Menchi-katsu

Menchi-katsu means fried cake of minced meat. Firstly you add minced onions to minced meat and mix them thoroughly. Then you shape them into an oval. You make them be worn with wheat four, beaten egg and bread crumbs. Finally you fry them in salad oil. It looks like a hamburg steak. But Menchi-katsu is originally made in Japan.

Mechi-katsu is called Minchi-katsu in Osaka. People in Osaka call minced meat “Minchi” in Japanese. So to call fried cake of minced meat “Minchi-katsu” is reasonable. Actually I did not understand what “Menchi-katsu” is for the first time in Tokyo because I came from Osaka. To understand dialect is so difficult.

Kitsune-don

Kitsune-don is rice with a piece of deep-fried tofu. The deep-fried tofu was simmered with dashi, sweet sake and soy sauce before it is put into rice. Dashi is made from kombu which means sea cabbage and small pieces of sliced dried bonito. So the simmered deep-fried tofu has a bit sweet and salty.

It is simple and easy to cook Kitsune-don. I sometimes cook Kitsune-don when I come back late and dishes are not prepared. I went to the concert today evening. Since I came home late, I cooked Kitsune-don. I enjoyed very well both the concert and Kitsune-don.

Kashiwa-mochi

Kashiwa-mochi is a rice cake wrapped in an oak leaf. Japanese people eat Kashiwa-mochi on May 5th every year. May 5th is Children’s Day, national holiday in Japan. Japanese people pray for the healthy growth of children on this day. Originally May 5th is the day called Tango-no-sekku when there are many events praying for the healthy growth of boys. Having Kashiwa-mochi is one of these events. Kashiwa-mochi includes red bean paste. There are two type red bean pastes on Kashiwa-mochi. One is strained red bean paste and the other is coarse red bean paste.

Honestly I did not like Kashiwa-mochi in my childhood because it is very sweet. But now I like Kashiwa-mochi and buy both type o Kashiwa-mochi, strained and coarse at a Japanese sweets shop. The custom of eating Kashiwa-mochi on the day may be for adult in reality.

Nikujaga, or Japanese Fricassee

Nikujaga is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. It is something like Fricassee in Japan. Firstly sliced onions are fried in a pot until they become soft. Then beef is added in the pot and they are being fried. When they have been fried enough, carrots, potatoes and noodle made from konnyaku which is paste of a kind of potato are poured into the pot. When they have been fried enough again, Japanese soup stock made from bonito and kelp are poured in the pot. After soup stock is boiled, soy sauce, sweet sake and sugar are poured into the pot. Finally they have been simmered with a wooden drop-lid over 20 minutes.
There are many kind of Nikujaga in Japan. Each Nikujaga is arranged by each mother or home.

Daifuku

Daifuku is a soft round rice cake stuffed with sweet bean jam. The surface of Daifuku which is made of rice cake is usually tasteless. But the interior of Daifuku is very sweat. When you eat a Daifuku, you must feel happy. So Daifuku means a big happiness in Japanese. The point of making Daifuku is pouring a little salt into sweat bean jam. You may wonder why. However salty taste can bring out sweaty taste.

There are many variations of Daifuku. We could mix rice cake with green peas. We could blend rice cake with mugwort. Furthermore we could insert a strawberry into sweat bean jam. This is called a strawberry Daifuku. When I ate a strawberry Daifuku for the first time, it’s just like I have met a girlfriend after a long time.

Teriyaki chicken

Japanese people mostly like teriyaki food. Teriyaki chicken is one of the popular teriyaki. Teriyaki means the method of baking the food. Firstly chicken meat is notched several times with a kitchen knife. If you grilled chicken meat without notches, chicken meat would shrink in fire. Then chicken meat is grilled on both sides in a frying pan. When chicken meat is grilled well enough, you pour soy sauce, Japanese sake and sweat sake on the roasted chicken meat in a frying pan. Chicken meat marinated in the above seasoning is grilled again. At that time you are fascinated by the smell of teriyaki chicken.

The taste of teriyaki chicken is salt but sweat.

Japanese omelet

What is Japanese omelet? Is Japanese omelet Japanese cuisine? Japanese omelet is called “Tamago-yaki” in Japanese. Of course, Tamago-yaki is Washoku, Japanese cuisine. We use a specific frying pan for making Tamago-yaki. It is rectangle shaped. The important point of making Tamago-yaki is to stir soy source, sweet sake, sugar and salt into raw egg. The secondary important point is to pour the above mixed raw egg into a frying pan in a few parts. Usually we pour four times. Firstly a quarter of mixed raw egg is poured into a frying pan. When it is baked half, it is rolled and moved to one side on the frying pan. Then a quarter of mixed raw egg is poured into the frying pan again. We repeat the above thing four times.
When Japanese people go to the picnic, Tamago-yaki is almost brought in the lunch box. In this season, the smell of Tamago-yaki is in the air around the park on holiday.