Okonomiyaki​

Ingredients:
Serves 1

1 cup chopped cabbage
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/4 cup cold water
2 slices bacon

Optional Toppings:

• Katsuobushi (dried, shaved bonito flakes)
  
• Aonori (Green and dried nori seaweed)
  
• Japanese “Kewpie” Mayonnaise
  
• Okonomiyaki Sauce (comparable to Bull Dog sauce)
  
• Benishoga (pickled red ginger)
  

Method:

• Remove the stem and tough parts of the cabbage and shred the rest.
  
• In a large bowl, combine the shredded cabbage, scallions, katsuobushi, and all-purpose flour and toss to evenly distribute.
  
• Add the eggs and mix together until all is incorporated.
  
• Lay out three pieces of bacon in a pan, overlapping to account for shrinkage.
  
• Add ¼ of the cabbage mixture and put directly on top of the bacon. Press down on the mound with a spatula to flatten on the topand then push the edges back toward the center to make a round pancake that is about ¾ inch thick.
  
• Cover with a lid and cook for 7 minutes until the bottom of the pancake is well browned.
  
• Flip the okonomiyaki and cook uncovered for another 7 minutes. Slide okonomiyaki out of the pan and onto a plate, cover with Mayonnaise and Okonomiyaki sauce, sprinkling the Aonori, Katsuobushi flakes, and red ginger on top. Enjoy!
  

Okonomiyaki Sauce -mix all together. (makes 1.5 cup):

Ingredients:

• 12 Tbsp. ketchup
  
• 10.5 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  
• 6 Tbsp. oyster sauce
  
• 4.5 Tbsp. sugar
  

Japanese Gyoza Dumplings Recipe




Gyoza Dumpling Ingredients:

• 1 small-sized napa cabbage
  
• 1 pound ground turkey (or ground chicken, beef, shrimp, pork, etc..)
  
• 1 package wonton wrappers
  
• 4 green onions
  
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
  
• salt and pepper, 1/2 tsp each
  

Dipping sauce:

• mix 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar with 1/4 cup soy sauce
  

Instructions:


1. Finely mince the cabbage, garlic, and ginger, and mix together in bowl. Mix together with salt and pepper.


2. Fill and fold the wonton wrappers with the filling.


3. Add 1 teapsoon oil to a frying pan and fry the dumplings for 2 minutes on medium high.


Add 1/2 cup water to pan, cover with a lid and cook for about 4 more minutes on high heat. Remove from pan and enjoy!


Miso Soup (serves 3-4)​

• 3 cups water or homemade dashi (dashi is made by soaking a handful of dried shiitake mushrooms in water, and using that water for the soup)
  
• 3 Tbsp. miso (I use mild miso, called “awase” or white miso)
  
• 6 oz regular or silken tofu
  
• 2 tsp. dried ready-to-use wakame (wakame is seaweed; this is optional)
  
• 1 green onion/scallion (sliced finely)
  
• ½ pack of enoki mushrooms (optional; chop off stems and wash)
  
• 1 piece fried tofu skin (called “aburrage”), sliced into ½ inch strips
  

For quick dashi (instead of homemade dashi)

• 3 cups water
  
• 1 dashi packet or 1¼ tsp. dashi powder
  ***If you don't have homemade dashi or quick dashi ingredients, just use water, it'll still taste good! :). Dashi is umami-infused water! Creates a deeper flavor for the soup, but I would say not entirely necessary.
  

Instructions:

1. In a medium saucepan, add 3 cups or more of water/homemade dashi. You can add more water if it is for a bigger party, and add miso to taste.
   
   
   
   
2. Bring water or dashi to a boil over medium high heat. After it reaches boiling, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer.
   
   
   
   
3. Finely slice the green onion and put the dried wakame (optional) and green onion in each bowl.
   
   
   
   
4. Put 1 Tbsp. of miso in a ladle (or strainer) and blend it with water/dashi until it is thoroughly mixed. Continue this process until miso is all used. Usually each cup of dashi, you will need about 1 Tbsp. of miso. If you add tofu in your miso soup, tofu dilutes the soup a little bit so you might want to add ½ Tbsp. more miso.
   
   
   
   
5. Cut tofu into ½ cm cubes and add to the soup. Stir gently without breaking the tofu. Add in the enoki mushrooms and fried tofu skin (both optional) and cook for 4 minutes on a light simmer, until mushrooms are translucent and cooked.
   
   
   
   
6. Return the miso soup to a slight simmer until heated through and pour into the bowls. Be careful not to boil the miso soup because miso will lose flavor.
   
   *If you don't have dashi packet or powder, see how to make homemade dashi stock.
   
