Japanese food: Much more than raw fish

Authentic Japanese food is rather complex despite its visual simplicity. Traditional meals pay meticulous attention to taste, presentation and the employment of different cooking techniques. Each meal showcases five colours, or some suitable variation of the five colours: black, white, yellow, green and red. Each meal incorporates items made with a combination of five cooking techniques that may include simmering, boiling, braising, grilling, frying, steaming, and something raw or pickled. A complete meal has five flavours: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savoury or spicy. And equally significant is presentation and the inclusion of different textures that makes the food visually and sensually appealing.

A Japanese meal may consist of a combination of several items such as tempura, sushi or sashimi, grilled meat, noodles, vegetables, rice, soup, salad, tsukemono (pickles). Portions are small and the meal is nutritionally balanced. Nor it is fattening. I lived in Japan in a small town called Tokushima on the island of Shikoku. As someone who was born and bred in India, I took to Japanese food very quickly and naturally and fell in love with their culinary traditions and unique flavours. Here is a brief introduction to Japanese food through some of my favourite food experiences.

Sushi/Sashimi

Japanese is my number one favourite cuisine in the world. But when I tell people that, I still hear the odd generalisation that equates Japanese cuisine with “raw fish.” This is a misconception; there is a significant difference between raw fish and “sashimi grade” (or sushi grade) fish or seafood, which has met stringent standards that allow it to be eaten raw. Most raw fish is not sashimi grade, and sashimi grade fish is hard to find in the market. Sashimi may be fresh fish, but might be previously frozen to protect the quality during transportation. Perhaps the best place in the world to sample fresh sushi or sashimi is the famous and incredible Tokyo Tsukiji fish market.

Sashimi is a straight up piece of raw fish that is typically served with a bowl of rice on the side. Personally, I don’t bother with the rice at all, and sashimi is my favorite way to enjoy raw fish. Sushi is a piece of raw fish that sits on top of a small ball of rice, flavoured with vinegar. Then there are “rolls,” where the rice and fish are rolled into a sheet of nori (seaweed) and cut into bite size pieces. Also common are “handrolls,” where rice and fish are served in a conical piece of nori. Fusion concoctions such as “California” and “Philadelphia” rolls may taste great, but are the last things to give anyone an authentic experience.

High quality sashimi grade fish, such as sake (salmon), toro (fatty tuna), and hamachi (yellowtail) have a sweet smell, sensual buttery texture, visual appeal, and with a dab of soy sauce and touch of wasabi (Japanese horseradish), it is extremely delicate and simply transcendental, like an ethereal dessert. Sushi or sashimi prepared with ika (squid), uni (sea urchin), tako (octopus), or raw quail egg has stronger flavours or textures.

It is very important though to eat extremely high quality raw fish. Discount sushi is a bad idea, even in Japan. Yes, good sushi and sashimi are expensive, but even the Japanese don’t eat them everyday. Nor does every restaurant in Japan serve sushi. In fact, when I lived in Japan, I rarely ate raw fish. It was just not the local thing to do.

Unless the fish is bad, the “fishy” smell or flavour typically comes from the seaweed, and those who don’t like seaweed might prefer to avoid rolls altogether. Vegetarians are either turned off by the smell of seaweed or excited by the variety of ways in which seaweed can be used, including as a substitute for anchovies in salad dressing, for instance.

Noodles

More often than eating complex meals, locals are likely to eat a quick lunch at a noodle shop, where a bowl of steaming hot or cold noodles are slurped down. Noodle shops often specialise in one type of noodles: ramen, soba or udon. Shikoku is famous for udon and I ate plenty when I lived there. Eating at restaurants is something like this: You go into an udon soup shop where you will likely see a skilled, well-trained chef preparing fresh udon behind the counter. You pick up a bowl of udon, then move along the buffet adding toppings, which range from a variety of vegetables to some non-vegetarian options such as shrimp tempura, and condiments.

