Dining with the Chef

Oysters are one of the culinary highlights of winter. Japan's oysters are known for their size and creamy flavor, and in this recipe we'll be using them for two different dishes. Our first is deep-fried oysters, breaded with Japanese-style panko breadcrumbs to make them crunchy outside yet tender inside. We'll also be making oyster rice, letting the rich flavor of the oysters soak into the rice for a delicious finished dish. We'll round things out with a light cabbage salad — the perfect match for a fried main dish — to complete our "oyster festival."

Today's recipe: Chef Rika's Seared Tuna and Avocado, Udon Noodles with Chinese Chives and Pork, Sauted Mushroom with Wasabi. You can cook modern Japanese home meals by yourself with her fun lesson!

In this episode, Chef Saito will be making sukiyaki, a popular Japanese dish known around the world. The chef will be preparing his own take on two different dips for the sukiyaki: egg and kudzu starch sauce. For a side dish, we'll be working with cucumber and wakame seaweed. We'll also be talking about Japanese salads and vinegar-seasoned items, which go wonderfully with meat or fried dishes.

In this episode, we'll be cooking tatsuta-age deep-fried mackerel, a fish that isn't just delicious and in season, but is rich in healthy fats that help the blood run smoothly and help prevent lifestyle diseases. We'll be marinating it in a delicious marinade made with soy sauce and ginger, and frying it coated in a starch powder to keep it flaky and juicy. For our side dish, we'll be making a light soup, using plenty of cabbage — the perfect complement to fried fish. By using a bit of bacon, we can bring out the sweetness of the cabbage. We'll also be preparing a rich, flavorful salad made with asparagus and onsen eggs, one way of preparing boiled eggs.

In this episode, Chef Saito will be making oden, simmering meat, seafood, vegetables, and other items in a pot of hot dashi broth. Simmering these items together helps them share their delicious flavors and pick up the great flavor of the simmering broth, while the simmering broth gets the flavors of the other ingredients at the same time — it's the secret to why oden is so delicious! Chef Saito will share useful tips and advice for how to prepare the ingredients beforehand, making sure that they're cooked through and that any off flavors have been removed before adding them to the simmering broth, to keep everything tasting great.

In this episode we'll be making simmered kinki fish, considered one of Japan's finest simmered dishes. One distinctive quality of Japan's simmered fish dishes is that they are often simmered in a small amount of simmering broth, rather than simmering for a long time in a lot of broth to heavily flavor the fish — even after the fish simmer, they still retain much of their original flavor, with only the outermost layer of the fish being seasoned by the simmering broth. Chef Saito will be teaching us the secrets of great simmered fish prepared this way. We'll also be making a side dish featuring the popular fish tuna, and natto, which is famously considered an acquired taste. Even if you don't think you like natto, this recipe uses chopped natto in a way you're bound to love, for a dish that goes great with sake.

The island of Kyushu, at the southwest end of Japan, is home to the prefecture of Kumamoto. One thing that draws people to the area is its outstanding local cuisine, featuring the finest ingredients from both land and sea. To learn more about Kumamoto's cuisine, our host Yu Hayami will be visiting one of Kumamoto's preeminent chefs. In this episode, they'll be making Dago Soup, a traditional dish made with plenty of spring vegetables from Kumamoto, as well as mustard miso-stuffed lotus roots, an iconic local favorite.

In this second episode in Kumamoto, our host Yu Hayami will be visiting chef Ai Hosokawa, a Kumamoto resident. Chef Hosokawa says that ingredients from Kumamoto have strong flavors, and she'll be using those flavors to make simple Italian-style dishes. She'll be using Kumamoto's famous horse meat and akaushi beef to make a tagliata sliced steak dish, served with a sauce that uses plenty of fresh local strawberries — strawberries that have attracted international attention of late. She'll also be making fragrant and delicious gnocchi, served with a sauce made with aonori seaweed, a sea plant that grows in brackish water.

