Summer’s finally here and sushi is the perfect food for a roasting hot day as it is great for barbecues, picnics and summer buffets and will fill you up without weighing you down.
This delicious seasonal recipe is very flexible – you can use tinned tuna steaks or tender chunks of raw tuna meat and add the spicy kick with either a sprinkle of chilli powder or a dash of hot or sweet chilli sauce.
Temaki hand rolls are the perfect food for a summer garden party or eating al fresco with friends as you all build your own. Just stuff the cones of nori full of sticky rice and tasty topping and eat immediately. If you are planning a picnic, then get out your rolling mat or sushi magic rolling machine and try making this recipe as fiery maki rolls instead. That’s the beauty of sushi – lots of ways to make it and lots of ways to eat it.
As always, the first step is to make your sticky and delicious sushi rice; you can make it from scratch on the hob or pop it in a rice cooker.
Once it’s cooked, put it in a hangiri or large bowl and mix in some rice seasoning. You can buy ready made rice seasoning but I like to use a dressing made of of 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon of mirin, 2 teaspoons of castor sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt.
While your rice cools you can make the spicy tuna filling and for this version I am going to use raw tuna and chilli powder.
Chop the raw tuna steak into small chunks and mix with 1.5 teaspoons of Japanese mayonnaise and half a teaspoon of chilli powder. You may want to vary the amount and strength of the chilli powder depending on your taste. Make sure the tuna is completely coated in the spicy mayonnaise mixture and you are ready to roll.
Take a sheet of nori seaweed and slice it in half. Put a piece in the palm of your hand with the rough side up. First take a dollop of rice and spread it in a diagonal line across of the nori sheet, then spoon some of the tuna mix on top.
Roll the seaweed up into a cone shape and you have a nice, spicy tuna temaki that’s ready to eat and is great with slices of pickled gari ginger and a crispy green salad.
This recipe also works well with salmon, just make sure you get a nice fresh piece of sashimi-grade fish to get the full flavour of you are going to eat it raw.
Flights in the UK have been grounded on and off by the massive volcanic eruptions in Iceland and the effects of the Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud can be felt even further afield.
The grounded flights have cause chaos for fish traders and sushi restaurants in Japan as it has affected imports of prized Norwegian salmon; a delicacy to the Japanese sushi lover.
Seafood traders on markets like Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market have been forced to turn to places as far flung as New Zealand to source stocks of Pacific salmon even though many clients prefer the Atlantic salmon’s delicate texture and mild taste.
Usually, 90 per cent of Japan’s Atlantic salmon comes from Norway by air. Fresh salmon is far more popular and valuable than frozen produce which is why air travel is essential. As many flights have been unable to get through because of the volcanic ash cloud, salmon stocks are low which has cost implications for the wholesale traders.
Norwegian salmon is served raw for sushi and sashimi in some of the country’s top restaurants and the roe is used for a variety of sushi such as gunkanmaki and temaki rolls and it is also a regular topping on delicious nigiri. It is also sometimes grilled in steaks and served as a standalone main dish.
In February, Japan imported 1,400 tonnes of Atlantic salmon from Norway compared with 150 tonnes from the rest of the world which shows how popular it is. This amount of imported salmon is worth one billion yen or more than £700,000. One major importer in Tokyo told American journalists that, when the volcano first erupted, his company lost 30 million yen (roughly £220,000), in days which is a third of its monthly turnover.
Japan has had to look to New Zealand, Australia and Chile to meet demand with Pacific salmon, even though this is far less popular with consumers and the top sushi chefs. Luckily, here in the UK we have easy access to this fish which is so prized in Japan and the same goes in Iceland itself which is famed for its seafood and has recently seen a surge in the number of sushi restaurants. Iceland has finally caught on to what the Japanese has known for years about the quality of Northern European fish and sushi is now one of the most popular foreign cuisines in the capital Reykjavik.
