Why This Recipe Works? Using Japanese short-grain rice is the key to tender onigiri even after the rice balls have cooled to room temperature. Using freshly cooked rice that’s just cool enough to handle is the key to getting a nice shape without compacting it too much as the rice is pliable, and the high temperature will discourage you from squeezing it too much. By wetting and salting your hands, it not only keeps the rice from sticking to them, but it also applies an even layer of seasoning to the outside of the rice balls....

Serve it alongside creamy Gomadare as a contrasting dipping sauce for Shabu Shabu; drizzle some on sashimi or sushi, or whisk it together with olive oil to make for a delightfully aromatic salad dressing. Why This Recipe Works? If you have access to yuzu juice, you can make Ponzu Sauce by mixing a 1:1 ratio of yuzu juice and soy sauce. Adding a little sugar balances out the tartness of the yuzu....

Why This Recipe Works? Squeezing the kimchi to separate its juices allows you to achieve Maillard browning on the kimchi while saving the juices to season the sauce. Using ripe kimchi and gochujang gives the Korean pasta sauce a balance of tangy, sweet, and savory tastes similar to tomatoes. Garlic-marinated batons of pork belly add umami to the dish while the fat it renders out is emulsified into the sauce with pasta water to create a full-bodied sauce....

That’s because these Japanese potstickers are perfectly suited to going meatless, thanks to a filling that is brimming with the pungent flavors of garlic, ginger, and sesame oil. Add in some umami enhancers like powdered shiitake mushroom and soy sauce, and these dumplings couldn’t possibly be accused of being bland, even by the most ardent carnivore. In this dish, the challenge wasn’t in the flavor department, but in the texture....

While the original was made with pork cutlet, I’ve developed a process to turn a block of firm tofu into a delicious plant-based meat substitute. The Tofu Katsu ends up crispy on the outside and meaty and flavorful on the inside. Smothered with a homemade Japanese curry sauce, this vegan Katsu Curry is packed with enough flavor to satisfy even the most skeptical meat-eater. Why This Recipe Works? The curry sauce is thickened with a mixture of pureed vegetables and aromatics....

Given the breadth of cuisines I cover on this blog, I’ve often been asked if I ever eat “normal” food. This always takes me a little by surprise, because (with a few exceptions) most of the things I cook are very low effort. These beef tacos are the kind of weeknight meal I’ll prepare when I come home after a long day of meetings only to find the fridge devoid of anything even remotely inspirational....

Yet despite my affinity for fried chicken, the crispy skinned allure of Colonel Sander’s Original Recipe overruns my better judgement a few times a year. Every time I step foot into a KFC to sate my hankering, I feel a twinge of hypocrisy, and yet I’m at the mercy of the fast food fryer. Well today, I said enough is enough, and I set out to come up with the best buttermilk fried chicken recipe....

My mom would often make this for lunch by making an ordinary pan of fried rice and adding curry powder. I’ve gone a step further by incorporating other aspects of Japanese Curry Rice. It comes together in under ten minutes, which qualifies it for “quick lunch” status, and the spicy curry along with the sweet caramelized onions is just the flavor you need to sate a Japanese Curry craving. Why This Recipe Works?...

Learn how to make fresh ginger last forever. A great way to preserve ginger to keep for a long time. Also makes ginger infused vodka. Fresh ginger is great, but it’s something I don’t use all the time and it usually goes bad or dries out by the time I want to use it again. Since I almost always use it in cooked food, I’ve found a good way to preserve it....

This style of egg sandwich is thought to have been created by Tamagoya Okamoto (たまご屋おかもと), which is an egg shop in Kyoto that’s been around for four generations. Kyoto is known for its refined dashi stock, so the tamagoyaki from this area are called Dashimaki Tamago (だし巻き卵), and they’re made by beating a high ratio of dashi into the eggs. This creates a soft and fluffy omelette that’s juicy and savory....

