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Japanese Cuisine
Tempura, sukiyaki, sashimi, sushi – even the words used to describe the
most basic of Japanese dishes are exotic and beautiful. Japanese
cuisine is easily one of the healthiest in the world, with its
concentration on fresh fish, seafood, rice and vegetables. The pungent
sauces and delicate flavors of fresh foods complement each other
beautifully, and the methods of presentation turn even simple meals
into beautiful events.
The Japanese have easily a dozen different names for rice, depending on
how it is prepared and what it is served with. The most common meal is
a rice bowl, a bowl of white rice served with various toppings or
ingredients mixed in. So popular is it that the Rice Bowl has even made
its way into the world of Western convenience foods alongside ramen
noodles. Domburi is a bowl of rice topped with another food: domburi
tendon, for instance, is rice topped with tempura and domburi gyudon is
rice topped with beef.
The Japanese adopted fried rice from the Chinese, and a century ago,
when curry was first introduced, developed Kare Raisu, curry rice. It
is now such a popular dish that there are many fast-food restaurants
that serve several versions of it in take-away bowls.
Besides white rice served as a side dish, Japanese cuisine also
features onigiri – rice balls wrapped in seaweed, often with a
‘surprise’ in the middle, and kayu, a thin gruel made of rice that
resembles oatmeal.
As an island nation, it’s not surprising that seafood is featured in
Japanese cuisine. Sushi and sashimi both are raw fish and seafood with
various spices. Impeccably fresh fish is the secret to wonderful
sashimi and sushi, served with wasabi and soya sauce. The Japanese love
of beauty and simplicity turns slices and chunks of raw fish into
miniature works of art.
Fish sliced so thin that it’s transparent may be arranged on a platter
in a delicate fan that alternates pink-fleshed salmon with paler slices
of fish. Sushi is typically arranged to best display the colors and
textures to their best advantage, turning the platter and plate into
palettes for the artistry of the chef.
Traditionally, meat plays a minor role in the Japanese diet, though it
has been taking a larger and larger role over the past fifty years as
Japan becomes more westernized. Beef, chicken and pork may be served
with several meals a week now. One of the more popular meat dishes is
‘yakitori’ – chicken grilled on a skewer and served with sauce. A
typical quick lunch might include a skewer of yakitori and a rice bowl
with sushi sauce.
In an interesting twist, Japan has imported dishes from other cuisines
and ‘Japanized’ them, adopting them as part of their own cuisines.
Korokke, for instance, are croquettes adopted from those introduced by
the English last century. In Japan, the most common filling is a
mixture of mashed potatoes and minced meat. Other Soshoyu – western
dishes that have made their way into Japanese everyday cuisine include
‘omuraisu’, a rice omelet, and hambagau, the Japanized version of an
American hamburger.
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