Japanese Foods, Snacks, Drinks

[maichan]

...one of my favorite things as a child was the Botan rice candy. I loved, and still love, how the rice "wrapper" melts away in my mouth.

I've never tried them. My wife has, but she says it's been a long time since she had any. We'll have to see if we can find them at the Japanese market next time we go.

Here's what we snacked on last night:

Meiji Corn Puff Snack (Karl Cheese Flavor)

These are like Cheetos, but different.... and dare I say better? And this is coming from someone that is a closet Cheetos addict. You'll notice the color isn't as brilliant, and as a result there is no orange stuff all over your fingers and everything else. I'm not a big cheese eater, so I'm kind of picky when it comes to anything cheesy - at first I thought they tasted too cheesy, but then after a few more I really liked them. The flavor is more like a real cheese flavor... I'd say they are worth a try if you can find them.

[Usagi-chan]

Those look good! I like Cheetos, so maybe I'll try these....

[maichan]

How about a look at a main course meal..... dinner at one of our semi-regular stops....

This was a nice bowl of Udon with Tempura assortment.
I love udon. I like it more then ramen. Udon are thick noodles.
This is a basic bowl of tanuki udon (tempura flakes, served on the side).
The tempura included shrimp, zucchini, sweet potato, and shitake mushroom.
The sweet potato used in this case was the more common western type (with orange flesh) rather that the more typical Japanese Imo



Tanuki Udon


Tempura plate




Compare that meal to this one, from another local favorite restaurant.

This was also Tanuki Udon, but with a serving of chicken karaage.
The udon here is served with a different type of green onion (negi), and includes some fish cake (kamaboko).
The tempura included shrimp, Japanese Imo, Japanese pumpkin, and onion. Note the small glob of daikon and mustard in the upper left corner.
The chicken karaage is topped with some daikon shavings.



Tanuki Udon


Tempura plate


Chicken Karaage

[maichan]

Star Wars meets Japanese cookie...

[Lobster Johnson]

It's not a Japanese food, but how about some Boba Fettuccine?

[maichan]

It's not a Japanese food, but how about some Boba Fettuccine?

[maichan]

Haven't posted any food stuff in quite a while, so without further adieu....

Sometimes it seems like certain Japanese foods don't have much package appeal, but when something tastes good, I guess it doesn't matter. This unassuming silver pouch contains a most addictive substance - sakusaku shoyu by Kikkoman (I just call it crunchy sesame dressing). This stuff is tasty! It's terrific on shredded cabbage

[

Open the pouch and you are assailed with the aroma of roasted sesame seeds. This oil based condiment is made with freeze-dried soy sauce flakes, sesame seeds, fried garlic, fried onions, almonds, and other seasonings.




Chicken tamanegi (with mushrooms), Tamago soup, rice and shredded cabbage.

[Warren]

That looks good. It makes me think of the flavour of prawn toast - comes crusted with sesame seeds, drowned in soy sauce by me. But I wouldn't mind trying sakusaku shoyu to compare.

I like cooking, myself, especially indian and some simple chinese recipes, but trying to broaden to include japanese dishes too. Although while tastes are (slooowly) becoming more cosmopolitan, and there's a chinese take-away in every pokey little village, there's still no huge variety of particular, authentic east asian - let alone japanese - food and ingredients; even some things that TV chefs tell us are 'in all the supermarkets these days'. I usually make a trip to the Asia Supermarket in Belfast for some hard-to-find ingredients, but even then, after rifling through their japanese shelves for something in UY that made me curious, I had to make some substitutions. More on that... sometime.

But thanks to this topic I also kept an eye out for something I hadn't tried before, and they had it: Pocky! Very nice. Reminds me of Choc Dips to be honest, but then KP don't do the variety of flavours of even Pocky's english website.
I also like to grab a bag of spicy prawn crackers on my way out, although it's a toss-up whether I grab something from Japan or Korea. Next time I'll have to look out for Jagariko and Jagabee.

Belfast also manages to have not one, but three japanese restaurants! Though the latest is a branch of Yo! Sushi - does it still count? I've visited the other two, too long ago. The takeaway lessons were A) udon is great. B) sushi, in general, is great. C) octopus nigiri is... an acquired taste.

(Well shoot, am I unobservant. Three restaurants? After a quick google it turns out there's at least ten. I've got some sampling to do...)

[Steve Hubbell]

One of the gifts I received this year for Christmas was lunch with my youngest nephew, my father, and my brother (who paid) at the local Kyoto Hibachi and Sushi restaurant here in Kalamazoo.

Three of us had the teppanyaki while my nephew had a bento lunch box.

I love watching those hibachi chefs work. Of course, I did not think of taking any photos until it was too late.

[maichan]

Teppanyaki is fun!

We went out for our annual Christmas dinner with friends to a teppanyaki restaurant. The place is called Riptide Rockin' Sushi & Teppan Grill. I think we had 17 people at our counter!

Here's my meal...

Riptide Stack - A delicious original creation! Three slices of Filet Mignon (10oz) stacked with roasted red peppers, scallions, fried potato threads and topped with our fiery sesame sauce. Served with teppan vegetables.

Not very traditional, but it was tasty nonetheless.

[lwhitehead]

Well all I know about Japanese Food is this, that you have to say something before eating which do Westerners in Japan have to say it.


LW

[maichan]

Well all I know about Japanese Food is this, that you have to say something before eating which do Westerners in Japan have to say it.


LW

Not sure if I understand what you mean, but could you be talking about..... what everyone in Japan says before eating?

"Itadakimasu"

It's like saying "Let's eat," "Bon appétit," or "Thanks for the food."

[lwhitehead]

In stoic Japan it's inpiled one has to say before eating,


LW

[Maka]

I shared this on facebook and I hope you will enjoy it here too:

The fastest mochi maker in Japan:
http://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/th ... r-in-japan

My Uncle's family in Hawaii have been doing a mochitsuki for over 100 years now. I went maybe ten years ago with my family. They print out t-shirts for everyone to wear and maybe 100 people show up (my memory might be flawed) to pound mochi. A lot of fun.

Peace, maka

[go]

Dear Readers,
I love mochi.
I live 60 miles from where Lundberg farms grows our sweet mochi rice.
My best friend is our local mochi maker.
We cook mochi in the waffle iron and make tofu miso tacos!
Chew well!
Best wishes to all.
go