Japanese Food Made Easy

I’m really enjoying trying different recipes from this cookbook. The food is so simple with a lot of the same ingredients but extremely satisfying. I find I do stray a bit from the original recipe but I like that that about this book. The food is extremely healthy and light. It’s hard to believe that you can get such rich flavors from so few ingredients and effort. The photos are gorgeous so get the book and not kindle version.

As author Aya Nishimura astutely writes in the book's introduction, "Japanese food has the reputation of being hard to make and taking years to master." While this could be true of certain styles of cuisine originating from the country, home cooking is simple and easy - not unlike home cooking throughout the world. The book lacks much additional content beyond the recipes. However, the information it does offer is extremely informative and valuable - including a food map of Japan, commonly used pantry ingredients and a miso tutorial. Lastly, there's a helpful menu planner to aid you in cooking for a variety of occasions (Japanese-style breakfast, Temaki DIY sushi party, Ramen feast, etc.) True to the book's promise, none of the dishes we chose were difficult to make and we enjoyed everything. Here are the dishes we chose:• Yakitori (Grilled Chicken Skewers) - Always a favorite that never disappoints! Here, chicken thighs are threaded on skewers with scallion and brushed with a generous amount of homemade teriyaki (or, as a friend's Son likes to say: "Turkey-yaki"). This is a dish for all seasons. We enjoyed these with the green beans (below).• Green Beans with Sesame Dressing - Sure, this is perhaps one of the easiest recipes within the book but it was no less tasty and was the perfect companion for our yakitori. The fact it required very little time, effort or ingredients was a bonus! Sesame seeds are toasted, then ground using a mortar and pestle (or, as used in Japan, a suribachi bowl and surikogi stick) before being mixed with soy sauce and brown sugar. This creates a flavorful dressing for the gently blanched green beans.• Miso Soup with Pork & Winter Root Vegetables - Much success in life can be obtained by having the ability to read a room. In our case, it's January in Chicago so our room is quite chilly. Translation: this cold weather comfort food featuring seasonal Winter vegetables is a no-brainer. It was also one of the easiest dishes we created from the book. Knowing we'd be using pork shoulder in two recipes, we purchased the required amount and portioned it. Daikon, carrots and Jerusalem artichoke are added to our delicious homemade broth (a much better substitute for the recommended water), which receives a generous addition of white miso. Garnished with sliced scallions and shichimi togarashi (a Japanese mix of seven spices) and you've got a nourishing bowl of goodness that tastes like a warm hug.• Japanese-Style Curry - Few cultures embrace and adapt things from other cultures, while often improving upon them, quite like Japan. Case in point: this delicious curry. Here, chicken thighs are the featured protein, with ingredients such as onion, garlic, ginger, carrot and tomatoes playing supporting roles. Grated apples make a surprise guest appearance, adding a pleasant sweetness to everything. To up the ante even more, a plethora of clever garnishes (pickled cocktail onions, cornichons and the most jammy soft-boiled eggs ever created) are added to the completed dish. All of this is placed atop a bed of steamed Jasmine rice for a nourishing bowl of deliciousness.• Kushikatsu (Crispy Pork Skewers) - This dish surprised us. The preparation is a bit fussy and we had concerns if we would be able to successfully execute it. Small strips of pork shoulder are threaded onto two parallel skewers, along with onion wedges and okra. Then, it is coated in a panko crust and fried. The challenge with mixing meat and vegetables together on a skewer is always ensuring the meat is cooked to the proper temperature without overcooking the vegetables. Worried, we had our emergency frozen pizza ready - kept on hand specifically for these potential kitchen fail scenarios. Happily, it was not needed. Once cooked, the skewers are separated by slicing between them - revealing all the pork & vegetable layers within. Suffice to say these looked as good as they tasted and our feelings quickly turned from dread to excitement. We immediately began thinking of other ingredients we could utilize to make this technique even more eye-catching. A simple sauce of lemon juice, ketchup, Worcestshire, Dijon mustard, brown sugar and toasted sesame seeds compliments the skewers nicely. Our favorite recipe from the book!• Nashi Pear, Sake & Shiso Frozen Cocktail - We really should enjoy blended, frozen cocktails more often. While January in Chicago may not be the ideal time for these, we certainly still welcomed the opportunity to drink them. While the inclusion of caster sugar tilted this beverage a bit too far into sweet territory, they still were satisfying - made even better with the addition of some Peruvian pisco! Shiso leaves were nowhere to be found so we substituted the recommended mint leaves.

Easy to follow, delicious recipes. New favorite book!

A great little cookbook for tose of us who love the flavours of Japanese food but find cooking it a bit intimidating. You’ll need to invest in some key ingredients but I’ve already cooked a lot from it including a tuna dish, a crunchy cucumber salad, a mackerel pilaf (several times!), a rich mushroom casserole and chicken yakitori skewers. I’ve also mastered sushi rice. Yay!

The most beautiful book with easy to follow recpies. Demystifies Japanese food and all of the flavours. So far Lotus Root Crisps, Miso Eggplant & Kitsune Udon have been my favourites. This is my go to Japanese cookbook and will be cooking from it for a very long time.

I bought this as a birthday present for my 18-year old daughter who loves Japanese food, and she really liked it. There is lots of information about specialist ingredients, and a wide range of interesting recipes. We made the Chicken Kara Age with Tonkatsu Sauce, as well as a green bean salad, and all recipes were easy to follow and delicious. The book is beautifully illustrated, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning to cook Japanese food.

Such a lovely book with simple, easy to follow recipes. We’ve already cooked from the book 4 times and we’ve only had it 2 weeks! The recipes are lovely and incredibly approachable and the book itself is beautiful - every photo is gorgeous. I bought a copy for my sister too and she loves it too - highly recommended.

I’ve made several recipes from the book in the short time I’ve had it and every one has been simple, easy to follow... not to mention delicious, with beautiful food photography to inspire anyone who wants a true taste of Japanese food; from beginner to even the most experienced cook!