Healthy Japanese Food BACK TO TOP
Japanese food "Kashiwa-gohan"
In Japan, we usually eat boiled rice which is simple white
rice.
But sometimes we cook boiled rice mixed with other ingredients, for
example meat, beans, mushrooms and chestnuts.
I will explain the typical mixed rice "Kashiwa-gohan" which is made with
chicken, vegetables and rice.
About 40years ago, when many Japanese were living in poverty.
"Kashiwa-gohan" was a special food used only for a celebration.
Now we cook it often, because we can buy chicken all the time.
"Kasiwa" means chicken and "Gohan" means boiled rice.
The mixed vegetable is green onions, mushrooms and carrots.
The recipe says to cut all vegetables to the size of small beans, and
boil until they are soft.
Cut raw chicken, including skin and liver, to the same size, and boil until
they are cooked through.
Add the chicken to the vegetables, along with some soy sauce and sugar.
Boil again until they are richly flavored.
Put them on hot rice and mix them until the rice turns brown.
In the old days, usually people who cooked "Kashiwa-gohan" used a hen,
which was too old to produce eggs, as the meat for this recipe.
Fried Pork "Tonkatsu"
The Japanese food "Tonkatsu" came into being throughout Japan after the 2nd World
War.
The word consist of two parts, "ton" means pork and "katsu" means cutlet.
My dictionary defined as "a breaded and fried pork cutlet."
In Japan tonkatsu are sold in most supermarkets with tempura of several kinds.
Many popular restaurants provide a tonkatsu with rice.
We sometimes cook tonkatsu in our kitchen because the tonkatsu which
is cooked there is better tasting than that sold at the store.
We cook tonkatsu by this process. Prepare thin cut pork, and take out the
bone. Pound it with a wooden pestle until it is very thin.
Sprinkle salt, pepper and flour on the pork and rub them in.
Coat with beaten eggs to make the breading stick, then dip the pork in
bread crumbs.
Fry it in hot oil. When it is brown, the process is done.
You should be eat it with shredded cabbage because this is healthy.
I can easily cook tonkatsu at my apartment because I can buy the
ingredients at a nearby supermarket.
Healthy food "Tofu"
Soybean is one of the most important foods for Japanese people.
From long ago people produced some foods from soybeans, such as soy sauce,
soy bean paste, tofu and natto.
Now soy sauce has spread also to America. We can buy it at nearby
supermarkets.
Tofu is a popular food in Japan, but it was introduced from China about
1,000 years ago.
Tofu is produced by this method. Soybeans are ground, next they are
steamed. Then they are pressed with a cloth filter.
The soy's nutrient goes out into the liquid which is called "soy milk."
Soy milk is a nutritious drink. Old people found a method for congealing it.
The milk is changed to tofu because the liquid of chloridize magnesium is
added.
From long ago tofu was sold only at the shop where it was produced from
soybeans, because it is eaten raw and is easily spoiled.
But due to the progress of packaging methods, now we can buy it everywhere
at supermarkets.
Tofu is called a meat of the field because it consists of high quality
protein. Certainly it is a healthy food.
When I enjoyed dinner with my American friends, I put tofu in the typical
Japanese food, sukiyaki.
But my friends ate only a little because it tasted too plain and was
strangely soft.