washoku

Sunomono is a Japanese cucumber salad served with wakame and a vinegar and soy sauce based dressing. This is an easy recipe that only requires 7 ingredients and 20 minutes!

Japanese Sunomono Salad

Persian cucumbers cucumbers

dried wakame (seaweed),

sesame seeds

shirasu (boiled, salted whitebait), optional

plain rice vinegar

dashi broth

soy sauce

mirin

Peel cucumber so it has alternating green stripes and thinly slice into rounds. Place in a mixing bowl and sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon salt. Let sit for 15 minutes and squeeze the water out using your hands. Return the cucumber slices to the bowl and set aside.

Soak the wakame in cold water for 5-6 minutes, or according to the directions on the package and drain. Add the wakame to the cucumber bowl along with the sesame seeds.

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing and pour over the cucumber and wakame. Toss using chopsticks and serve, or top with shirasu and serve.

Get your daily dose of vitamin K with this nutty, sweet and savory Japanese watercress salad! Enjoy as a side or a snack or as part of a multi-course Japanese dinner.

Japanese Watercress Salad

watercress

peanut butter

honey, maple syrup or sugar

rice vinegar

salt

Bring a medium size pot of water (about 6 cups), salted with 1 tablespoon kosher salt, to boil.

Put the peanut butter, honey, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and mirin in a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth and set aside.

Rinse the watercress, drain and separate the leaves from the stems.

Roughly chop the stems and add to the boiling water along with the leaves. Cook until the stems are tender but yielding a soft crunch (about 2-3 minutes).

Drain, rinse under cold water and softly squeeze out excess water. Gently pat the watercress dry with a paper towel and add to a mixing bowl. Pour the dressing over the watercress and toss until the watercress is evenly coated.

My college campus has a garden and I have so much kale and arugula! I will try that sauce with those greens.

I've never had watercress before but I never knew that it was so nutritious, almost on the same level as kale as a superfood. Can't wait to try this and hopefully it will taste as yummy as it looks. Thanks for sharing!

We love watercress in soup but never made salad.  My husband is allergic to peanuts so I substituted it with Almond Butter. It was just as nutty and savory .. I would make it again.

This is a delicious and satisfying recipe. I only had crunchy peanut butter so there were little pieces of peanut in mine, which just gave it an extra bit of texture. Whatever kind of peanut butter, this is perfect. Love it.

Simple Japanese rice balls wrapped in tender and crispy pork belly coated in a teriyaki-style glaze. This is an addictive onigiri recipe like no other!

Pork-Wrapped Rice Balls (Nikumaki Onigiri)

rice

pork rice

cornstarch

½ tbsp toasted sesame oil

tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu)

tbsp sake

tbsp sugar

ginger root (or ginger paste)

tsp garlic garlic

tsp toasted white sesame seeds ((optional))

perilla leaves (shiso) (optional)

Divide 300 g cooked Japanese short-grain rice into 50g pieces (approx 1/3 cup). Wet your hands and shape each portion into a barrel shape. Press the rice firmly enough to hold its shape but be careful not to crush the rice.

Wrap the barrel lengthways with one slice of pork belly and trim the excess with scissors.

Wrap the excess and one half of another slice in the other direction until the rice is completely covered. Each rice ball should use 1 and a half 12 inch pieces of pork belly.

Dust a plate with 1 tbsp cornstarch and coat each pork-wrapped rice ball with a thin layer. Dust off any excess before adding them to the pan.

Heat a large frying pan on medium and add ½ tbsp toasted sesame oil. Place the rice balls in the pan and fry. Turn occasionally until golden and lightly crispy all over.

While you wait, take a small bowl and mix 3 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu), 3 tbsp sake, 2 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp grated ginger root and 1 tsp grated garlic.

Once the pork is crispy and cooked through, use kitchen paper to wipe up the excess oil in the pan.

Increase the heat to high and pour the sauce into the pan. Turn the rice balls frequently until coated in sauce. Once the sauce has thickened and the rice balls are fully covered, remove the pan from the heat.

Sprinkle the top with 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds and wrap each rice ball with a perilla leaf. Enjoy!

WOW!  this is amazing!  At first I was overwhelmed, but it came together so well!  I used bacon (no pork belly anywhere to be found in the town where I live), and the cut was not as thin as I hoped for, but I think the cornstarch helped keep everything together.  6 perfect pork covered rice balls...and I will make this again!  Thank you for such a wonderful and (deceptively) easy-to-make recipe!

Torijiru is a lesser-known version of miso soup made with tender chicken and wholesome vegetables. My version is packed with flavor and texture and topped with crispy chicken skin for a surprise crunch!

Chicken Miso Soup (Torijiru)

300 g boneless chicken thigh (skin-on, essential for rich broth)

tbsp cooking oil (neutral)

onion (thinly sliced)

garlic (fresh, finely diced)

ginger root (fresh, finely diced)

burdock root (gobo) (skin scrubbed, thin diagonal slices)

carrot (peeled, 1cm slices, halved)

⅓ daikon radish (peeled, 2cm slices, halved or quartered)

enoki mushrooms (bottom stem/roots removed)

leek (naganegi) (diagonally sliced)

dashi stock

sake

tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu)

tbsp yellow miso paste (awase)

green onions

Before you start, cut the vegetables and aromatics according to the notes on the ingredient list.

Peel the skin off 300 g boneless chicken thigh and cut the meat into bitesize pieces.

Add 1 tbsp cooking oil to a large cold pot and place the chicken skin flat down, with all surface area in contact with the pan. Heat on low/medium-low slowly render the fat while the skin turns crispy. Once golden underneath, flip and repeat on the other side.

Transfer the crispy skin to a kitchen paper-lined plate to absorb excess oil.

In the same pot, add the chicken meat and increase the heat to medium. Sear all over until you can&#39;t see any more pink.

Add ½ onion, 1 clove garlic, ½ tbsp ginger root and sprinkle with ¼ tsp salt. Fry until the onion is slightly softened.

Add 1 burdock root (gobo), 1 carrot and ⅓ daikon radish. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes.

Now add 1 bunch enoki mushrooms, 1 Japanese leek (naganegi), 1 liter dashi stock and 1 tbsp sake.

Mix and bring to almost boiling, then lower the heat and cover with a lid. Simmer until the root vegetables are softened to your liking.

While you wait, cut the chicken skin into thin strips.

Turn off the heat and add 1 tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu). Place 4 tbsp yellow miso paste (awase) on a mesh spoon or ladle and dip it in the broth. Whisk in the spoon until loose enough to incorporate into the rest of the soup.

Pour into serving bowls and top with finely chopped green onions and the crispy chicken skin from earlier. Enjoy!

This is the new chicken soup for the soul.  It’s like a warm hug from your grandmother.  Who knew a simple protein swap from the usual tonjiru can create such flavours.  My boyfriend is currently recovering from a cold so I used bone in thighs for extra nutrients.  It’s definitely going to be a weekly item from now on.  We absolutely loved it!

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Japanese Sunomono Salad

Japanese Watercress Salad

Pork-Wrapped Rice Balls (Nikumaki O...

Chicken Miso Soup (Torijiru)

Top 4 washoku recipes from across the web

The most viewed washoku recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Japanese Sunomono Salad

Japanese Watercress Salad

Pork-Wrapped Rice Balls (Nikumaki O...

Chicken Miso Soup (Torijiru)

The most viewed washoku recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine