I was pampered at home during my stay in Japan by my mother's delicious cooking!
Big pot dishes that I don't make here were hearty and healthy:
Yu-Tofu (Tofu, thin sliced pork, Shiitake mushrooms, and chrysanthemum greens, or
Kikuna, simmered in Japanese kelp seaweed soup, served with soy sauce based dipping sauce, grated
Daikon radish and fresh scallion) and
Miso-Den (Tofu,
Daikon radish,
Konjac,
Satoimo (a kind of taro), Chikuwa (fish cake) , simmered in Japanese kelp seaweed soup, served with savory sweet
Miso).
My mother also made Wontan soup with bok choy. Yum.
Chikuzenni, a classic Japanese dish looks simple but actually is difficult to make in the US because of lack of some ingredients like lotus root,
Satoimo, and fried tofu.
My mother made
Okonomiyaki, a Japanese savory pancake, too! I have made one in the US, but it is also tricky to make real one here. Thin sliced fatty pork, yam powder,
Aonori (dried green laver), dried bonito flakes,
Tenkasu (crunchy bits of deep-fried
Tempura dough), and Beni-syoga (pickled ginger) are not commonly available around here.
My mother cooked a lot for me! The idea to buy steamed pork buns from a local department store for lunch was to give her a little break. The buns were freshly made and steamed at the store. I have been a fan of the buns for years. This was pretty good as usual.
Ah, I can't wait to go back to Japan, again! Hopefully very soon.
