Japanese Groceries

Yesterday, Tabitha and I ventured out in the heat to go shopping for some Japanese groceries.  I really love going shopping for Japanese groceries - or to any Asian supermarket, really!  I can spend an hour wandering the aisles, filling my basket with loads of stuff (half of which I will never use).  My favourite Japanese grocery stores are Suzuran in Camberwell and Fujimart in South Yarra - Fujimart is a little bigger, though I have a fondness for Suzuran solely for the silly reason that it is owned by my father's old karate teacher from 25+ years ago.

The ingredients that I always stock up on at Suzuran / Fujimart include:

Instant dashi (Ajinomoto) - dashi is the main stock used in Japanese cooking, and it is a base for hundreds of recipes, from soup noodle dishes to simmered pumpkin to donburi meals and miso soup.  Proper dashi requires kombu, a type of kelp, and finely shaved bonito, which is dried skipjack tuna.  It is not difficult to make (you can buy shaved bonito), however for a quick dinner I always use hon-dashi, which is the Japanese equivalent of stock cubes - a powdered dashi.  I use the Ajinomoto brand, which comes in a small jar or a box containing a number of packets.  This is one of the most useful ingredients in my kitchen - for example, I can make Oyakodon for dinner with some dashi, soy, sugar, eggs, chicken, onions and rice, all in less than 20 minutes.

Dancing bonito flakes - officially called hanakatsuo, these are the thinnest form of shaved bonito.  In Japanese restaurants, they often come sprinkled on age dashi tofu, okonomiyaki and some donburi dishes, and when I was little (maybe 2 or 3 years old!) they were the highlight of eating at a Japanese restaurant for me.  I used to always order California rolls, age dashi tofu and steamed white rice - I could rattle off my order by myself before the age of three - but my favourite part was the dancing bonito flakes.  Last time I went to the Japanese grocery store, I forgot the name, and mimed a sort of dancing-hula-hands thing while I said 'bonito'.  The Japanese shop assistant laughed and copied my geasture, and said "oh dancing bonito!"  Very cute.  I put them on lots of things at home - donburi dishes, age dashi tofu, and sometimes even plain rice.  See below for a (pretty crappy) video:

 

Panko - Since I discovered panko breadcrumbs, I don't really buy regular breadcrumbs any more.  I buy matzo meal still, but for regular crumbing I always use panko.  They are lighter, fluffier, and fry up crispier.

Croquettes - Suzuran stocks really delicious crab croquettes.  They are frozen, around $5 for 6.  I defrost them, shallow fry them in some oil, and serve with steamed rice and some bok choi stir fried in oyster sauce/fish sauce/sweet chilli/sesame oil/chinkiang rice vinegar/mirin/soy.  It's not exactly Japanese (!) but the sauce is delicious over the rice, and with the crab croquettes, is an incredibly fast, simple and inexpensive dinner for two.

Toasted sesame seeds - these are just regular sesame seeds, toasted so that their flavour is stronger and more akin to sesame oil (which I am addicted to).  I keep them in a shaker jar and sprinkle them over veggies, teriyaki salmon and ginger/orange marinated duck breasts, amongst other things.

Furikake rice topping - this is a sort of savoury sprinkle, delicious for topping plain steamed rice.  It generally includes little pieces of dried seaweed, dried fish, sesame seeds, bonito, sugar, salt, and even things like dried egg, miso or dried vegetables.  I like the simple one, and an easy lunch for me includes plain rice, furikake, some leftover protein (fish/chicken/tofu) and a small bowl of miso.

Mirin - a sweet rice wine. Together with dashi and soy, mirin is a key ingredient in many soups, noodle dishes and donburi meals.

Miso and miso soup - Japanese grocers sell tubs of miso paste.  You can coat a piece of oily fish with white miso (450g white miso, 150ml mirin and 225g white sugar), marinate for a few days, then grill over high heat to caramalise the surface, finishing in the oven to cook through - here is sort of the recipe I use, though my method is a little different, and I often use salmon.  Nice on some simple rice with some greens.

Soba and Udon - dried soba and udon noodles are a standby in my kitchen.  Not only are they perfect for simple soup dinners (cook them, meanwhile make a soup made of dashi, soy, mirin and sugar, gently poach some chicken pieces or prawns in the soup, add some sliced greens or snow peas, add the cooked noodles) but if I am in a rush and don't have time to make rice, some noodles will generally do instead.

Good soy (shoyu) or tamari for gluten free - you can get a much wider range of high quality Japanese soy sauces, including tamari, a gluten free soy, at Asian grocers.

Sesame oil - I am seriously addicted to sesame oil!  It is a fairly strong flavour, and I love to add a thin drizzle to steamed broccolini, bok choi or other Asian greens, or to simple foods like pan-fried chicken breast.

Silken tofu - this comes in a little plastic packet, in the fridge section.  I mix it with a simple brown sugar syrup (equal parts brown sugar and water, boil to reduce by half, add a few drops of vanilla extract) for a cool, simple and refreshing dessert (also vegan, which is useful to know if you ever have call for a vegan dessert).

Maybe you are already obsessed with Japanese groceries, like me.  The above is probably very basic, in that case!  But hopefully there is something new to try...