recipe

In Part 2 of the sunomono lesson we'll take a look at some way of prepping the vegetables.

This is Lesson 4 of Japanese Cooking 101: The Fundamentals of Washoku. In this lesson we'll learn how to make the little refreshing side dishes called sunomono (酢の物), which often accompany a Japanese meal. Part 1 is about the various vinegary sauce combinations, called awase-zu.

Not all nimono dishes need to be made with dashi. If one of the ingredients has plenty of umami on its own, you can make a dashi or broth from it without having to add any more. One such ingredient is squid (ika) or calamari. If you live in an area with a sizeable Italian, Greek or other Mediterranean immigrant population, as well as us Asians, chances are you can get a hold of good quality squid. If you can, get a nice one and try this quick and simple nimono.

This is Lesson 3 of Japanese Cooking 101: The Fundamentals of Washoku. This lesson is about making nimono (煮物) or stewed dishes, while we make a simple stewed or simmered winter vegetable dish.

Once you know how to cook perfect Japanese style rice, sushi rice is a snap.

A perfectly steamed bowl of plain rice is the unquestioned star of a Japanese meal. And here's how to cook it, in copious detail - in Lesson 2 of Japanese Cooking 101: The Fundamentals of Washoku.

Now that you know how to make a proper dashi, you're 90% on your way to making delicious miso soup and clear soup. If you have ever wondered why your miso soup doesn't taste quite right, and you were omitting the dashi part...you're in for a treat!

Welcome to the first lesson of Japanese Cooking 101! Throughout this course I hope to teach you about the foundations of traditional Japanese cooking or washoku, as well as how to cook some Japanese dishes. We'll start with that most critical of Japanese cooking components, properly made dashi.