Japanese Food

May 6, 2011 08:10 pm

Do you have a favorite Japanese food? Where do you usually get it? How did you first try it?

I can't really pick out my favorite. I love steamed edamame, but that's kinda boring for a thread, lol. So, I'm gonna say Japanese fried foods, like anything ~katsu :-p I don't like fried foods from any other cultures, but somehow, authentic Japanese katsu is suuuuuper crispy while the inside is nice and soft. Unfortunately (or fortunately for my waistline) I've only had this a few times.

I usually get my Asian foods from the Korean or Chinese supermarket and this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant owned by a lovely Japanese man.

kimchininja

May 6, 2011 09:03 pm

I like melon bread. xD
We also have Asian supermarkets that hold some Japanese products. Fortunately we have exclusive Japanese supermarkets (legit!) that actually carry melon bread.
I also like udon because I love soft and chewy xD But other noodles are okay too. Like ramen or soba noodles.
And I like crunchy sushi! Sushi with texture and flavor is the best.
My favorite sushi is Salmon. :D I love the flavor of fresh salmon.

ladyfaile

May 6, 2011 10:02 pm

ooh i want to try melon bread.

i'm vegan so i don't eat fish but there is a surprising amount of sushi i can have. a sushi restaurant opened up in our city finally (2 locations!) and it's my favourite place to eat. i've tried elsewhere out of town also and no matter where i go my favourite is Inari (little tofu pouches stuffed with rice) mmmmmmm
when we go for sushi i always order that, and usually the sakura roll which has avocado, i think cucumber also, and panko (crispy breadcrumbs) and hot sauce. the best!! and i like the yam tempura roll too. they also do this amazing mango roll that i love love love but it's so sweet. i get it last when everyone else at the table is having ice cream. since i can't have the ice cream the mango roll is my dessert lol.

i find it funny that the staff at the sushi places here are all Chinese though, and there are soooo many spelling mistakes on their menus, it cracks me up. but the food is fantastic and it's all you can eat so no complaints

Kawaikochan

May 6, 2011 10:14 pm

@kimchininja
OMG I wish we had a Japanese grocery store. The Korean and Chinese supermarkets here are legit, major supermarkets from Korean and China. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate my Japanese vegetarian restaurant, but sometimes I want to stroll through the isles and buy random things without spending a lot of money.

@ladyfaile
You can also make vegan onigiri. If you don't mind fermented foods, I like to mix a little miso paste with honey and use that as the stuffing. You can substitute crushed dates or agave nectar for the honey. Sometimes I make a bunch of tiny ones in the fridge for quick snacks.

ladyfaile

May 6, 2011 10:56 pm

i've still never tried onigiri. i'll have to look up recipes and see what i can make with what's available around here (not much, no asian market)

Aya

May 8, 2011 02:20 am

linearose wrote: i've still never tried onigiri. i'll have to look up recipes and see what i can make with what's available around here (not much, no asian market)

You'll enjoy it xD

As for me, my favorite would be Dango, Chicken Oyakodon, Ichigo Daifuku and Omurice xD

We don't have a lot of Japanese Stores/Restaurants in here though. We get our ingredients straight from Japan if we want to cook some Japanese Foods.

Kawaikochan

May 8, 2011 02:36 am

imEthel wrote: You'll enjoy it xD

As for me, my favorite would be Dango, Chicken Oyakodon, Ichigo Daifuku and Omurice xD

We don't have a lot of Japanese Stores/Restaurants in here though. We get our ingredients straight from Japan if we want to cook some Japanese Foods.

I am dying to try Japanese desserts. They all look soooo good. I've looked up recipes before, but I wish I had some frame of reference for taste and texture. for now, I just look at pictures and drool, hehe.

ladyfaile

May 8, 2011 04:13 am

i know right, especially the little bite sized pastries, like little edible works of art. i wonder if there are any vegan dessert shops in Tokyo =/

Kawaikochan

May 8, 2011 08:36 am

from what I hear, vegan in Japan is tough because they use a lot of meat/fish parts to season things, even if it's not a meat dish. But something like mochi with fruit or bean filling seems like a promising option :) Also, I'm sure somewhere in Japan that is a trendy vegan bakery, lol. They're always on to what's cool.

Aya

May 8, 2011 12:45 pm

Roxteetty wrote: I am dying to try Japanese desserts. They all look soooo good. I've looked up recipes before, but I wish I had some frame of reference for taste and texture. for now, I just look at pictures and drool, hehe.

Well, there are a lot of Japanese Desserts that you can make by buying the ingredients in the local market. Like uhmm... Ichigo Daifuku for example. I'm pretty much sure that you have Red Beans over there and strawberries too. Flour, sugar etc... xD Though it might not taste exactly like the one in Japan, at least you have an idea of what it may taste like. xP

Coffee Jelly, for me, is the easiest one to make. Its ingredients are really cheap xD

ladyfaile

May 8, 2011 05:02 pm

mmmmmmm mochi :D

yep i'm sure there are some trendy vegan shops especially in the big cities. i'll just research it before i go. it's another reason i want to learn the language before i go, so i can read ingredients on packaged foods and be able to specify my restrictions at restaurants etc. being vegan and having a language barrier makes it much more difficult. it's why i've never eaten in chinatown in Toronto, there's even a small shop that sells steamed buns but so many people there don't speak much english. i'm afraid to attempt anything. (also they're super polite esp. with tourists and just agree to anything you say even if they don't understand so if i ask if something's vegan they might say yes without knowing what i'm asking lol)

kimchininja

May 9, 2011 12:43 am

Onigiri is tasty. ^.^ My attempts failed but when I made it with my Japanese club at school, it was heaven! I just can't get the rice right =_=. How do you make that oh-so-tasty Japanese rice? The rice my family eats at home is bland and falls apart (you can't eat it with chopsticks), so that's useless. And every time I buy sushi rice, it never comes out the way they do in Japanese/Chinese restaurants!

I don't think melon bread is vegan, but you can most definitely Google it! I'm sure someone has made a vegan recipe for melon pan.

It's hard for me to eat ramen since they often make the broth out of pork bones, and I can't eat pork. :( The only ramen I've had that I could eat was made of a soy sauce base broth >__<

Kawaikochan

May 9, 2011 03:22 am

I followed this tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/user/runnyrunny999#p/search/0/qcVKUWD6PJE
He has a couple different rice tutorials that are easy to follow. He even has one that tells you how to make rice without a rice cooker. I have heard that rice here never tastes as good as it does in Japan, partially because of the water, kinda like how new yorkers say their pizza dough is different because of their water. idk how true it is though, hehehe.

ladyfaile

May 9, 2011 05:44 am

that tutorial is great. the agedama looks so good i could just eat a bowl of that alone :P *loves deep fried anything*
his recipe seems mostly vegan except i'm not sure what goes into mentsuyu. looked it up on wiki and the only thing in it that is iffy is "dashi" which sometimes has fish. but i think you could just use brewed soy sauce instead of the mentsuyu, or i could make it from scratch if i can find mirin. might be expensive but there is one store downtown that might have it actually, i'll have to check it out sometime.
how cool would it be to make some stuff like this for when my brother in law and his girlfriend are here next time. (you'd think he'd be all over the western food when he visits but he actually goes out for sushi when he's here, he loves japanese food)