Sashimi, sukiyaki, sushi, and tempura are only some of the
many foods on the menu in Japan. In this article, I would
like to suggest three Japanese dishes for you to try.
Although I love these dishes now, I had never heard of them
before visiting Japan.
1. Cold ramen
Cold ramen is served in restaurants from May through
September. Ramen is boiled and then chilled in cold water.
The ramen is then poured into a bowl without any broth.
Sometimes the ramen is served over ice cubes or with a few
ice cubes in it. A sesame seed sauce or soy-sauce based is
usually used for the cold ramen; a dash of hot Japanese
mustard is on the side of the bowl to mix in with the
ramen. The ramen is then covered with cold toppings.
Cucumbers, eggs, and ham or pork are the most common. They
are served cut in long strips, but you can also find other
toppings on your cold ramen.
2. Okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki is a giant Japanese pancake, but this unique
pancake is not to be confused with the pancakes we eat for
breakfast in the states. In Japanese, okonomi means what
you like and yaki means grilled. Okonomiyaki has two parts:
the batter and the ingredients added to it. The batter
includes eggs, flour, and shredded cabbage. The ingredients
added to the batter vary widely and can be one or more of
the following: pork, octopus, squid, shrimp, clams,
scallops, oysters, vegetables, natto, kimchi, mochi, and
cheese.
While okonomiyaki is made and eaten at home, eating it in
restaurants is far more common. Some restaurants serve a
standard okonomiyaki. That is, the table server brings you
a plate with an okonomiyaki on it, but most Japanese prefer
to eat their okonomiyaki in restaurants specializing in it,
restaurants where you cook it yourself. The server will
bring you the batter and the ingredients. You can mix the
batter and add the ingredients, cooking at your table on a
hot grill in the middle of your table. You can cook, play
with, and eat your okonomiyaki.
3. Takoyaki
The word takoyaki uses the same yaki as you can find in
okonomiyaki and many other Japanese foods. If you look yaki
up in a Japanese to English dictionary, you will find it
defined as roast (for pork), broil (for fish), grill (for
chicken), bake (for bread), and do (for meat, fish, and
chicken) as well as a host of other definitions. Like
okonomiyaki, takoyaki also uses a batter. Octopus and a few
minor ingredients are mixed into the batter. The batter is
then poured into a mold that cooks the batter into small
balls while evenly heating them. You could think of
takoyaki as miniature octopus muffins, although they are a
little heavy to be muffins. Takoyaki, unlike the
okonomiyaki and cold ramen, is not a meal, but a snack. You
will often find it sold at festivals. Poorly cooked
takoyaki is heavy, doughy, and sits in your stomach like
lead. Properly cooked, the hot dumpling tastes of octopus
and a bread-like dough covered with a thick soy sauce like
sauce.
As Japanese food continues to disseminate around the globe,
you are more likely to find these three tasty foods. I
recommend that you try each of them. If you cannot find any
of the three where you live, you might want to think of
coming to Japan for a food trip.
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