Japanese Food

I've heard of Black Pudding (from UK), Kraut and Sausage (from Germany) and Oliebollen (from Netherlands) but I don't know much about Japanese food. Oh sure, there's sushi ... but then everyone knows sushi is a Japanese delicacy. And the food list stops right there. So I embarked on a quest to seek out and oogle at some Japanese cuisine. And ended up a very hungry reader.

Oyako Donburi

Photo Source: Jetalone via Flickr

Take a bowl of steamed rice and stack up yummy bits of chicken and egg (or salmon). And then you get this delectable dish. Just so you know, a donburi refers to a type of rice dish in Japan. This particular one is sometimes called Oyakodon which apparently means "parent and child donburi". What an odd reference, you think to yourself. Well, it's about using chicken and egg in the same dish. Here is the recipe for Oyako Donburi.

Kare pan

Photo Source: SauceSupreme via Flickr

This is a dough-curry mixuture, somewhat similar to South African 'Bunny Chow'. It's quite simple; stick a spoonful of curry onto rolled out dough and wrap it up into a bun shape. Turns out, you could bake it or opt for some feel-good deep frying (i.e. great tasting but so bad for you). I am guessing this will be the lunch snack of choice the same way you crave potato samoosa on a hot summer's day. I was amused by the numerous 'cute' kare pan pictures I found on Flickr. Well, if pop culture keeps alluding to these wholesome snacks, it's no wonder that adorable depictions of them crop up all over the place. Check out the recipe for Kare pan here.

Anmitsu

Photo Source: Jetalone via Flickr

This was truly a strange dessert. Admittedly, I am not too keen on savory ingredients for desserts but this dish may just change my mind. Basic items include jelly, bean paste (anko), miscellaneous fruit bits and boiled peas. How strange is that? Seems like the dish also gets a generous dollop of a sweet thick syrup (mitsu) before you dive into this dish. Check out the recipe for Anmitsu here.