| Name |
Kanji/Hiragana |
Description |
| Aemono | あえ物 / あえもの | Vegetables or meats mixed with a ground sesame seed dressing. |
| Agemono | 揚げ物 / あげもの | Fried foods, divided into the following:
- suage - fried without a coating of flour/batter.
- karaage - fried in a coating of flour or arrowroot starch.
- tatsuage - food marinated in a mixture of sake, soy sauce and sugar that is fried in a coating of arrowroot starch.
- tempura - fried in a coating of batter.
|
| Basashi | 馬刺し / ばさし | Horse sashimi. |
| Buta | ブタ | Pork. |
| Chawanmushi | 茶碗蒸し / ちゃわんむし | Steamed egg custard  with shrimp, shiitake, chicken, ginnan, and topped with a vegetable called mitsuba. Click for Chawanmushi Recipe. |
| Dashi | 出し / だし | Fish stock for cooking, generally made from kombu (a type of sea weed) and katsuobushi (dried bonito fish shavings.) |
| Donburi | 丼 / どんぶり | This is a traditional lunch dish referring to the ceramic bowl and matching lid the contents of this dish are served in. The individual names of each donburi dish depends on the contents. Here is a list of the different donburi dishes:
- gyūdon (牛丼 / ぎゅうどん) - rice with a beef topping.
- yakitori donburi (焼き鳥丼 / やきとりどんぶり) - rice with a chicken topping.
- tendon (天丼 / てんどん) - rice with a tempura topping.
- unadon (鰻丼 / うなどん) - rice with an unagi topping.
- katsudon (カツ丼 / かつどん) - rice with a pork topping.
- oyako donburi (親子丼 / おやこどんぶり) - rice with a chicken and fried egg topping.
|
| Gyu Tataki | 牛叩き / ぎゅうたたき | Beef cooked on the outside and rare on the inside. |
| Jyūbako | 重箱 / じゅうばこ | A box lunch served in a lacquered tray. |
| Kabayaki | 蒲焼き / かばやき | A fish that has been de-boned and grilled. To maintain one's health, a long established tradition prescribes unagi kabayaki be eaten on ushi no hi, which is the Day of the Ox during the mid-summer season. |
| Katsu | カツ | A breaded cutlet. |
| Katsudon | カツ丼 / かつどん | Deep-fried pork cutlet served with sauce over rice. |
| Karei katsu | カレイカツ | Curry sauce poured over deep-fried pork cutlet. |
| Meshimono | 召物 / めしもの | Rice mixed with meat or vegetables. |
| Mizutaki | 水炊き / みずたき | Refers to food cooked in water. |
| Mochi | 餅 / もち | Sweet glutinous rice cakes. |
| Mochigome | 糯米 / もちごめ | Mochi rice. |
| Mochiko | 糯粉 / もちこ | Sweet glutinous rice flour. |
| Mushimono | 蒸し物 / むしもの | Steamed foods. There are two types: shiomushi, which are foods sprinkled with salt then steamed and sakamushi, which are foods sprinkled with salt and sake then steamed. |
| Nabemono | 鍋物 / なべもの | Meals cooked in a clay pot. |
| Nama | 生 / なま | Prefix for raw food and draught beer. |
| Nimono | 煮物 / にもの | Simmered or boiled foods. Examples include nitsuke, fish/seafood simmered in a mixture of sake, soy sauce, mirin and sugar. |
| Ponzu | ポン酢 / ポンす | Sauce made with Japanese citron. |
| Robatayaki | 炉端焼き / ろばたやき | Fresh ingrediants cooked over a wood fire. |
| Sakamushi | 酒蒸し / さかむし | Steamed over sake. |
| Shabu Shabu | シャブシャブ | Shabu Shabu is cooked in a similar way as a fondue, and as such, lends itself to a party atmosphere. The word shabu-shabu refers to the sound the meat used in this dish makes when dipped into the boiling water. A special pot is used to cook the food used in making Shabu Shabu. Each person is given a plate of beef or pork, which is dipped into the boiling water . Vegetables are generally added to the pot after the meat is consumed. |
| Shirumono | 汁物 / しるもの | Common term for soup divided into two types: sumashijiru (clear soup) and misoshiru (soup made from miso paste.) |
| Shumai | シュウマイ | Stuffed wontons, served steamed or deep-fried. Origin of food is China. |
| Su | 酢 / す | Rice vinegar. |
| Sukiyaki | 鋤焼き / すきやき | Beef fried in a with a soy based sauce. |
| Sunomono | 酢の物 / すのもの | Vinegared foods. |
| Tamago | 卵 / たまご | Egg. |
| Tamagoyaki | 卵焼き / たまごやき | Fried egg. |
| Teriyaki sauce | 照り焼き / てりやき | A sweetened soy sauce. |
| Tare | 滴れ / たれ | Term used to generically identify sauces. |
| Tataki | 叩き / たたき | Finely chopped. |
| Tempura | 天ぷら / てんぷら | Battered and deep-fried seafood or vegetables. |
| Tonkatsu | トンカツ | Breaded and fried pork cutlet. |
| Tori | 鳥 / とり | Chicken. |
| Tsuke | 付け / つけ | A rice soup differentiated by the ingredients. Different types of zuke include:
- ochazuke, (お茶付け / おちゃつけ), which adds green tea as the soup base.
