Hara - The Japanese larder: bringing Japanese ingredients into your everyday cooking

Each chapter of The Japanese Larder concentrates on a set of core Japanese ingredients and their uses in classical Japanese cooking, followed by new recipes created for kitchens beyond Japan. You can use these recipes to create an entire meal, or use one of these dishes alongside some of your own favourites there are no set rules.

Starting with a set of seven core Japanese seasonings, the first chapter investigates why Japanese food is so flavoursome, and how you can achieve the fifth flavour, umami, in your kitchen with just a handful of ingredients.

This is followed by a chapter on dried, fermented and preserved Japanese ingredients that highlights the usefulness of these concentrated foods to bring out complex flavours in your home-cooked dishes.

A third chapter focuses on less familiar Japanese spices, condiments and garnishes, and is an opportunity to bring in new, perhaps undiscovered ingredients into your cooking repertoire.

There is an entire chapter on Japanese rice, noodle and tofu dishes, including recipes on how to make your own noodles, soya milk and tofu from scratch, should you not have access to good shop-bought alternatives, as well as exploring the uses of these ingredients in traditional and modern recipes.

Japanese fruit and vegetables are the focus of the next chapter, and here we consider many native ingredients readily available outside Japan, in a number of savoury and dessert recipes.

In the sixth chapter, we consider Japanese teas and other beverages, including sake, shochu and whisky, and how we can utilize them in some novel desserts and drinks, including ice cream, puddings and easy-to-make cocktails.

Lastly, a chapter on sauces, marinades and garnishes, including traditional and modern recipes created using a number of core Japanese ingredients. These sauces, marinades and garnishes can be used not only in traditional Japanese dishes, but also in your own home creations from recipes in this book and beyond.

I have also included a number of How To Make recipes, which show how to create some important foodstuffs from scratch, including ramen and udon noodles, dashi and tofu, should you wish you to make your own or not have access to good-quality shop-bought alternatives.

All the recipes are made from produce that is readily available in major supermarkets, encouraging cooks the world over to try something new and to expand their cooking repertoire. Plus no specialist equipment or complex techniques are required for the recipes in The Japanese Larder, making them easily achievable at home.

WHATS FOR DINNER TONIGHT?

So, what is for dinner tonight roast duck breasts in clementine teriyaki glaze or grilled lamb cutlets in spicy green miso? Or for a meatless all-in-one meal, why not try the brown butter and miso linguine?

Whatever your preferences, I hope you will find a few recipes in The Japanese Larder to pique your curiosity for Japanese ingredients and bring them into your everyday cooking at home.

JAPANESE KEY SEASONINGS

JAPANESE KEY SEASONINGS

WHAT ARE THE JAPANESE KEY SEASONINGS?

Japanese cooks use seven key ingredients to season their food. These are soy sauce, miso, dashi broth made from konbu (kelp) and katsuobushi (dried bonito fish), sake, mirin and rice vinegar.

In traditional and modern Japanese recipes, you will find at least one, but usually a combination of some (if not all) of these, in different proportions. They are called for in every recipe to achieve the four basic flavours of salt, sweet, bitter and sour, as well as the fifth flavour, umami.

In this chapter, we will explore the use of these seven key Japanese seasonings, in both traditional and newly created recipes ideal for the home cook. You will also see the same seven ingredients appearing in subsequent chapters throughout the book, such is their importance.