Our main ingredient for this episode is Spanish mackerel. Spanish mackerel is known in Japanese as sawara, and is beloved as a sign of spring. We'll be sautéing it with butter and soy sauce, for a Japanese-style sauce. For our side dish, we'll be making 2 easy spring dishes. For our first, we'll be cooking freshly picked green peas and bacon with rice for an easy and delicious rice dish that combines the aroma of the peas with the rich flavor of the bacon. We'll also be making salad-style tempura with lots of seasonal vegetables, for a casual yet delicious side dish full of the flavors of spring in Japan.

Our theme for this episode is sushi. We'll be making chirashi sushi, a staple dish for happy days in Japan, whether a cherry blossom-viewing picnic or for the Hinamatsuri doll festival. Chirashi sushi is known for being a particularly colorful and beautiful type of sushi, and the colorful ingredients suit it perfectly. Sea bream and shrimp provide the red and white that are so closely associated with celebrations in Japan, while castella egg, decoratively cut cucumber, and shiitake mushrooms provide beautiful splashes of yellow, green, and dark brown. With a little bit of extra effort, each of these ingredients can be made extra special, too. We'll also be making a soup featuring oboro kombu, an item made with Japan's famous kombu kelp.

Our theme this episode is deep frying. We'll be making menchi katsu, a western-style dish born in Japan. Chef Saito's family recipe for menchi katsu adds shiitake mushrooms to the standard onion, for a healthy blend of meat and vegetables in the filling. We'll learn how to cook the filling through, yet keep it juicy. For our side dish, we'll be making grilled onigiri rice balls. In this case, though, rather than balls, they'll be the traditional triangular shape, and we'll learn how to shape them that way. Chef Saito will show us how to make his miso sauce for them, and then it's a matter of simply grilling them in the toaster oven until they're ready to serve.

In this episode, we'll make a steamed dish with beef and lots of spring vegetables. By adding soft-boiled onsen egg, we make this recipe as nutritious as it is delicious. Rika will show us how to make two different sauces for this dish: a soy sauce-based sauce, and a sauce made with a mix of lemon and sesame oil. For our side dishes, we'll be making green pepper tossed with a sesame coating, giving it the great flavor of sesame seeds. We'll also be making ginger syrup, a popular item to have around in both summer and winter. Ginger warms the body and boosts immunity, making it a great ingredient to add to your diet particularly as the seasons change. This ginger syrup goes great mixed with soda water or black tea — we hope you'll try making it, too! The theme of this episode is "pressing."

Our theme for this week is frying. We'll be using an electric griddle, a kitchen appliance commonly found in Japanese homes, to make two popular dishes: yakisoba fried noodles and ikayaki savory squid pancakes, a local favorite from Osaka. Rather than the usual yakisoba sauce, though, we'll be using Japanese-style seasonings for a delicious result that is the very essence of yakisoba. We'll also show you how to make perfectly chewy ikayaki at home without needing a special press. For dessert, we'll be preparing a unique twist on shiratama dumplings, made with tofu.

Our theme for this episode is simmering. We'll be making gomokuni, a beautifully colorful simmered dish with six different ingredients, including soy beans, an indispensable ingredient in Japanese cooking. In addition, we'll also be making agedashi tofu, a popular standard at izakaya pubs. We'll show you how to prepare your ingredients to make your gomokuni look all the more delicious, and the right times to add each seasoning. For the agedashi tofu, we'll teach you the techniques to fry the tofu with a deliciously crisp coating, and the trick to making a wonderfully glossy sauce perfect for coating the tofu.

In this episode, we'll be making steak, a dish well known around the world. After cooking it medium-rare, we'll be flavoring it with soy sauce and butter for a steak that pairs perfectly with wine, serving it on rice in a uniquely Japanese style. For our side dish, we'll be making fried kabocha pumpkin. We'll cut it into bite-sized pieces, then flavor it with nam pla and coat it in potato starch, before frying it to a delicious crisp. Rika will also be preparing a refreshing salad of boiled turnip, fresh arugula, and a special dressing made with sushi vinegar and olive oil.

Our theme this episode is sushi. We'll be introducing bo-sushi, a unique variety of sushi that takes advantage of the natural shape of the fish. Different regions use different ingredients for bo-sushi, such as mackerel or crab; in this episode, we'll be using horse mackerel, a fish commonly eaten throughout Japan. We'll teach you how to marinate the horse mackerel in vinegar to help it keep longer, as well as knife techniques to fillet and spread open the fish while keeping its shape. For our side dish, we'll be making egg drop soup, with tender bits of beaten egg floating in it like blossoming flowers.

In this episode, we'll be making simmered stuffed peppers, stuffed with seasoned ground chicken and then simmered, for a deliciously tender dish that is easy to make. We'll also be making natto rice, which combines the Japanese superfood natto with cucumber, tomato, and okra for a tasty and colorful result. Chef Rika will also show us how to make an easy soup with bamboo shoots, with a flavor that brings together the tartness of vinegar, the heat of chili oil, and the richness of ground meat.

Our theme for this episode is grilling. We'll be making yakiniku, or Japanese-style grilled meats, using beef, pork, and chicken, served with three seasonings and three sauces, for all sorts of delicious combinations. Chef Saito will also demonstrate his skills by beautifully presenting the meat with plenty of fresh vegetables, as well as wasabi, ginger, and umeboshi pickled plum, to give it a Japanese-style accent. We'll also be making thick, hearty, and nutritious barley rice with grated yamaimo Japanese yam: we'll add rolled barley to rice before cooking it, to add plenty of nutrition and a nicely firm texture, and then top it with thick grated yamaimo Japanese yam for a delicious way to beat summer lethargy!

Ever since the Hokuriku Shinkansen line opened in 2015, getting from Tokyo to Toyama has become easier than ever. This two-part episode will help to share the delights of rural Japan with the rest of the world, with a focus on Toyama's food. In this first half, Chef Rika Yukimasa will be visiting the Himi, Toyama area and making local specialties like fresh carpaccio from this port town, as well as Himi's famous udon noodles, specially topped with minced nigisu deep sea smelt - a popular ingredient in Toyama home cooking.

Ever since the Hokuriku Shinkansen line opened in 2015, getting from Tokyo to Toyama has become easier than ever. This two-part episode will help to share the delights of rural Japan with the rest of the world, with a focus on Toyama's food. In this second half, Chef Rika Yukimasa will be meeting Eiji Taniguchi, the avant-garde owner-chef of a trendy Toyama restaurant, to learn about his cuisine. He'll be preparing two of his specialties: firewood-grilled baby chicken, with a special breed of chicks, and roast baby boar with wild mountain vegetables. We'll also be leaving the usual studio behind, to go meet farmers and dish makers who are also working to raise Toyama's profile on the international stage.

Our theme this episode is topped rice bowls. A bowl of rice with delicious toppings is a quick and easy single-dish meal popular in Japan. We'll be introducing one of the many common rice bowls: oyako-don. We'll show you the techniques needed to prepare the chicken and onion, with the great flavor of dashi and beaten egg, cooked until the egg is perfectly rich and fluffy, and then we'll top it with deliciously crisp naganegi long onion to provide a great accent. We'll also be making another variant on oyako-don, using flaked salmon — a popular ingredient in bento lunches — and salmon roe, for great taste and a fun texture. The green, yellow, red, and pink of these dishes are sure to make them a colorful delight!

In this episode, we'll be making crunchy fried horse mackerel, marinated in a delicious sweet-and-sour nanban sauce! Vinegar has come to be known for its health and beauty effects, making this a great way to add more to your diet. For our side dish, we'll be making an easy simmered dish, allowing the flavors of soy sauce and dashi to soak into atsu-age fried tofu and spinach. Chef Rika will also teach us how to make a deliciously gingery salad by cutting carrots, bell peppers, and cucumbers into strips, then adding a dressing made with ginger (known to help improve blood circulation), sesame oil, and ponzu.

In this episode, we'll be making deliciously fragrant fried rice with kabayaki eel, which is dipped in a sweet and savory sauce and grilled. Our chef will demonstrate some techniques to make it beautiful and delicious. We'll also be making another popular dish: steam-fried gyoza dumplings. These are different from standard gyoza — the filling is made with plenty of uniquely Japanese herbs, giving Chef Saito's recipe its own distinct flavor. These bite-sized gyoza are crispy on the outside and juicy inside, for a delicious dish you won't get tired of!

