Chicken Karaage & Chicken Lotus Meat Balls class

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The main dish request was Chicken Karaage, one of our best sellers & very popular home-cooked food all over Japan!
We also cooked chicken meatballs with our autumn/winter vegetable, lotus root, seasoned with Miso.
When I cook these chicken menus for my family, I usually pile them up on a simple big plate and tell my kids ‘Help yourself!’ But for my guests from Australia, I chose a little bamboo basket to serve our chickens to add a touch of Japanese taste and a welcoming feeling.
In our rice, we added some Black Rice. This type of rice is popular among Japanese ladies lately as it is rich in fiber, vitamin B, minerals, etc. In short, good for your health & beauty!
As we enjoyed our lunch, we talked about various social & cultural topics in Japan as well as Australia. A very relaxing moment with yummy food after a few hard-working hours in the kitchen!
I hope my guest ladies from Australia enjoyed their time at my place as much as I did.
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Gyoza party with happy American foodie girls!

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The requested main dish was Gyoza dumplings. I suggested to my guests if they don’t mind putting shrimp as well as pork in the fillings, which they also liked very much and it turned out as a great success!

One of my guests lived in Japan when she was a little girl. She said her memory from those days wasn’t very clear, but she certainly remembered the taste of our traditional Dashi soup stock.
Her friend also tried Katsuobushi (Smoked Bonito) grating and both found it full of flavors, almost like bacon from the ocean!
We made Miso soup from the Dashi soup stock of Bonito, adding some thinly sliced pork, potato, lotus roots, and onion. With a small piece of left-over lotus root, we fried lotus chips, too. This is my favorite appetizer and is nice if you are welcoming vegetarian guests or almost anybody.

Several days after the class, I heard from one of my guest girls that she was doing a Gyoza party with her friends back in the US! What happy news!!!
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Lots of seafood for a US athlete couple

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This was a 2 main dish course request from an American couple. We cooked Salmon Nanbanzuke marinade and Okonomiyaki pancake as our main dishes, plus a few side dishes with vegetables and seasonal fruits.
My guest couple was both very fit as regular climbers and bouldering experts, so salmon was a good choice for their muscles. We also chopped some squid and put it in our Okonomiyaki, as well as pork, cabbage, leek, and Naga Imo potato, which is exactly how I make it for my family.

When I asked him if there is any favorite Japanese ingredients, he replied
” Unagi and Uni (eel and sea urchin)!! ”,
so I knew he is quite familiar with our diet, then it turned out his Mum is Japanese!

Obviously he has been eating yummy Japanese homemade dishes all his life, and I  do hope that he & his girlfriend liked what we prepared together in my kitchen.
Many thanks for coming!

Vegetarian & Chicken Ramen for a family reunion

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It was a request from a daughter who is now working in Germany to cook vegetarian Ramen & Gyoza, with her loving parents visiting from Australia. My pleasure to host a family reunion in Tokyo!
For Mum and Dad, we cooked some simmered chicken for Ramen and included pork in the Gyoza filling.
For vegetarian Ramen, the topping was fried Tofu, cilantro, diced tomato, stir-fried eggplant & mushrooms, etc. Of course, soy sauce and Mirin flavored egg, too.

There were a lot of preparations to do but my guest family made it and our lunch tasted wonderful!
Before coming to my place, they were traveling the route of a Japanese poet, Matsuo Basho’s tour up north to Matsushima and it was very interesting to hear about their experiences, including a beautiful Haiku poem father created during his stay in Matsushima!
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Pork ramen class with guests from Hamburg & Pescara

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My guests for this pork ramen & gyoza class were couples from Pescara,  Italy, and Hamburg, Germany. It was a terrible morning as the huge typhoon was passing Japan the night before and our notorious rush-hour trains were packed and crowded as ever!  Still, they all managed to arrive at my place & I was very very grateful.

One of their favorites was  ‘Char Siu, grilled pork slices on top of Ramen. They showed me a few photos of Menya Musashi bowls and my goodness, their pork slice is so thick!  For sure, Ramen is evolving in various directions….

It was also very interesting to hear about various types of ramen in Europe today. I love exchanging foodie information!
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Honeymooners from Tel Aviv cooking Japanese comfort food

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Today’s guests are happy sweet honeymooners from the IT capital, Tel Aviv, Israel. We cooked Ramen with pork soup stock.

I also adventured to use simmered Konbu kelp in cabbage salad, which is our family’s favorite quick dish. Here we use Konbu as herbs and it goes nicely with sesame oil. Please try if you have some leftover Konbu after making Dashi broth.

The couple told me some very interesting stories about their culture & life, my favorite part of doing cooking classes for travelers!
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko