These are a fun and delicious way to use up leftover veggies in your fridge, and they make use of my favorite underrated vegetable, cabbage. I was inspired by something I saw in a beautiful Korean movie I watched recently called Little Forest. In the movie, the main character, a young woman from a small … Continue reading Savory Cabbage Pancake – Okonomiyaki
I wanted to share a trick for making a DELICIOUS sauce that I learned from a Japanese food show. This can go on just about anything! Today, I put in on diced sweet potatoes and tofu. So easy and so good! It might not be something you thought of trying, since it brings together two … Continue reading Secret sauce
This is a refreshing but filling salad that I came up with after eating something similar at a local restaurant we like called 131 Main. It may not be perfectly authentic, but a Vietnamese chef in Chicago once told me that the key to many Asian cuisines is the balance of sweet, salty, sour and … Continue reading Thai-inspired Ramen Salad
I want to share a family-style dish that you may not think of as Japanese but it is very popular in Japan, especially among young people. It’s the Japanese version of a curry, and you can easily find packaged squares of curry roux that are really a great little weeknight secret. Just look in the … Continue reading Instant Curry
A few weeks ago, my friend Teresa came to visit, and brought with her some yummy little treats for Damien. Her family is Filipino, and she said this was something that her father remembers eating when he lived in the Philippines. They are little pastries called hopia, and the ones she brought were stuffed with … Continue reading Treats from the Philippines
One thing all Asian cuisines seem to maximize is the taste experience called umami, a Japanese term coined at the beginning of the 20th century. Umami refers to a sort of earthy, savory, or meaty quality that foods can have, and scientists now know that there is a scientific basis to this. It comes from amino acids called glutamates, which occur naturally in a wide variety of foods, but are especially concentrated in meats, mushrooms, tomatoes, aged or cured products, and stocks. Note that this list covers all of the things mentioned in the flavor-building techniques of both Western and Asian cuisines that I listed above. Continue reading UMAMI!
The Children's Table 