Japanese Breakfast: 3 Traditional Recipes

2023 Author: Amber Richards | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-22 00:24

Most of us have been to Japanese restaurants at least once in our lives and more or less imagine what they eat and drink in this country. But what a traditional Japanese breakfast is - only a few know about it. Perhaps the traditions of the mysterious Japanese culture, in principle, do not imply a morning meal? And if this is not so, what does the breakfast of the inhabitants of the land of the rising sun look like - like the Italian "cappuccio con cornetto" or the English "porridge"?

The first thing to say is that the Japanese have breakfast. Secondly, their breakfasts, like the culture in general, are difficult to compare with those in other countries. However, with a strong desire, you can still find similarities in the morning gastronomic traditions - for example, in the morning the Japanese also do not mind eating an omelet.

The third and most interesting thing: Japanese breakfast is not one dish, but 5-7 dishes in small portions, which the Japanese eat in one meal. A Japanese breakfast most often includes: Japanese dashimaki tamago omelet, miso soup, tsukemono (Japanese pickles), steamed rice, fish and natto (soybeans).

“The peculiarity of Japanese cuisine lies not only in the fact that they like to observe the seasonality in food consumption and try to minimize their processing, but also in the fact that the Japanese cook all dishes with only chopsticks. This cooking method is very difficult to learn, but it is possible. Those who learn this art can be proud of themselves,”says the head chef of the Sakura Blossom Japanese restaurant.

We asked Hiroki Arakawa to prepare some of the Japanese breakfast recipes for you to repeat at home. The recipes use simple products, but the technique of preparing them requires the utmost care and the right amount of patience.

Dashimaki tamago, Japanese omelet

For the preparation of Japanese omelet, a square copper frying pan (about 22 cm) is traditionally used. At home, the Japanese use a 18 x 12.5 cm rectangular Teflon pan. If you do not have a rectangular pan, you can use a round (25 cm) pan, but in this case you will need to trim the edges of the finished omelet.

Important: Tamago omelets are fried only on gas.

Ingredients:

Large eggs - 6 pieces, 300 gr.
Dashi broth (Japanese broth) - 500 ml.
Soy sauce - 1 tsp
Corn oil for frying

Preparation:

Whisk the eggs in a bowl until light, airy foam.
Add dasha broth and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce. Stir.
Lightly oil a skillet and heat over medium heat.
Pour enough egg and dasha mixture into the pan to make a thin pancake. Use chopsticks to press down any air bubbles.
When the omelet is slightly dry on top, work around with chopsticks to loosen the edges.
Now for the tricky part: imagine that the omelet is divided by horizontal lines into three sections, the first of which is farthest from you. Use the chopsticks to roll 1/3 of the omelet from the far side to the center. Now fold that 2/3 of the omelet the remaining 1/3 towards you.
Pour some of the egg and dasha mixture into the empty part of the pan, lifting the fried omelet so that the liquid mixture flows underneath.
Repeat steps 10 and 11 until the tamago is 2.5 cm thick. Remove from the pan and press down with a bamboo sushi mat. Then cool the dashimaki to room temperature and remove the mat.
Cut into strips. Eat the omelet like regular rolls.

Miso soup with tofu and salmon

Ingredients:

Water - 1 liter.
Kombu seaweed - 30 gr.
Miso paste - 40 gr.
Dry hondashi broth - 10 gr.
Salmon - 300 gr.
Carrots - 1 pc.
Daikon - 300 gr.
Tofu - 100 gr.
Sake - 50 ml.
Mirin - 50 ml.
Soy sauce - 30 ml.

Preparation:

Soak the kombu seaweed in cold water and refrigerate for an hour. Remove the kombu and put the water on a low heat, not letting it boil.
Add 10g. dry hondashi fish broth and stir until completely dissolved.
Heat water to 90 ° C and add miso paste, then add sake, mirin, soy sauce (in that order). After 5 minutes, the broth will be ready.
Pre-boil vegetables and cut. Rinse the salmon, pat dry with paper towels and cut into cubes. Then scald the raw salmon with boiling water (3 minutes).
Cut the tofu into cubes.
Place salmon, vegetables, tofu on the bottom of a plate. Pour the miso broth over. Add wasabi (also read: A Cup of Tenderness: Three New Delicious Lean Cream Soups).

Pickles

Ingredients:

Peking cabbage - 200 gr.
Sweet pepper - 200 gr.
Salt - 4-6 gr.
Sugar - 40 gr.
Zest of one lime

Preparation:

Cut the cabbage coarsely, at an angle of 45 degrees, and the pepper into strips (with this method, the cabbage and peppers will quickly absorb the marinade).
Take a vacuum freezer bag and place the chopped vegetables there. Then add all the other ingredients to the bag and mix well. Press vegetables for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, remove the vegetables and place on a plate. You should have crispy vegetables that retain their flavor. Thus, you can marinate not only cabbage and peppers, but also any vegetables that you like.