So it is not just the UK and Europe that continues to be frustrated by the Icelandic volcano as Japanese sushi lovers are also having to compromise. While we are lucky to have the freshest Atlantic salmon on our doorstep and are struggling to leave the country by plane, it may be the ideal time to call up some friends and serve up some delicious sushi and sashimi while we wait for nature to take its course.
The Japanese diet is known for being one of the healthiest in the world but along with the low fat, mineral rich sushi, they still have room for some sweet treats.
There are lots of weird and wonderful Japanese sweets for people with a weakness for confectionary, in lots of different flavours. Chocolate, sweets and biscuits are a culinary market that has grown significantly since the end of the Second World War, helped along by the adoption of popular Western festivals like Valentine’s Day and Christmas.
Pocky is one of the most commonly found sweets and has been a staple of Japanese shop shelves since the 1960s. It consists of pretzel sticks, coated with a variety of different toppings. The original flavour was milk chocolate but now it comes dipped in everything from strawberry or banana to honey and green tea. There is even a mysteriously titled Men’s Pocky which is the dark chocolate version. A similar product called Mikado has recently been released on European markets though purists will tell you that Pocky is the best.
Green tea may not be the first thing that springs to mind when thinking of confectionary but it is a very popular flavour in Japan for deserts, ice cream and sweet treats. It is delicious but has a very distinctive, tangy taste that takes the edge off very sugary dishes. Ginger is often used to the same effect as a desert flavouring with a bit of an edge.
Combining chocolate with biscuit is very common and appeals to the nation’s love of adding texture to its food. With many confectionaries, it also enables them to indulge the popularity of quirky and cute characters. In Japan, home of Manga, cartoon characters are not just loved by children but adults of all ages as well. There are a number of popular character-shaped confectionaries such as Lotte Koala - bite-sized biscuits filled with milk chocolate in the shape of a koala bear with a picture of the cartoon creature printed on the shell.
Other ‘cute’ sweets include fish-shaped Meiji Pucca Chocolate which has a slightly salty, crunchy shell that compliments the smooth chocolate inside and, also made by Meiji, Choco Baby which are small milk chocolate treats printed with stars and smiley faces.
Lots of Japanese confectionaries are ideal for snacking and sharing and combine texture and unusual flavours with classic sweetness. There is an emphasis on unique characters and combinations that may just change your mind about the Western dominance of the sweet food market.
Japanese food is an explosion of flavours colours and textures and pickled fruit and vegetables are an essential part of the culinary experience.
Tsukemono (pickled things) are a far cry from onions or red cabbage and include vegetables, fruits and condiments that are served as an accompaniment, a garnish and even a dish in their own right in Japanese homes and restaurants. The tradition dates back to the days before refrigeration when pickling was an important way to preserve food.
Unlike western pickles, the Japanese don’t often use vinegar as the main preservative, preferring salt or brine which gives the pickles a unique taste and maintains a crunchy texture. There are hundreds of different varieties and combinations of tsukemono, each with a unique flavour which is enhanced by using other popular ingredients in the pickling process such as mirin, sake, soy sauce or miso paste. Most pickles are very flexible in terms of how they can be eaten and what with and add an interesting flavour and texture dimension to different dishes, from sushi to noodles to Japanese curry.
Delicate slices of pickled gari ginger are an essential accompaniment to sushi. They are eaten with the sushi rolls as a garnish or between sushi with different fillings or courses of a meal as a tangy palate cleanser. Ginger is also pickled in thin, red strips known as Beni Shoga which is served as a garnish on hot dishes such as meat dishes and yakisoba (fried noodles).
Daikon radish, known as Takuan is another popular pickled vegetable with a bright yellow colour and sweet, crunchy taste that is very versatile. It is served grated with pork steaks covered in panko breadcrumbs or finely sliced with mixed leaves in salads. It can also be finely sliced and added to sushi or used to flavour stews or hot dishes and is often served at the end of a meal as it is believed to aid digestion.
In Japan, fruit is also pickled and served with savoury dishes. Umeboshi is made from Ume fruits which are described as plums but are more similar in colour and texture to apricots. They have a sour taste and are often stuffed inside onigiri rice balls for a quick breakfast or a lunchtime snack and believed to have numerous health benefits including beating fatigue.
