Day/Country #12 -- Japan

Japanese Flag

Fast Facts:

Land Area: 377,944 km²

Population: ~126,659,683

Capital: Tokyo

GDP (PPP) per capita: $38,297

Official Languages: Japanese (Nihongo)

Known For: Sushi, sumo wrestlers, samurai,

ninja, Mt Fuji, geisha, karaoke, Hiroshima

& Nagasaki

Day 12 and I'll admit to being a little excited about landing Japan (Nippon or Nihon to the natives) as my turn to cook.  First off, it's a fascinating place with such a rich culture (that's also popular--everyone knows something about Japan) and second, I love Japanese food and have always wanted to try and make some Japanese dishes (like sushi), but it's one of those things I've just never got around to--until now.

I have fond memories from when I was a child of going to a Teppanyaki restaurant and watching the meal cooked right before my eyes, bits of rice and veges flying all over the place in a fast-paced controlled chaos that also saw meat being set on fire in a flash of blue and red flame...needless to say I was a little tempted to try this

style of cooking (although Mum may have been less eager for me to try it in her kitchen), but on reflection I thought it would be better to try something a little more sedate, but no less new to my repertoire of cooking methods.

Appologies to those wanting us to try the weird and wonderful, but today my menu did resemble what one might come across in any of the numerous Japanese restaurants you'll find in most moderately large western centers these days.  However I've done my best to make them as authentic as possible, even shelling out the big bucks (comparatively speaking) for some top quality rice wine vinegar (and it was worth it I assure you!).

So today, inspired by (and in deference to) Japanese cuisine, I made sushi nori (what everyone outside of Japan thinks of as plain 'sushi', the 'nori' meaning the roll kind--yes there are others to choose from), tempura (assorted sliced vegetables and prawns dipped in a frothy batter and deep fried) and oyakodon (chicken cooked in a rice wine, soy and honey broth, finished with egg and spring onion).  I also made gari (pickled ginger) and was planning to serve it with my sushi nori, but it turns out it needs to pickle for a week before it is pink and ready, so we shall have to try that another time (although my little jar proudly sitting on the breakfast bar is already turning a pleasing shade of bright pink--yay!).

Though the dishes in themselves are not very complicated and any one of them could be done in an hour or less (if you're an efficient cook), trying to do the three together so that they ended up being ready at the same time proved more difficult and in the end I was in the kitchen for 2 1/2 hrs making lunch.  What I came up with however (aside from a kitchen that looked like a bomb had hit it) was a trio of dishes that rank among some of my greatest culinary achievements; I am now a convert to homemade sushi nori!  I was even more gratified when Mum sat back halfway through eating it all and said bluntly 'well, this is a 5!'.

Mum was not to be outdone though...for our cocktail for the day she came up with a variation on the popular Japanese Slipper; she's dubbed it the Sakura-jima Slipper (named after the Japanese volcano you can watch erupting via online webcam) and it was a potent and delicious mix of midori, cointreau and lime juice. Yum!

So, my advice to anyone who's been too scared to try cooking Japanese style food before is to suck it up and give it a go--you may just surprise yourself.

Finally, good quality rice wine vinegar is your friend; 2 tablespoons along with 2 tablespoons of castor sugar and a pinch of salt mixed through freshly cooked sushi rice is what makes the sushi taste soooo good. Happy cooking :)

Rating (out of 5):

Sushi Nori 5/5 (I put raw salmon, avocado and cucumber in mine, but you could use anything)

Tempura_4.5/5 (Cook these last and serve them fresh from the frier to ensure they're crisp)
Oyakodon 4.5/5 (Would have been a 5, but I slightly overcooked the chicken)
Oyakodon 4.5/5