   *Each brand or kind of miso has different level of saltiness; therefore, add miso 1 Tbsp. at a time and taste the soup before you add more miso.
   

(makes 6-8 rolls, serves 4)
 
 Recipe courtesy of Mark Matsumoto
 
Sushi rice, or sushi meshi is short-grain rice seasoned with vinegar, sugar and salt.
 
 Ingredients:

• 3 cups rice (Please use Japanese short grain rice for making sushi)
• 3 ¼ cups cold water
• ½ cup rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt

 
OR, the easier way:

• 3 cups rice
• 3 ¼ cups cold water
• ½ cup sushi seasoning

Instructions

1. Pour all rice grains into a bowl and wash with water. Use your hands to remove the excess starch off each grain of rice by using a gentle rubbing motion. If you scrub too hard you will break the rice, so don't be too rough. Drain and repeat 3-4 times.
2. When the water that runs off is mostly clear, drain the rice.
3. If you're using a rice cooker, add the rice to the bowl of the rice cooker and add the cold water. If you don't have a rice cooker, add the rice to a large heavy bottomed non-stick pot, then add the water (3 ¼ cups)
4. Let the rice sit in the water for at least 30 minutes. This allows the grains of rice to soak up some water before cooking, which results in shinier rice with a better texture.
5. If you are using a rice cooker, turn it on and let it do it's thing. If you are doing this on the stove, turn the heat onto high and bring the rice to a boil (be careful not to let it boil over). Turn down the heat to low and cover with a lid. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Once the rice is done, turn off the heat and let the rice steam for 10 minutes.
6. While you wait for the rice to cook, combine the vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl. You can microwave or heat on stove for a bit to help dissolve the sugar.
7. After the rice has had a chance to steam, it should be firm, but the core should not be crunchy. It should be sticky, but each grain of rice should retain its own shape. If your rice was fresh, the surface of each grain should be glossy.
8. Dump the rice out into a very large bowl, the key is that you want a container with a lot of surface area so you can spread the rice out. Pour the vinegar mixture (or sushi seasoning) evenly over the hot rice.
9. Set the bowl on a damp towel to keep it from sliding. Using a broad flat wooden spoon in one hand, gently combine the rice and vinegar mixture using a side-to-side cutting motion, and folding motion with the edge of the spoon. You want to separate each grain of rice, so the vinegar penetrates every surface, but you don't want to break the grains of rice or mash them together.
10. The rice is done when the surface is no longer wet and slippery, the rice is fluffy, and each grain is very shiny. It will still be a little warm, but it should not be hot. Spread the rice out over the surface of your bowl, and cover with a damp towel until you're ready to use it.

 
Reminder of Sushi Rolling Process:

​Ingredients:
 

• Cooked Japanese rice [We do not use vinegared sushi rice!] (2 rice cooker measuring cups (360ml) of uncooked rice)
• Water
• Salt
• A few sheets of nori (seaweed)
• Fillings (Anything you like to put)
• Salted salmon Umeboshi (Japanese salty pickled plum)
• Katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
• Soy sauce

 
Things you need:
Wet towel to wipe your hands
Bowl of water
 
Instructions

1. While rice is being cooked (see How To Make Rice), prepare the fillings.
2. Bake salted salmon at 400F degree in a toaster oven for 25 minutes and break the cooked salmon into flakes.
3. Pit umeboshi and cut it in half (optional)
4. Moisten katsuobushi with soy sauce.
5. Let the cooked rice cool a little bit until you can hold rice without burning your hands. However, do not let the rice completely cool down.
6. First wet both of your hands with water in order to keep the rice from sticking to your hands.
7. Then put some salt in your hands and rub to spread all around.
8. Scoop out a handful of warm rice (about ½ cup) into one hand.
9. Using the other hand, make an indentation in the rice.
10. Place one kind of filling (about 1 tsp.) inside.
11. Press the filling into the rice.
12. Then use your hands to mold and press the rice around the filling to gently form the rice into a triangle.
13. Form the bottom with your left hand and the top corner with your right hand. I use three fingers (thumb, index finger, middle finger) to cover the area to make a nice triangle shape. Pressing the triangle into the palm of your left hand, squeeze each corner of the triangle with your right hand. Your hands should be just firm enough so the onigiri doesn't fall apart. You don't want to squeeze the rice too tight.
14. Also, while you squeeze onigiri firmly with both hands, your left hand has to press onigiri in order to keep a nice form. The left photo shows before squeezing and right photo shows after.
15. Place a little bit of each filling on top of onigiri so we know which kind it is. Before you serve, wrap the onigiri