One of the best ways to sample Japanese pickles is to try a mixed selection which are ready available and offer a range of flavours. Fukujinzuke is a selection of seven different vegetables which can be served as a snack or side dish, used to fill onigiri rice balls or to garnish maki sushi. Another great pickle for sushi lovers is Shiba Zuke which is a mix of aubergine, cucumber and ginger.
The great thing about Japanese pickles is you can eat them with almost everything – stews, rice, sushi or even as a quick snack. Whatever your taste there will be a flavour and a texture out there you are bound to love which is a great reason to try something new and unique with your food.
Sushi is not only delicious but now scientists have found that it can change our genes to alter the way we digest food.
Some French marine biologists have found a substance in marine bacteria that breaks seaweed down into digestible pieces. By eating sushi wrapped in nori seaweed, it seems the Japanese and all other sushi lovers have also ingested these bacteria and the gene coding for that digestive enzyme.
The team from Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) in Paris, made the discovery by chance while studying red algae known as Porphyra of which nori seaweed is a type. They discovered the new enzyme, porphyranase, from bacteria living on the seaweed that break down the algae. They looked through hundreds of gene databases to search for where this unique enzyme might occur and linked it to the gut bacteria of a group of Japanese people.
This means the Japanese digestive system has probably adapted to include this marine bacteria as a result of a sushi rich diet, especially since nori seaweed is dried but eaten raw. It is an amazing discovery as it proves that what we eat and how we prepare it can influence the biological processes for how we consume food.
So, eating sushi wrapped in seawed – maki, gunkanmaki, temaki cones - can change the way our bodies respond to what we eat. It is another great reason for investing a sushi making kit and eating a Japanese diet which is also healthy, low fat and full of vitamins and minerals.
This point was reiterated by American microbiologist, Professor Justin Sonnenburg who wrote an article to accompany the team’s Nature paper. He said: ”Global travel and trade are providing unmatched access to new types of food and perhaps new microbes harbouring novel genes. So the next time you take a bite of an unfamiliar food, think about the microbial inhabitants you may also be ingesting, add the possibility that you will be providing one of your ten trillion closest friends with a new set of [digestive] utensils.”
Most Japanese people don’t celebrate Easter as it is one of the few festivals in the Western calendar that is still predominately religious and has no significance outside the Christian religion.
However, if you travel to Japan at this time of year you will see window displays in the shops with chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies and this recipe sticks with the seasonal theme by using eggs and a tasty treat for dinner parties or a spring snack.
Chawanmushi means steamed in a tea cup and unlike the sweet, desert custard we are more familiar with, it is a savoury egg dish, served as a starter in many Japanese restaurants. Recipes vary but underneath the rich, golden egg, seasoned delicately with Japanese condiments, is a delicious combination of savoury ingredients.
Chawanmushi is a classic Japanese dish and is served in small, earthenware soup bowls, often with matching lids but the easiest thing to use is a set of ramekins. You will also need a large bamboo steamer.
- Mix three eggs loosely in a large bowl or jug with chopsticks but don’t beat them too hard.
- Add 350ml of dashi soup stock, 1 teaspoon each of soy sauce, sake and sugar and a pinch of salt.
- To get a smooth and rich custard, strain this mixture through a sieve.
- Divide eight small prawns between four ramekins along with a chicken thigh chopped into small, bite size pieces and finely chopped shitake mushrooms.
- Fill each cup ¾ full with the egg mixture and cover with a piece of tin foil.
- Steam the custard in the bamboo steamer over high heat for about 5 minutes then turn down the heat and steam for another 15 minutes or so.
You can test if the custard is ready by prodding it gently with a toothpick or the prong of a fork – if the liquid runs clear, it is done. Serve hot or chilled depending on weather for the ultimate in Japanese comfort food.