One of my favourite noodle dishes is tenzaru soba. Soba is buckwheat noodles. Buckwheat flour has no gluten, which means it takes incredible skill to work with the dough to make the noodles. Soba can be had hot or cold. Tenzaru soba is served with a cold dipping sauce, grated radish, a variety of tempura including shrimp tempura. This version was served with a refreshing salad as a starter: corn, tomato, butter lettuce, daikon sprouts, steamed shrimp, and seaweed.

Udon and soba are usually mild, but at a ramen shop it is possible to get a bowl of very spicy coconut and chili based broth, but I suspect this is a result of foreign flavours melding into the local culture.

Curry

Japan has a very peculiar version of “curry,” almost always dark brown in color. It is served with Japanese short grain sticky rice. It most certainly has flavours mildly reminiscent of Indian spices, but it is a unique creation. Curry did not come to Japan directly from India, but by way of England. It’s a tasty option for vegetarians, although there are non-vegetarian versions as well. Served with a deep-fried potato korokke (croquette) or tonkatsu (pork cutlet) and tsukemono on the side, it makes a very satisfying meal.

Eating at restaurants in Japan is not necessarily difficult if you don’t read or speak Japanese. Restaurants often have menus with pictures or wax replicas of the meals in a showcase by the entrance.

Kobe Beef

The most expensive beef in the world is the Japanese Kobe beef. It’s called “Kobe” because the cattle are raised in the Hyogo prefecture in Japan, whose capital city is Kobe. With some small exceptions, the best beef in the United States is “USDA Prime” which is the grade of the best 2% beef that is produced. According to one report, in Japan USDA Prime rates 5-6 on a scale where Kobe beef rates 10-12.

Kobe beef is extremely tender and exquisitely marbled, and the quality is so spectacular that ‘kobe beef’ is its own category, rating well above any other beef. Kobe ranchers are extremely secretive about the method of raising the cows, but it is rumored that cows are massaged and fed special diets, but the breed of the cow is the basis for the quality of the meat. Finding this meat outside Japan is tough as only very special butchers carry them, and at exorbitant prices. But the meat must also barely be cooked. It is seared on the outside and left rare on the inside. Those who have eaten Kobe beef rarely forget the flavour or experience of a piece of meat practically melting on the tongue.

Meals of Many Courses

Multi-course meals are typically referred to as kaiseki, although kaiseki can range from extremely fancy banquet style meals or weddings to simpler versions at specialised restaurants. Either way, a kaiseki meal is formal in nature and the food is balanced with flavours, textures, colours, and cooking techniques.

Here is one multi-course meal I ate in Japan recently. Items were brought out in courses and placed in front of me in a specific order. The first course included mildly flavoured cold items: a tiny Japanese omelette, one steamed shrimp, a small piece of steamed white fish, one pickled sardine, one small steamed broccoli floret and a small cup of seaweed soup with mushroom.

The second course served tuna and fluke sashimi in a small decorative bowl with daikon sprouts, a shiso leaf and an edible flower.

Next came a bite-sized piece of cod with pickled mushrooms and a piece of turnip, garnished with green onions. With it came a shot glass sized bowl of hot mushroom broth, and deep fried “cakes” of whitebait, which are similar to small anchovies, fried together with grated potato, leeks and herbs.

It was time for some warming soup. It was very cold in Japan when I ate this meal. A tasty broth with scallops, eggs and green onions boiling at the table was just what I needed. This broth was really, really hot, but extremely tasty. I was forced to enjoy it slowly.

I was also served miso soup and a bowl of rice prepared with vegetables during my meal.

Finally, I was served a cake with green tea mousse, red bean paste and cake. I was done with it in three small bites. I ate my little dessert with hot roasted green tea.

The care with which this meal was served to me was certainly as important as all the different flavors.

Shabu Shabu

If I have to name the top 10 meals of my life, the experience of eating shabu shabu in a traditional Japanese restaurant makes the list. Shabu Shabu is a winter specialty.

Here was another meal of several courses. Our waitress dressed in a yukata (light, casual kimono) brought out the small courses. Meticulous attention was paid to every detail, from the time intervals between courses to the proper placement of plates, sake cups and ohashi (chopsticks) to, of course, the arrangement of food on the plates. Most of the items in the courses were no larger than one bite, which ensures that the diner enjoys every bit of food and isn’t too stuffed by the time the main course arrives.

