Page 28 - Seniorstoday May 2023 Issue
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rice is so great that it is not flavoured or sliced with a long knife and as it is sliced, it
seasoned with spices or sauces. is turned, and we get this long, thin ribbon
cut from the root with this very narrow
blade, and then that’s sliced and cut into
tiny little sticks. Daikon can also be pickled
yellow. Wasabi is a strong mustard root in
Japanese cuisine. It is highly pungent and
can get straight into your nostrils. It is to
Japanese cuisines what chilly and teekhi
chutney is to Indian cuisine.
Sticky Rice
Rice is indisputably the central staple Japanese condiment for sushi. Soy sauce, wasabi, pickled
and is even made into noodles. Ramen is a ginger, chuka, sesame sauce and pickled radish, classic
much more recent invention—proper, fresh sauces in traditional Japanese cuisine
ramen noodles, not the instant noodles Pickling is popular in traditional Japanese
in grocery stores. Every town has small cooking, but it is usually very simple salt
restaurants serving hot steaming ramen fermentation. It is not vinegar-cured with
noodles as their principal dish and are dill and garlic like a traditional cucumber
extremely popular having a dedicated pickle. The pickles come at the end of a
clientele. Japanese meal, and they contrast with the
blander flavour of rice. The most popular of
all pickles is the Ginger pickle.
Soybeans are also clearly central. They’re
eaten boiled and cold as edamame. They’re
made into tofu again with a large variety of
cooking methods. Tofu is a great source of
protein. The miso paste is also made from
soybeans and there is a sizable culture of
cooking and eating miso. The Japanese
Freshly made Ramen noodles have five basic flavours - Salty, Sour, Sweet,
Japan is surrounded by water; therefore, Bitter and Umami. It is very accepted and
you’re never very far from the sea. Fish appreciated practice to slurp on your food,
is probably the second-most popular it’s a sign of appreciation.
ingredient in Japanese food. Fresh, as could The strange thing about Japanese
be found or salted, pickled, or preserved in restaurants is that they do not serve sugar
some way, seafood is an important part of with their tea and coffee. One has to ask
every Japanese meal. for sugar. Similarly, there is no salt on
There are also a slew of vegetables in the table. If you require salt, the waitress
Japanese cuisine. Daikon radish (our will fetch it from another table and in case
mooli) is probably the most popular, cut someone else wants, she will pick up the
into impossibly thin sticks. The daikon is salt from your table and pass it around.
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