Tsukemono

Tsukemono is Japanese pickles.
Pickling is not only keeping ingredients for long time, but aloso for making them good flavor.
Tsukemono is a important side dish of Japanese food.

There are various type of Tsukemono.
We usually put vegetables( sometime fish or meat) into salt, soysauce, miso(fermeted soybeans paste), vinega,Nuka(rice bram) or Sake lees.
I will introduce various kind of Tsukemono in my blog.

Bento

Bento is a portable meal.
There are two type of Bento,One is home made and another is selling.
Traditional Bento is made up of rice, fish or meat, and tsukemono(Japanese pickles).
For especially, Umeboshi(dried ume) is popular ingredient of traditional Bento, because it has strong sterilizing.
As for home made Bento, we select the foods which is still delicious if it get cold.
If you visit Japan, you can buy Bento easyly in convenience store, supermarket, railway station.
Combination of integrents are various.
I will show you lot of delicious bento this blog .

Natto

Natto is an very very healty food.
It is Japanese traditional food made from fermented soybeans.
It is rich in protein.

We usually put natto into small bowl.
Add mustard and soysauce a little.
Stir it in the bowl. and put it on the rice.
I like this simple way to eat natto.

Natto is full of nutrients.
But it has a strong smell and it is sticky.
I suppose you need a time to be able to eat this.

Natto is not popular in western part of Japan.

Kake soba

Soba is a Japanese thin noodle made from buckwheat.

Kake soba is the simplest hot type soba dish.
Boiled soba is drained. and put into bowl. Poured soysauce based hot broth.
"kake" means "pour" in English in this case.
And topped with finely sliced green onion.
We usually sprincle a little of red peper on it.

The broth is made from soysauce, sweet sake, and dried bonito.
It is mild flavor.

Genji Deli

Genji Sushi is opening a deli in midtown Manhattan (the Little Tokyo area near the New York Public Library).

Seasonal Fish in Tsukiji Market - April

Here is a list of seasonal fish to be found at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo in April. The list is from the link here, left column followed by the right column:

(left column)

ma-aji - Japanese jack mackerel (Trachurus japonicus)

kihada maguro - yellowfin tuna (Neothunnus macropterus)

kinmedai - splendid alfonsino (Beryx splendens)

madai - red sea bream; porgy (Chrysophrys major)

katsuo - skipjack tuna; bonito (Katsuwonus pelmais)

sawara - Japanese Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius)

tobiuo - flying fish

makarei - brown sole (Limanda herzensteini)

mako karei - marbled sole (Limanda yokohamae)

(right column)

ayu - sweetfish (Plecoglossus altivelis)

surumeika - Japanese flying squid (Todarodes pacificus)

hotaru ika - firefly squid (Watasenia scintillans)

shira ebi - Japanese glass shrimp (Pasiphaea japonica)

sakura ebi - spotted sakura shrimp (Sergestes lucens)

mebaru - gopher (rock cod); rockfish (Sebastes inermis)

nishin - herring

asari - Japanese littleneck (baby-neck) clam; Manila clam (Ruditapes philippinarum)

hamaguri - clam; cherry stone clam; quahog (Meretrix lusoria)

Kindai Tuna

A farmed bluefin tuna from Japan.