One of the most interesting things about other cultures is the unique food they offer. Sushi has worked itself into the American vocabulary, now, as in tempera and wasabi. Those involved in the military may know what passes as soba as well. Unfortunately, few know much beyond that. Rice is a staple in most far eastern nations. Most Japanese meals include a bowl of plain, steamed rice. However, there are many other dishes they have invented using rice as well. Onigiri, for example, are “rice balls.” They are usually plain rice, packed together into a triangular shape that have a piece of cooked fish, chicken, beef, or sometimes a pickled plum at the center. The onigiri is often held together by nori, baked seaweed, and eaten cold. An alternative is yaki (baked or fried) onigiri. It is made, as the name implies, from frying the onigiri in a pan, and perhaps adding a sauce, such as soy sauce.Another popular rice dish is mochi, or rice candy. Mochi is made from pounding special cooked rice until it turns gooey. The gooey substance is then folded around red bean paste (anko), jam, or the like. Small neighborhoods in Japan sometimes get together to have mochi making parties.Vegetables, too, have an important place in the ordinary Japanese diet. Daikon, a kind of radish, is a Japanese vegetable that looks like a giant white carrot. It can be eaten as a side, in salad, and can also be pickled – for use in other dishes. In the time after World War II, Japanese began to incorporate a lot more meat into their diets. As a result, even more new dishes emerged. Yakitori is similar to teriyaki, except that instead of beef, it is chicken – and has been dipped in a very sweet sauce. Gyuudon is a beef over rice combination that is served in a deep bowl. One must be careful of eating things that look similar to American dishes, though. Torikawa looks just like popcorn chicken, but actually contains chicken cartilage. A popular dish in the Kansai region of Japan is okonomiyaki. Often described as “Japanese pizza”, it is both cheap and easy to make, and an Americanized version can even be made completely with ingredients bought at the Plymouth Wal-mart. Directions for making okonomiyaki follow:
Ark’s Poor College Student Okonomiyaki
INGREDIENTS:
Sauce:
* 3 tablespoons of ketchup* 1 tablespoon of soy sauce* 1 tablespoon of Worchester sauce
Batter:
* 3 tablespoons of complete pancake mix* 3 tablespoons of water* 1 egg* 1 cup of shredded Chinese cabbage, bok choi, or nappa* 1/2 cup of minced scallions* 2 strips of cooked bacon, or thin slices of baked deli ham* 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
Makes 1 Okonomiyaki
Sauce:
1. Mix the ketchup, soy sauce, and Worchester sauce together in a bowl well, until the mixture turns into a consistent, brown sauce.
Okonomiyaki:
2. Slowly mix the pancake mix and water together in a mixing bowl.3. Add in the egg and continue to mix into batter.4. Add the shredded cabbage, the scallions, and the meat into the batter and stir it well.5. Grease a skillet with vegetable oil, and set it on high heat.6. When the oil gets hot, pour the batter onto the skillet. Using a skillet, shape it into pancake-shape, roughly 8 inches in diameter.7. After about 5 minutes, check the bottom. Once it turns golden, use a spatula to flip the okonomiyaki over like a pancake and press down on the top to flatten the bottom. Let it continue to cook. If you need to, add more oil to the skillet.8. Once the other side is golden, remove the okonomiyaki from the pan.9. Pour the sauce over the okonomiyaki and use a spoon to spread it out over the surface of the okonomiyaki.10. Eat it hot and enjoy!