Back in 2010, Tomiko and I spent all of April visiting our high school friend in Tokyo. Her mom had just left a day before we arrived, and she had prepared oden, a Japanese stew, for our first dinner. Oden is a stew that consists of a dashi-based broth and contains a variety of ingredients, such […]
vegetables
Lazy Pickles, or Japanese Cucumber Salad
These are not really pickles, but rather a Japanese cucumber salad. This dish received its name of Lazy Pickles from one of my lunch buddies at work, who moved to Toronto from Ukraine a couple of years ago. The food she brings for lunch are amazing treats that seem to come from a time forgotten by most […]
Kabocha no Nimono – Japanese Simmered Pumpkin
Homemade Japanese dishes are often variations on a few cooking styles – one of the simplest and tastiest is the simmered dish. Here, I made Japanese simmered pumpkin with dense, buttery kabocha squash, which is not only tasty, but the cooked peel is edible! You can use the basic broth to cook potato, sweet potato, daikon, […]
Gobo to Ninjin no Kimpira – Burdock and Carrot Kimpira
At this time of year in 2010, Tomiko and I flew to Tokyo and spent a month staying with our friend for hanami – cherry blossom viewing. Tomiko and I got gobo to ninjin no kimpira – burdock and carrot kimpira – from the supermarkets in Tokyo and ate it on fresh, white rice for breakfast […]
Green Beans and Tempeh with XO Sauce
This tempeh recipe is a riff on a dish that we love at our favourite Chinese restaurant here in Toronto. The beans in that case are mixed with a bit of ground pork, but here I replaced it with some tempeh. Originating in Hong Kong, XO Sauce is a Chinese sauce made from dried seafood, including shrimp, […]