Food has to look good as well as taste good in Japan so it’s no surprise that they have found a way to make even a bowl of plain sticky rice look more appealing.
Furikake is a Japanese condiment that comes in the form of dry sprinkles and can be scattered over the top of a bowl of rice or used to liven up the outside of onigiri rice balls or sushi rolls with the rice on the outside.
There are loads of different types of furikake, made from lots of different ingredients which mean the sprinkles come in a variety of interesting colours and flavours. The Japanese use furikake like we use salt and pepper and the weird and wonderful range of ingredients means that they not only enhance flavours but provide a balance of protein, vitamins and minerals.
Most furikake contain a mixture of dried or ground fish such as tuna or salmon flakes, dried vegetables or chopped seaweed such as nori, sesame seed, powdered soy sauce or miso, sugar, salt or dried egg. While this may sound odd, furikake is not overly fishy or salty; it just enhances flavours, rather like adding dried herbs to your cooking though it can sometimes be quite spicy if you buy a brand including dried chilli or wasabi.
There are lots of different uses for this versatile condiment. The simplest use is to sprinkle it over a steaming bowl of sticky white Japanese rice to add texture and flavour. Onigiri rice balls are a popular lunchtime snack and wonderfully easy to make. Once you have cooked, seasoned and cooled your sushi rice, use an onigiri mould to make these tasty balls of rice, sprinkle some furikake on a flat surface and then roll the rice balls in it for a crunchy, tasty treat.
Furikake can also be used as a seasoning for fish or meat. Try taking some small cod fillets, spread a thin layer of Japanese mayonnaise over the fish, cover with furikake and fry lightly until cooked for a delicious crispy cod coating.
You can even use it to transform Western dishes such as potatoes or salad dressings, cheese on toast or pasta. Like most condiments furikake is totally versatile so ditch the salt and pepper and sprinkle something more adventurous on your dinner.
It’s hard to imagine any oriental cooking without including a splash or a dash of soy sauce – an essential ingredient for hundreds of fantastic dishes.
This sticky brown sauce comes in a variety of types and is used for everything in Japanese cooking. When heated it makes a tasty, sticky marinade, delicious with meat or vegetables or it can be added to other sauces as a seasoning or simply used as a dipping sauce for delicious sushi rolls or nigiri.
Soy beans have hundreds of different purposes in the Far East and are used for lots of different foodstuffs including Soya milk and tofu. Today, most eastern countries have their own version of soy sauce.
There are different theories as to how Soy Sauce evolved. A popular one is that it was discovered in China from the process of preserving food known as jiang. Before fridges, finding new ways to preserve food was a big deal and soy beans and wheat were ideal to use as raw materials for preservatives as they grew in abundance. Modern Japanese soy sauce usually includes both these ingredients though there are wheat free brands available.
There are five different types of Japanese Soy Sauce or Shoyu as it is known and each type is included in different recipes and ways of cooking. The most common is Koikuchi or dark soy sauce and Tamari is a wheat free version of this made from the process of fermenting miso. Usukuchi is a light soy sauce but can have a saltier flavour and Saishikomi is twice brewed making it much darker and stronger in flavour than koikuchi. Finally, Shiro is a very light soy sauce using mostly wheat and is a popular accompaniment to sashimi.
It is impossible to eat sushi without a small dish of glossy soy sauce. The rich salty flavours perfectly compliment bundles of rice, fish and vegetables. Soy sauce is so important in Japan it even warrants its own tableware including attractive ceramic soy sauce dispensers and small sauce dipping dishes and you will never see a table set without some receptacle for soy.
Mixed with honey, soy sauce makes a delicious marinade for chicken or beef or it can be mixed with a splash of rice vinegar and a blob of wasabi for a fiery Japanese salad dressing. You can even add a few splashes to stews or casseroles to add a rich flavour or shake it over a stir fry or noodles for an instant eastern flavour.
It truly is one of the most versatile sauces in the world and an essential for the kitchen cupboard for anyone who loves to cook.
This Sunday, most people will be celebrating Mother’s Day by giving a present or a card but in Japan it’s a day for treating all the special ladies in your life.