When I’m not developing recipes for work, I tend to wing it in the kitchen, which is why my favorite dishes evolve over time. I’ve made a number of refinements to the recipe since i posted it, which is why I’ve decided to share an update with you. Below is the original post along with my revised recipe: Given my recent sojourn in Korea I thought it only appropriate to do a post I’ve been meaning to do for a very long time: Kimchi Jjigae....

I know there are some pizza purists out there rolling their eyes and crying foul, so for you, just think of this as kimchi pork bread. The combination of the sweet spicy sauce with the slightly tart pickled cabbage tastes great on the thin crisp crust. Although the crispy pork belly does add a little something, if you’re vegetarian, feel free to leave it out, the kimchi and gochujang have more than enough flavour on their own....

So what do I do when the urge strikes for something sweet, gooey and rich? Well… I’d probably make this 5 Minute Sticky Toffee Pudding (or at least it’s what I’ll be making from this day forth) Yea, I know, it kinda looks like something you might find on an alien planet, but stop looking at the picture for a moment and focus on my words. Despite its pock-marked appearance, the date sweetened pudding has a moist fluffy texture like a good sponge cake, and it tastes like caramel and vanilla....

As a kid, the holidays were one of my favorite times of the year because this meant my step-dad would be baking apple pies and currant slab. A man of few words, he doesn’t cook often, but I loved watching as he pulled out a yellowed and stained 3x5 handwritten recipe card from a rusty mint green recipe box and turned a few ordinary ingredients into something truly extraordinary. As an adult, I’m not much of a baker, but I’ve spent the last 20 years refining the skills I learned as a kid, and I’m finally ready to share everything I’ve learned along the way with you guys....

Why This Recipe Works Pan-frying the chicken skin allows you to render out fat that you can use to fry the garlic. This not only adds more flavor to the porridge, you also get crispy chicken skin to use as a topping. Starting with chicken stock and then poaching some thigh meat in the broth gives you a double dose of chicken flavor while also adding protein to the porridge. What really makes this dish crave-worthy is the bevy of condiments, which add bursts of vibrant colors, contrasting textures, and complementary tastes....

Why This Teriyaki Sauce Recipe Works This simple sauce comes together from just three pantry staples. Adding ingredients such as garlic, ginger, fruit juice, or sesame oil will cloud it and make it lose its shine. Teriyaki glaze is thickened by boiling it until the sugar starts to caramelize. This makes it thick and shiny and gives it a marvelous flavor. No thickeners, like corn starch, are necessary and you can make a thicker sauce by reducing it more and a thinner sauce by reducing it less....

Ingredients for Thai Basil Chicken The Basil As the name implies, one of the primary components of this dish is basil. Holy Basil can be difficult to find outside of South East Asia, so many Thai restaurants in the US use Thai Basil (Ocimum basilicum var. Thyrsiflora), which is known as Horapha in Thailand. I’ve even seen some that use ordinary Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum var. Genovese). While these make for interesting takes on the original, it’s misleading to call these dishes Pad Kraprow Gai, as “Kraprow” is the Thai word for Holy Basil....

Chuck is a not-so-tender (though flavorful) cheap cut of meat which comes from the shoulder area. It’s got a lot of connective tissue (aka collagen) so it’s not great for making steaks out of. Cooked slow over low heat however and the collagen breaks down into gelatin and makes the meat delightfully melty and moist. I love braising pork shoulder in beer so when I realized that the cut of veal I had wasn’t going to work for schnitzel I rummaged through my pantry looking for beer....

In my version, I like to use a three-step process of steaming, frying, and glazing the sweet potatoes. This cooking method creates a lasting crisp exterior while the interior remains tender and moist. It may take a little more prep time, but the results are definitely worth it! Why This Recipe Works? Steaming the Japanese sweet potatoes first gives them a soft and creamy texture. Deep frying the steamed sweet potatoes gives them a uniform golden-brown crust, which keeps them from falling apart when you glaze them....