Japanese kitchen staples

Although this is my first real post about our time in Japan it’ll be a year this February since we moved out here. It’s taken a while to settle back into a steady rythm of life and find our new normal as a family, especially with an early arrival at the end of December! The more time has passed the more I have been thinking it would great to document all I am learning and experiencing and share my insights with anyone who may be interested.

As with anything in life and especially when it comes to cooking in my experience you need to address the basics. To allow yourself the opportunity to cook a range of Japanese dishes there are a few simple items you need to equip yourself with for flavoring or seasoning dishes. Below are my suggestions to get you started.

Shoyu (Dark & light)

Before I met Sae I was one of large group of people who believed one bottle of Kikkomanns soy sauce was sufficient to try your hand at Japanese cuisine. Turns out this was a serious error of judgement! I only truly became enlightened on my first trip to a Japanese supermarket and was faced with an isle full of it.

Now without getting carried away and purchasing a cupboard full of different types we always make sure we have at least two, a dark and light soy and then usually a separate one again for sushi (So actually three!)

I guess different regions or Japan have different variations on the flavor profile of each of these but for now these two are certainly a necessity.

Mirin (sweet cooking rice wine with a lower alcohol content)

I guess in a similar way Europeans and other Western cuisines balance there cooking with sugar and vinegar the Japanese use Mirin. There is also a lot of added sugar in Japanese cuisine but you really won’t get very far without a bottle of Mirin when attempting the majority of meals.

Osake

The western counterpart being the obvious one of course is cooking wine, similarly it tends to be added earlier in the cooking process to allow some of the alcohol to evaporate. The thing I bear in mind most with mirin and sake and their difference from the Western alternatives is their subtlety of flavour. Getting the balance in dishes right takes a bit of time (well for me it does anyway)maybe thats just down to them being a relatively new way of seasoning and so I’m not as adept with them just yet.

Miso

Similar in my original perception of soy sauce. I was very unaware of the vastness of the miso spectrum! Of course a homemade one which has being given your full attention, love and care will give you much more satisfaction to cook with and will far outweigh a generic supermarket brand. Nonetheless its important to have at least something on hand when its called for. (The one pictured is a red pepper miso gifted from the gardener at work. It may sound stupid but think branston pickle with less acidity more earthiness and savoury notes!)

Sesame Oil

When it comes to using sesame oil I would advise erring on the side of caution as often its a very subtle flavour you are looking to bring to a dish, too much can completely upset the balance!

Dashi

Kombu(seaweed) and Katsuobushi (dried bonita flakes) are the two fundamental ingredients to most dashis stocks and the stock itself is a base for many different dishes ranging from noodle soups, oden and miso soup. You can buy powdered dashi stocks from most Asian supermarkets. We have our own favorite which we will share with you in a later post. Of course if you have the time make it yourself with any cooking process making it form scratch in the correct way is always going to give you a far superior flavour than a pre made stock but like making your own chicken, veal and vegetable stock form scratch its a labour of love which we don’t always have the time for.

I am only very much starting out on my own culinary journey here so most likely I will add to this list but for where I’m at this is the bare minimum you need to begin, please feel free to share your thoughts!