My friends will all tell you that I love Japanese culture, language, fashion, and food. I love some Japanese foods more than others, of course, so today, I will share with you all my absolute favorite Japanese foods; these are foods that I always recommend people try 🍳!
Japanese Tempura 🍤
Tempura is made by frying vegetables and seafood in Japanese tempura batter. There are different types of tempura. If you are vegetarian or vegan, you can get vegetable tempura/yasai tempura. Vegetable tempura is made by frying various vegetables, including shiitake mushrooms, string beans/green beans, squash/kabocha, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant/nasu, carrots/ninjin, sweet potatoes/satsumaimo🍠, and green or red peppers. If you are not vegetarian or vegan, you can also order shrimp/ebi tempura.
Japanese Ramen 🍲
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| Photo by Matthew Hamilton on Unsplash |
Ramen is made with Chinese wheat noodles in a pork, miso, curry, soy sauce, or salt broth/soup base. Vegetarian ramens can be made in a vegetable broth. Japanese ramen comes with vegetables and/or meat. Common ingredients in Japanese ramen include: A hard-boiled or soft boiled egg, slices of pork 🐷 (you can ask for this not to be included in your ramen. I usually make this request), bean sprouts, spinach, ginger, green onions/scallions, seaweed, wakame, garlic, kelp, shiitake mushrooms, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, and dried fish flakes.
I love Japanese ramen, but I’m not a fan of pork, so I often get my ramen without pork meat on top.
Japanese Barbecue
Japanese barbecue is harder to find than sushi and typical Japanese dishes like tempura. Japanese barbecue is similar to Korean barbecue, so when you order it, the meat comes raw. This means you will have to cook it yourself on the grill top in the center of your table. Sometimes, you can get Japanese barbecue cooked in the kitchen and brought out to you cooked the way you want. In most cases though, since the meat usually comes raw, I always order very thin meat cuts. I also make sure to cook all meat I order until it is well-done.
When you order Japanese barbecue, you can order various meats, seafood, or vegetables, such as shrimp, beef 🐮 tongue, pork, sausage, chicken, or yakitori-style grilled vegetables. Common vegetables that you can order at Japanese restaurants are eggplant, different types of mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, peppers, sweet potatoes, and cucumbers.
Saba Shioyaki/Salted Mackerel
Saba shioyaki is a simple, but delicious Japanese dish. Saba shioyaki is mackerel that is grilled and cooked with salt, usually sea salt. This Japanese dish is delicious because it is usually fresh, and it can be eaten with lemon. I know many people love salmon, but I personally find mackerel to be far more delicious when cooked the Japanese way. If you have never tried Japanese salted mackerel before, I highly recommend giving it a try.
Beef Tongue
Beef tongue is one of those dishes that I never thought I would have ever tried, but once I tried it, I loved it! Japanese-style beef tongue is simply grilled with some spices on it. You can cook this dish yourself on the grill top at your table, or you can have the kitchen cook it for you the way that you want.
One of the reasons that I like beef tongue is because it is so thin that when you season it, it becomes very flavorful and the seasonings can coat it thoroughly. In addition, because beef tongue is so thin, you are less likely to undercook it, so it is a safer meat to eat. I always eat beef tongue with lemon and salt or with barbecue steak sauce.
Octopus Takoyaki
Takoyaki has octopus inside. Takoyaki is a fried dish in a wheat batter with Japanese mayonnaise sauce, tempura brown sauce, seaweed, and bonito flakes on top. Japanese takoyaki is made with green onions/spring onions, pickled ginger, flour, eggs, Japanese stock, baking powder, soy sauce, salt, and tempura scraps. In America, I have seen takoyaki stretched and made with mashed potatoes because they are inexpensive and give the octopus a softer texture that will appeal more to the American taste buds.
I absolutely love Japanese takoyaki, but it is harder to come by in many Japanese restaurants in America. Whenever I go to Japanese restaurant to eat, if I see this dish on the menu, I make sure to order it every time!
Unagi Eel Donburi 🍚
Unagi donburi is a broiled eel dish with the eel on top of white rice. Unagi donburi is made with chives, vinegar, salt, sugar, spring onions, baby leeks, sesame oil, fish sauce, fish oil, and teriyaki sauce. If you like chicken teriyaki, there is a good chance that you will like unagi donburi as well because the taste is similar.