- tempurazuke, which includes tempura battered items.
|
| Ume shiso | 梅紫蘇 / うめしそ | Plum paste and shiso leaf mixture. |
| Unadon | 鰻丼 / うなどん | Unagi, which is eel, grilled and placed on a bed of rice. Unadon is served in a clay dish. A similar dish called unajyu contains the same contents, but is placed in a wooden bowl. |
| Usukuchi shoyu | 薄口 / うすくち | Light Japanese soy sauce. |
| Yakumi | 薬味 / やくみ | One of several strongly flavored seasonings. |
| Yakimono | 焼き物 /
やきもの | Foods grilled on a mesh wire net, skewered like "shish kabob" over an open fire or cooked in a skillet. There are different types of yakimono: shioyaki, which involves sprinkling salt over the food prior to cooking, tsukeyaki, which involves marinating the food in a soy sauce and sake or soy sauce and mirin mixture called awase jōyu prior to cooking, teriyaki, which is a stronger flavored tsukeyaki, misozukeyaki, which involves marinating the food in a miso and sake or miso and mirin mixture. |
| Yakinori | 焼き海苔 / やきのり | Toasted seaweed. |
| Yakitori | 焼き鳥 / やきとり | Grilled chicken shish kabob. |
| Yosenabe | 寄せ鍋 /
よせなべ | A fish, seafood and vegetable soup made in a clay pot. |
| Horensō No Ohitashi | ホウレン草のお浸し /
ほうれんそうのおひたし | Spinach dip. The word for spinach is horensō and the verb to dip is hitasu. |
Soy Beans and Seaweed
| Name |
Kanji/Hiragana |
Description |
| Aburage | 油揚げ / あぶらげ | Puffy, brown fried tofu. |
| Agedashi dōfu | 上げだし豆腐 / あげだしどうふ | Flour encrusted fried tōfu. |
| Aka miso | 赤味噌 / あかみそ | Red soy bean paste. |
| An | 按 / あん | Sweetened puree of cooked red beans. |
| Atsuage | 厚揚げ / あつあげ | Deep fried tofu cutlet. |
| Azuki | 小豆 / あずき | Small red beans used to make an. |
| Ganmodoki | がんもどき | Tofu patties. |
| Hijiki | ひじき | A type of seaweed. |
| Kinugoshi tōfu | 豆腐 / とうふ | "Silky" bean curd. |
| Konbu | 昆布 / こんぶ | A type of seaweed. |
| Kōyadōfu | 高野豆腐 / こうやどうふ | Freeze-dried tofu. |
| Mekabu | めかぶ | A seaweed. |
| Miso | 味噌 / みそ | Soy bean paste. There are several varieties of miso:
- A yellow brown colored miso made from barley and soy beans originating in the Shinshū region (a mountainous area known as the Japanese Alps.
- A salty, reddish colored miso made from rice and soy beans originating in the Tohoku region (NorthEast of Tōkyo.)
- A finely ground white colored miso made from rice and soy beans (the higher concentration of rice lends to the lighter color over the other miso types) originating in Kyotō.
- A dark chocolate colored miso called Hatchō miso made only from soy beans and salt and fermented for 2 years.
|
| Momen tōfu | 木綿豆腐 / もめんとうふ | "Cottony" bean curd. |
| Moyashi | もやし | Bean sprout. |
| Mozuku | もずく | Mozuku is a type of seaweed . It's generally packed in small containers enough for 1 or 2 servings . |
| Natto | 納豆 / なっとう | Fermented soy bean. |
| Nori | 海苔 / のり | A seaweed that is pressed into a paper thin shape. The first account of nori was made in 689. Commercial harvesting began around 1450. This seaweed, purplish in color grows on rocks and other objects in bay areas. Systematic farming commenced in the mid 1800's, where nets were used to increase the surface area for the nori to attach. Processing commences as soon as the nori is taken from the water, being poured into a mold that is passed through a drying oven. Like other desirable products, nori is inspected and graded based on it's appearance, color, luster and thickness. Reference: Mangajin, 3/97, pg.62. |
| Shiro miso | 白味噌 / しろみそ | White soy bean paste. |
| Tōfu | 豆腐 / とうふ | Soybean curd. |
| Wakame | わかめ | A type of seaweed, that is cultivated by submerging nets just below the surface of the ocean. Wakame means "young sprouts" and is indicative of the harvest that occurs before the seaweed grows to long. The harvest occurs from the end of January to the end of April. The harvested seaweed is dried after being rinsed and briefly dipped into boiling water to turn it's color from brown to green. |
| Yamakaki | やまかき | Grated mountain potato with chunks of maguro. |
| Yakidofu | 焼き豆腐 /
やきどうふ | Broiled or grilled soy bean curd. |