In this episode, we'll show you the basics of how to make a Japanese favorite: hambaagu, or hamburg steak. We'll be serving it with shredded daikon radish and ponzu, contrasting nicely with the flavor and texture of the juicy hambaagu. For our side dishes, we'll be making a vegetable soup with a secret ingredient, as well as an easy salad with some traditional Japanese snacks: smoked squid and mentaiko salted cod roe.

Our theme for this episode is deep frying. Chef Saito will be frying fresh bonito with bonito flakes, for a dish known as tomo-age. This delicious dish uses plenty of bonito flakes, which are a key ingredient in the dashi stock that is so central to Japanese cuisine. The texture of the finished dish is crucial for tomo-age, so we'll be frying it for just long enough to cook the bonito until it's rare inside, leaving the bonito flakes outside nice and crispy. For a garnish, we'll be deep-frying shishito peppers uncoated, to bring out their brilliant green color.

In this episode, we'll be making spaghetti with Japanese flavors: scallops and nori seaweed, and tossed with a soy sauce-and-butter sauce with just a hint of wasabi. For a side dish, we'll be making tonteki, or pork steak, a simple recipe with a deliciously sweet and savory sauce. We'll also be making a tasty salad as beautiful as a mimosa flower, featuring green beans seasoned with soy sauce and anchovy.

Our theme this episode is simmering. Chef Saito will be making a home-cooked Japanese favorite, simmered kabocha squash with soboro sauce. Simmering kabocha squash slowly and gently gives it a wonderful feel and flavor reminiscent of a high-end restaurant. In this episode, we'll be serving it with a thickened soboro sauce, made with finely crumbled ground chicken. We'll also learn about the tastiest way to cook rice, which is at the center of every traditional Japanese meal. Finally, we'll also be preparing sansho-flavored shirasu, a delicious topping for rice.

In this episode, we'll be making Japanese-style beef stew. This simmered dish, beloved the world over, is particularly popular in Japan. Usually, stir-frying the ingredients first and then cooking them over low heat takes a lot of time and effort, but in Rika's hands, it's ready in just a moment's time. This dish's combination of delicious flavor and ease of cooking makes it perfect for guests. For our side dish, we'll be making a refreshing salad that combines the slight bitterness of shungiku chrysanthemum leaves with orange, and for dessert, Rika will be making a shortcake of her own devising that combines the best elements of sponge cake and chiffon cake.

In today's episode, we'll be making oden, a winter favorite. Chef Rika will be preparing her special soup, with a dashi base made with kombu kelp and bonito flakes, and seasoned with nam pla. We'll be simmering a variety of ingredients in this soup, including daikon radish, konnyaku, eggs, handmade ganmodoki, and handmade mochi kinchaku (fried tofu pockets stuffed with mochi). We'll also be preparing delicious brown-tinted rice, with the rich flavor of dashi and the fragrance of soy sauce. For dessert, we'll be making a refreshing Japanese-style sorbet with yuzu citrus, rich in vitamin C.

Our theme this time is hot pots. Chef Saito will be making hari-hari hot pot, a delicious favorite perfect for cold winter days. Thinly sliced daikon radish, mizuna potherb mustard greens, and pork are briefly dipped in a rich dashi soup to cook them. With Chef Saito's techniques, it's a delicious hot pot that you can make even without a lot of ingredients. After those ingredients have all been eaten, we'll be adding thin inaniwa udon noodles to help pick up the soup for a delicious finish to the meal — these noodles go great with hot pots! And for dessert, we'll be having persimmon topped with a homemade sesame sauce.-hari hot pot with thinly sliced daikon radish, mizuna potherb mustard greens and pork; inaniwa udon noodles; persimmon topped with sesame sauce.

Our theme for this episode is steaming. We'll be making kabura-mushi, or steamed turnip, steaming pure white grated turnip together with shrimp and vegetables for a beautiful traditional Japanese dish. The fluffy white of the grated turnip is evocative of snow, and the thick and shiny yet clear sauce shimmers like ice, giving it a look wonderfully reminiscent of winter scenery in Japan. We'll also be making delicious and nutritious kayaku gohan, or rice with chicken and various vegetables mixed in.