Japanese-style curry known as karē is one of the most popular dishes in the country. It started gaining popularity in Japan during the Meiji period (1868-1912), when the British introduced it to the country. During its early years, karē with rice was an expensive, gourmet dish reserved only for the wealthy.
Compared to Indian curries, karē is less spicy, sweeter, darker, and usually thicker, which is thanks to the addition of flour or roux. There are three main version of karē in Japan - karē raisu (curry over rice), karē udon (curry over noodles), and karē -pan (a pastry filled with curry).
VARIATIONS OF Karē
MOST ICONIC Karē
View moreSūpu karē or soup curry is a watery, brothy curry sauce that is usually served with big pieces of meat such as chicken legs and coarsely cut, chunky vegetables. The earliest versions of the dish contained spices from India and Sri Lanka, but today, cooks are using ingredients from Indonesia and China as well.
Sūpu karē was invented in 1970 in Ajanta, a restaurant in Sapporo, Japan. However, it didn't receive much attention until 2002, when hundreds of restaurants serving the dish started popping up all over the major cities of Japan. Sapporo still remains the number one spot for sūpu karē lovers, with more than 250 restaurants serving the dish.
MOST ICONIC Sūpu karē
View moreMAIN INGREDIENTS
Ramen is a noodle soup that first appeared in Japan in 1910, when Chinese cooks combined the noodles with a salty broth. These curly noodles were of bright yellow color and more elastic than the Japanese noodles prepared at the time – the dough was kneaded with a sodium carbonate-infused mineral water called kansui.
In 1958, its name was derived from the pronunciation of the Chinese word lamian (pulled noodles), and that same year, Nissin Foods produced the first-ever instant version of noodles with a chicken-flavored broth called Chickin Ramen.
VARIATIONS OF Ramen
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Miso ramen is a flavorful dish made by cooking the miso base, broth, and vegetables in a wok. The concoction is then topped with bean sprouts, chopped pork, garlic, sweet corn, and (sometimes) local seafood such as crabs, scallops, and squids. The dish was invented in 1955 in Sapporo, when a customer in Aji no Sanpei noodle house asked the chef to put noodles in his pork and miso soup.
In the 1960s, miso ramen's popularity had skyrocketed, and Sapporo still remains a paradise for ramen lovers, taking pride in its Ramen Alley, with over a dozen ramen shops scattered through the street.
Jingisukan is a Hokkaido-specialty consisting of grilled mutton or lamb. The dish is always prepared tableside on the convex-shaped grills. The guests are served with sliced meat, which can be plain or marinated, and are then encouraged to grill the meat themselves, along with various vegetables such as onions, cabbage, leeks, or peppers.
Typical accompaniments include special soy sauce-based condiments, chili sauce or grated garlic. The origins of consuming mutton in Japan date back to 1918 when the government promoted sheep farms, but the practice only remained on Hokkaido, and though restaurants specialized in preparing Jingisukan can be found elsewhere, the dish has remained a favorite on Hokkaido and in its capital Sapporo.
One of the most popular fresh seafood one-bowl donburi dishes, kaisendon consists of thinly sliced, assorted raw seafood called sashimi laid over freshly steamed rice. What kind of sashimi will be used in a kaisendon dish is not fixed, but the seafood selection depends on both location and season, and most often includes maguro (tuna), tai (sea bream), ama ebi (deep-water shrimps), hotate (scallops), uni (sea urchin), kani (crab), and sometimes even marinated ikura (salmon roe).
Apart from sashimi, kaisendon is typically topped with toasted nori seaweed, myoga ginger, shiso or Japanese basil, cucumber, onions, and either fresh or pickled ginger. Before being placed on a bed of steamy rice, all of the ingredients are drizzled with wasabi-laced soy sauce, and the kaisendon bowl is lastly garnished with some white sesame seeds, white radish sprouts, and wasabi paste.
Sushi is Japan's most famous culinary representative, typically made with rice and fillings which have been rolled inside a sheet of dry seaweed. However, the term sushi is actually an umbrella term covering a wide range of subvarieties which can be made with a myriad of different ingredients and in as many forms and presentations.
Although the dish has become wrongly synonymous with raw fish, the primary ingredient of every type of sushi is only vinegared rice. Originally, sushi was only a method of preserving fish - first developed in Southeast Asia, but it reached Japan in the 8th century.
VARIATIONS OF Sushi
Miso soup is a traditional soy-based soup made from a stock called dashi, miso paste, and various additional ingredients such as seaweed or tofu. It is estimated that more than 70% of Japeanese people consume the soup for breakfast, although it is commonly available at any time of the day.
In Japanese restaurants in the United States, miso soup is often offered as an appetizer. The soup is thought to have medicinal properties, as it alkalizes the blood and revives the nervous system. The main ingredient is called miso - a combination of rice, salt, water, and fermented soybeans, shaped into a paste that is similar to peanut butter in texture.
Nigiri or nigirizushi is a special kind of hand-pressed sushi where the meat is sliced and pressed on top of sushi rice. It was developed in Tokyo (then called Edo) during the 1800s. Sometimes, nori seaweed is used to wrap the whole concoction and keep it together.
The topping is usually seafood such as shrimp, tuna, haddock, or eel, and it should always be fresh and of the highest quality. Traditionally, nigirizushi is paired with shiso leaves, wasabi, soy sauce, or pickled ginger. It is sometimes garnished with daikon and salted seaweed.
VARIATIONS OF Nigiri
Although tempura is battered and deep-fried, the Japanese approach to food, characterized by clean flavors, simplicity, and minimalistic approach to ingredients remains intact. The most favorable ingredients for the dish include shrimp, scallops, squid, and small crabs, or vegetables such as shiitake mushrooms, asparagus, Japanese eggplant, and snow peas.
The batter is the most crucial part of tempura, consisting of flour, eggs, and water, keeping the ingredients moist and flavorful. Even though the dish is very simple, it has quite murky origins. The most popular theory says that the Jesuit missionaries who came to Japan from Portugal in the 16th century were the most probable inspiration for the dish, consuming vegetable and seafood fritters on ember days (days on which no meat was allowed to be consumed).