japanese food Archives - Taste With The Eyes

Sockeye Salmon Hot Pot

Corn, Cabbage, Shiitake, Carrot, Potato, Daikon, Tofu
Miso Bonito Broth with Butter

Ishikari Nabe is a traditional Japanese hot pot dish from Hokkaido, named after the Ishikari River region. It features fresh salmon, a staple of the area.

Nabe, which means “pot” in Japanese, refers to a traditional Japanese hot pot dish. It’s both the name of the cooking vessel and the dish itself. Nabe involves simmering a variety of ingredients in a flavorful broth, typically served communally at the dining table, making it a social and comforting meal.

Sockeye salmon is an excellent choice for a Hokkaido-style Salmon Hot Pot due to its robust flavor, firm texture, and nutritional richness.

Its deep, rich taste complements the umami-packed miso broth, while its sturdy flesh holds up well during simmering, maintaining its shape and adding satisfying bites to the dish featuring an array of fresh vegetables, tofu, and potatoes.

While sockeye salmon is not native to Japan’s northernmost island, it has been introduced to Japanese waters, including areas around Hokkaido. The texture and full flavor make it the perfect species to shine in this delicious salmon hot pot.

Sockeye Salmon Hot Pot Recipe

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Morimoto’s Black Cod

Morimoto's Black Cod

Morimoto’s Black Cod
Gindara Nitsuke

Nitsuke is a Japanese technique of simmering food, especially fish, in a combination of soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar. Gindara is the Japanese name for Black Cod or Sablefish.

Chef Morimoto says, “Simmered doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? It certainly doesn’t entice like the words charred or broiled do. Well, simmering in the Japanese way should get you salivating, because it produces some of my favorite dishes of all. The secret is creating a cooking liquid that highlights the flavor of the main ingredient and strikes the right balance between sweet and salty.”

Morimoto’s Black Cod Recipe

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Oyakodon – Japanese Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl

🍚🐔🥚 Oyakodon 🥚🐔🍚
Japanese Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl

Oyakodon is a popular and traditional Japanese rice bowl dish that combines a savory-sweet mixture of chicken, egg, and onions served over steamed rice. The name “oyakodon” translates to “parent and child bowl,” which is a poetic reference to the use of both chicken (the parent) and egg (the child) in the dish.

It is a favorite for home cooks due to its ease of preparation and is often found in Japanese eateries and fast-food chains and featured in Japanese cooking shows and food blogs. Just Google “oyakodon” to see hundreds of authentic recipes for this well liked Japanese comfort food.

I am sharing here today for those who aren’t familiar with this splendid, homey Japanese dish. Serve it for brunch, lunch, dinner or a late night snack. It can easily be prepared with almost all ingredients on hand in the Western kitchen. I give substitutes below in case Japanese ingredients are not available.

Oyakodon - Japanese Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl

Oyakodon Recipe

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Scallop Sushi ~ Gunkan Maki Style

Tender and buttery, day-boat sea scallops from Maine are simply delightful with their slightly sweet flavors, and slightly briny hints of the sea. They are harvested by fishermen that go to work in the icy waters then return to port that same day.

Since the fishing trip is short, day-boat scallops do not need to sit on melting ice like longer expeditions, and therefore do not absorb water over the course of the trip. The taste is pure and natural, as the scallops are not bloated with water after harvest. These scallops are treated with the utmost care, and never soaked in a solution of sodium tripolyphosphate which is commercially used as a preservative but unfortunately degrades the quality of the scallop.

🍣 🍣 🍣

Gunkan maki was invented in 1941 by Hisaji Imada, the chef/owner of restaurant Kyubey in Tokyo. His new-fangled presentation allowed for the sushi service of soft/loose toppings, such as sea urchin and fish roes. These toppings could not be served in the traditional nigiri style, which consists of a solid slice of raw fish atop an oblong rice ball.

The shape of the newly-developed sushi resembled that of a battleship, hence the name. Gunkan is battleship in Japanese, Maki means roll. Sushi rice is hand-formed into a cuboid, rolled/wrapped with nori, then a soft/loose filling is spooned into the interior.

Here our battleship is filled with diced raw day-boat scallop lightly tossed with Japanese mayonnaise and sea salt. Aromatic shiso adds complex herbal notes where a bit of pungent wasabi flavors the seasoned rice. To quote one of my favorite chefs on a famous seafood dish, “It was a morsel of perfection.”