Mother’s Day is not until the second weekend of May in Japan but the special holiday this Sunday is White Day when ladies get gifts from the men in their lives in return for their efforts on Valentine’s Day (which is all about women treating men).
Ladies can expect to receive gifts from all the men they bought gifts for the month before which is not just your other half but includes friends, family members and workmates as well. Men are expected to spend a little more on their girlfriends so jewellery and lingerie are common gifts as well and cookies and chocolate.
However, most western cultures will have got all the romance out of the way in February and will be fully focussed on treating one special lady this weekend, mum.
Like with many celebrations in Japan, food plays an important role in Mother’s Day or haha no hi as it’s known. As well as buying flowers it is seen as a chance to remember and celebrate mother’s cooking and involves making some classic Japanese dishes.
Most Mother’s Day cuisine is not fancy but traditional, home cooked comfort food of the type mum’s do best. Warming bowls of Miso soup are often served but with the addition of steamed vegetables or delicate strips of pork to make a hearty meal.
Onigiri rice balls are another classic taste of Mother’s Day. The rice balls are shaped into circles or triangles, either by hand or using an onigiri mould. Onigiri are often found in bento boxes, made lovingly by mums for work or school lunches.
Other dishes include steamed vegetable dishes or braised leaves such as gomaae spinach or seaweed where the leaves are steamed and dressed in a rich, glossy sauce of sesame seeds, sake, sugar and soy sauce.
This is a nice tradition and much more personal than a bunch of flowers or a box of chocolates. Cooking for your mum this Sunday will definitely put you in the good books for the rest of the year whether you are whipping up some of the classics of your youth or impressing her with your sushi making skills.
If you want to sample the finest food in the world then you need to get on a plane to Tokyo – officially the world’s gastronomic capital for 2010.
In late 2009, the meticulous inspectors of fine food from Michelin visited the Japanese capital and gave it an awesome 261 stars, bumping the guide’s home city of Paris into second place for the first time ever. Tokyo restaurants now hold the most number of Michelin stars – 261 in 197 of the cities eateries – and the city also boasts 11 with the prestigious three Michelin star rating.
The Michelin inspectors praised three main elements of Japanese cuisine, the quality of the food, the enthusiasm of Japanese diners to try new things and the vast choice of cuisine available. The Japanese do love to eat out and the Japanese dining experience is all about fresh food, stunning presentation and fantastic hospitality. Food is available everywhere and even most bars provide tasty nibbles or snacks of some kind and not just peanuts and crisps. Tokyo has thousands of cafes and restaurants, many of which are on the high floors of tall buildings with excellent views as well as delicious food.
Some of Tokyo’s three-star restaurants may seem unremarkable but have been praised for the skills of the chef and the freshness of ingredients such as Sushi Mizutani, tucked away in the basement of an office building in the Ginza business district but offering sushi sliced and rolled in front of you and sashimi fresh from the world famous Tsukiji fish market a few streets away. According to Michelin, this unassuming counter is officially the world’s best sushi.
As well as sushi are a range of contemporary Japanese restaurants proving that it is not the country’s only signature dish such as Esaki that serves mackerel marinated in the uniquely Japanese flavour of Miso. The praise is no surprise as Japan has become world renowned for the quality of its ingredients like Wagyu beef from the town of Kobe where the cows are treated like royalty to produce meat of mouth-watering tenderness and flavour.
Attention to detail is at the heart of Japanese cuisine, from sourcing and using the finest ingredients to stunning presentation that celebrates the art of food both with the careful use of colour and dramatic tableware. Japanese diners are treated to a visual feast before they have put anything into their mouth so it’s no wonder that eating out is such a popular pastime.
“Tokyo remains by far the world capital of gastronomy and also has the most three-star restaurants,” said Jean-Luc Naret, director of the Michelin food guide.
The European version of the guide came out in February, cementing Tokyo’s place at the top of the world culinary map, though France still has the edge as a country, just.
