes)

Fish cakes from Kagoshima go by tsukeage at home, even though much of Japan calls them satsuma-age. The white fish paste is softened with squeezed cotton tofu and egg and sweetened with sugar, local sake, and light soy sauce. Warm, they are a side dish or drinking snack, and once cooled they go into lunchboxes or simmered dishes.

🍺 Bar Snacks 🍱 Lunchbox

Prep 20min Cook 20min 4 servings

Asian Easy

Igisu (Egonori Seaweed Gel)

Central Tottori sets igisu, a dried seaweed also known as egonori, with nothing added: stirred over low heat until its fibers dissolve, it thickens the water itself and chills into blocks that slice cleanly, a little like yokan. Cut into rectangles, sprinkled with sesame, and eaten with soy sauce, it appears at Buddhist vegetarian meals as well as New Year, memorial, and festival tables.

Prep 20min Cook 40min 4 servings

Asian Easy

Kaiyaki Miso (Scallop-Shell Miso Egg)

A large scallop shell serves as the pot here, not as a source of meat: miso broth simmers in it and an egg sets into soft curds. The broth comes from grilled dried sardines and katsuobushi, salted with red miso, and flat sheets of dried wheat gluten called itafu soak it up before the egg goes in. It is a home dish from Tsugaru and Shimokita in Aomori, eaten with rice.

Prep 10min Cook 12min 1 serving

Asian Medium

Shime-dofu (Pressed and Simmered Tofu)

Rolling tofu tightly in a bamboo mat and boiling it squeezes out the big pockets of water, leaving a firm, smooth texture closer to kamaboko fish cake than to ordinary tofu. In the Kanra area of Gunma, the pressed cylinder is then simmered in dashi, sugar, and soy sauce until the seasoning reaches the center. Holding their shape and the ridges of the mat, the slices are served as a side dish or added to nishime, a mixed simmered dish.

Prep 15min Cook 50min 2 servings

Asian Medium

Chiba Sumitsukare

Other regions make shimotsukare with salmon heads, but this Chiba version from Tokatsu is all vegetables, soy, and sake lees: coarsely grated daikon and carrot, roasted soybeans, fried tofu, and firm tofu. Over hours on low heat the daikon falls apart into the lees and the whole pot turns thick and porridge-like. It was offered at Inari shrines with red bean rice on Hatsuuma, the first horse day of February, and it uses up roasted beans left over from Setsubun. The name shifts from place to place: sumitsukare, shimotsukare, somotsukare.

Prep 30min Cook 240min 10 servings

Asian Hard

Shiso Maki with Walnut Miso Filling

Crisp green shiso leaves, fried only long enough to stay deep green, wrap a sweet paste of red miso and chopped walnuts. The snack grew out of Miyagi's Sendai miso tradition; one story ties it to the warlord Date Masamune, another to visitors taking the hot-spring cure at Naruko.

🍱 Lunchbox

Prep 120min Cook 45min 100 servings

Asian Medium

Hatoshi (Nagasaki Shrimp Toast)

Brought to Nagasaki from Qing China in the Meiji era, hatoshi became one plate of shippoku, the city's round-table banquet, and is now sold in shops and on the street as a snack. Here a thick layer of shrimp and squid is sandwiched between slices of white bread, steamed, and only then deep-fried. Grinding half the seafood into a sticky paste and cutting the rest into chunks gives the crisp bread a moist filling with springy bites.

Prep 25min Cook 25min 2 servings