Notes about Recipes in this book

• Asparagus tossed with crushed black sesame (Aspara no kuro goma aé)

  • jenburkholder on May 01, 2023

    Pleasant, simple asparagus dish. On the rich end with the sesame seeds and low acid.

• Basic sea stock (Dashi)

  • czalikowski on January 01, 2026

    First foray into homemade dashi- and I was very impressed by how smoky the finished product smelled and tasted. The coffee filter straining process took longer than expected so all of the ingredients ended up infusing together for longer than the recommended 4min, but it didn’t end up tasting fishy at all. Excellent!

  • dosojosazules on January 23, 2026

    Great basic dashi. Did not have coffee filters so double strained

• Bite-sized pork cutlets (Hito kuchi tonkatsu)

  • rosten on July 21, 2016

    This is incredibly tasty. I sub in chicken for the pork all the time (also great with the pork). But the basic recipe is pretty flexible.

• Blushing pink ginger (Hajikami su-zuké)

  • jenburkholder on November 03, 2022

    Very nice, exactly what you want from pickled ginger. May want to bump up the sugar a bit for the American palate. However, mine didn’t blush pink, despite using young ginger. Too bad, still delicious!

• Creamy sesame-miso sauce (Goma miso)

  • jenburkholder on August 12, 2020

    Delicious. A bit too salty with my miso, added more fresh sesame seeds. Went well with kale.

  • abrownb1 on February 13, 2025

    This is delicious! Super easy to whip up using sesame paste and dashi granules. Perfect with blanched spinach and toasted sesame.

• Crisp fried smelts in spicy vinaigrette (Wakasagi no nanban-zuké)

  • tagubajones on March 28, 2013

    I found this one a bit heavy on the vinegar taste. Also, I ate a couple of the smelts just after deep frying and they were delicious. After marinating them they lost the very appealing crunch. I'm going to try marinating them first and then deep frying.

• Gingery seared pork (Shōga yaki)

  • abrownb1 on January 09, 2024

    Good basic recipe. Gathering the ginger juice is a bit fiddly but other than that it's super quick to throw together. I'd probably chop the peppers into large chunks next time to make it easier to eat. I cooked it in a heavy nonstick skillet and it browned very nicely and the pan was easy to clean!

• Leek miso (Negi miso)

  • mirage on February 11, 2013

    Really good with celery.

  • jenburkholder on July 30, 2020

    This is delicious. Goes great on tofu.

• Miso soup with enoki mushrooms (Enoki no miso-jidaté)

  • czalikowski on January 01, 2026

    This is going to become my new go-to quick winter lunch. It comes together so quickly with ingredients that I already have around- and the taste is so much fuller and deeper than anything I’ve tasted at a restaurant.

• Panko-breaded fried cod (Ohyō no furai)

  • twoyolks on January 30, 2021

    These are really crispy but a little bland (which I think is the point). But they're functionally fish sticks.

• Simmered snapper, autumn rain style (Kinmedai no shiguré ni)

  • twoyolks on January 03, 2021

    Everyone loved this and agreed it should be made again. The fish cooks beautifully and the sauce compliments it really well.

• Soy-simmered kabocha squash with red beans (Itoko ni)

  • takemori on November 29, 2024

    Do not overcook! Pumpkin will cease to be visually appealing.

• Sweet potato simmered with kelp (Satsuma imo to kombu no uma ni)

  • jenburkholder on September 07, 2020

    This was delicious. I used a vegetarian dashi that I keep in the fridge. Despite being quick and having few ingredients, the depth of flavor was wonderful. Salty, smoky, sweet, and lovely.

  • metacritic on January 05, 2022

    This is a remarkable recipe, perhaps the best sweet potato dish I've either made or eaten. It requires a handful of steps - each simple in their own right - but which take some time in the cumulative. Make dashi. Cut up the konbu from the dashi. Simmer the sweet potatoes with the finely cut konbu and reduce the whole of the dish to a glaze. But the end result is worth it all.

• Tangy seared chicken wings (Tori téba saki no su itamé)

  • twoyolks on April 04, 2021

    These are addictive and live up to the name with their tanginess. I really enjoyed them.

• Temple garden chowder (Unpen-jiru)

  • metacritic on January 04, 2022

    This is a lovely base made vegetal by the addition of the seasonal vegetables. The chowder is good, the whole of the dish is terrific, light, and feels invigoratingly healthy.

• Temple garden chowder (Unpen-jiru)

  • metacritic on January 04, 2022

    I made this wintery version for the Temple garden chowder. This is how I wish I ate more constantly. The flavors are perfect for winter vegetables - parsnips, broccoli, leeks - but they are whole and discrete, where many western parsnip soups are creamy purees. This was light and healthy. This version calls for a slurry with cornstarch, creating a lovely mouthfeel when added to the broth, almost like egg drop soup.

• Epicurious

  Her detailed descriptions of ingredients coupled with amazing photography just capture the essence of Japanese home cooking and deeply inspire me.

  Full review