Our meal started with a shot glass sized portion of mozuku (seaweed in vinegar) garnished with a tiny potato and a cherry blossom seed. Mozuku can be a bit difficult for foreigners to appreciate due to its slimy texture, but when I lived in Japan, I ate it almost everyday. Next arrived one bite-size piece of a sushi roll per person. With springtime coming close, cherry blossoms had “arrived.” Instead of seaweed, the sushi was wrapped in a cherry blossom leaf. With this, we were served a tablespoonful of deep-fried bean and pea tempura. Before our main course, we were provided small bowls of tuna and sea bream sashimi, decorated with a shiso leaf and edible flower. Throughout dinner, our Japanese hosts kept our classes filled with sake, beer or umeshu (plum flavored liqueur akin to brandy). Sake in the winter is typically served warm. To warm sake, the pot of sake is immersed in boiling water for a few minutes.

We were ready for our main course. Shabu Shabu is cooked directly on the dining table, which is fitted with an electric hotplate built into the center. First our server set a nabe (ceramic cooking pot) with boiling broth flavoured with an orange peel on the tabletop hotplate. We were each given two bowls of dipping sauce: ponzu (citrus sauce) and sesame sauce. Small bowls of grated daikon (spicy radish), leeks, chives, and garlic paste were provided to add extra flavour to the sauces.

Our server brought out a large platter of very thinly sliced and beautifully marbled raw beef. We used our chopsticks to pick up a piece of beef, dip it in the boiling broth, which almost immediately cooked the beef, and then in one of the sauces. So tender was the meat that it melted in my mouth. Both sauces were fantastic, but I liked alternating between the richer sesame sauce and lighter ponzu.

Next a second platter of tofu, mushrooms, noodles, seaweed, carrots and green onions was brought out for the vegetarian portion of the meal, with fat rice noodles were also served. The vegetarian items were also dipped in the broth and eaten in the same fashion.

Finally, we ended our dinner with a scoop of green tea ice cream prepared with matcha powder (very finely ground high quality green tea) and hot green tea.

It was an extremely satisfying meal, and representative on many levels of a true Japanese meal.

Accompaniments Miso soup is the most commonly found soup in Japan as it is practically served with every meal. The Japanese might drink it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Miso soup is made from fermented soybean paste, rendering it extremely healthy. It might be served plain, with wakame (seaweed) with tofu, or – my all-time favourite – with tiny clams, each the size of a fingernail. Oddly enough, for something that is so commonly eaten, I have all too often had badly prepared miso soup, and very rarely had stellar miso soup. Miso paste is not just used for soups but also in marinades and dressings.

Another very unique Japanese food is natto (fermented soy beans). Typically eaten for breakfast, natto has a strong smell and a slimy, stringy texture, making it quite difficult for foreigners to appreciate. Often it is mixed with spicy mustard. When I lived in Japan, my Japanese friends believed I must have been Japanese in my past life because I rather liked eating natto and always kept some in my fridge.

The word for rice, gohan, is the same word for meal. The Japanese eat rice almost daily. Japanese rice is short-grained, cooks quickly and becomes sticky when cooked. With meals, rice might be served plain or with special rice seasonings, such as crushed dried seaweed or egg, black sesame seeds, umeboshi, vegetables, or tiny dried fish.

Rice flour is used to prepare desserts, and rice may be pounded to make cakes called mochi. Rice is not only eaten but also used to make sake. Japanese beers such as Kirin and Sapporo are rice-based beers. Alcoholic drinks in Japan are served with nibbles such as nuts, rice crackers, deep-fried chicken cartilage, or sacs of fish roe, cooked and then cut into bite-sized pieces.

Japanese meals are frequently served with a small side of tsukemono (pickles). Perhaps the most commonly known is the pink tender pickled ginger that is always served with sushi. There are many types of pickles, but my favourites are ginger, radish, seaweed, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and umeboshi (sour pickled plums). Pickles go very well with rice.