Hiroko’s Kitchen | Blog

I am collaborating with chef Yoshi of Jewel Bako, NYC, Modern Sushi and Sake Tasting Dinner at James Beard House on May 11th .  I look forward to seeing you!  For further information please visit www.jamesbeard.org.  During summer holidays if you want to have fun sushi party or special Japanese summer meal catering, please contact me.

Jeremiah is an accomplished, charming chef, now working as a sous chef at International Culinary Center (ICC).  The other day when I was prepping at the kitchen of ICC for my class, Jeremiah kindly fed me with his (more…)

Upon receiving my request for my mother’s delicious beef tongue stew recipe my Mom with a help with my sister, Yoko, produced the dish after many years of not making it since I left home.  My Mom had an

excellent excuse to make her beloved beef tongue stew again.  Buzz, my husband, who currently staying in

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My friend, Matt, asked me to do some rice cooking experiment – cooking long grain Indian Basmati rice and medium grain Arborio rice in my high-tech IH. I did all measuring in a plastic measuring cup which comes with a rice cooker.  I rinsed rice (even arborio rice) before adding to the rice cooker, but,…. (more…)

Sumiso is vinegar flavored, mellow-sweet miso sauce.  It goes very well with quickly blanched or even raw ramps which is packed with pleasant garlicky flavor.

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Terry Segawa and Kiyoto Kondo, whom I met at the Grand Sushi and Sake Dinner event at National Geographic Society Museum, are both long-time Japanese restauranteurs in Washington DC. Mr. Kondo is now a charman of the board of the National Sushi Society Washington DC chapter. (more…)

I was in Washington DC last Wednesday for the Grand Sushi and Sake Dinner event organized by National Cherry Blossom Festival, held at National Geographic Society Museum. Three hundred diners fully enjoyed a special spring Kaiseki Ryori (Japanese formal meal) with sushi to celebrate the arrival of spring. Trevor Corson, Michael Simkin …and (more…)

When I was raised in Japan, early spring was announced by the arrival in the markets of takenoko (bamboo shoot), fukinoto (a bud-like plant with a very “green” and bitter taste; see the right hand photo below), and taranome (a young bud of angelica tree). My mother always prepared…

many varieties of dishes using these wonderful vegetables to say the spring has also arrived in the Shimbo household. After moving to New York City, I was deeply disappointed that most of these cherised mountain vegetables are not available in this part of the world. Then, soon I discovered ramps. Ramps return to the Union Square Farmers Market at the very beginning of spring just like the vegetables that I knew from Japan. Ramps, if you don’t know them in your part of the world, are a mountain vegetable. The plants are about 8 inches long and have a white stem topped with deep green leaves (last photo). When cooked or consumed raw in salads, ramps have a very strong but pleasant garlicky taste and aroma. This suggests their close relationship to onions, garlic and chives. I was not raised with this mountain vegetable in Tokyo, but I do know that ramps are found in the cold northern part of Japan. In Japan they are called “gyoja ninniku“. Gyoja are people who withdraw from ordinary society in exchange for the benefits of rigorous religious mountain life.  Ninniku is Japanese for “garlic”. The plant is named so because this plant has long been a part of the healthy diet of these ascetic mountain communities. My husband now visiting Japan made a trip to Hokkaido, the cold northern island of the country. There, much to his surprise, he encountered these vegetables for the first time in Japan and he sent me an exciting message. “I found ramps in Japan!!!”.

After purchasing the first ramps in the season yesterday at the Union Square Farmers Market, I was thinking of making ramps tempura. Very brief cooking at relatively high temperature is one of the best preparation techniques to preserve the natural flavor of this very aromatic vegetable. Here are my ramps and shiitake mushroom tempura. We always serve tempura with dipping sauce (dashi flavored with shoyu and mirin) and grated daikon radish. Dipping hot, crisp tempura in this richly flavored sauce enhances the natural flavor of deep-fried items, and at the same time the dipping sauce removes some excess oil from the food. Daikon radish, which is rich in Vitamin C and digestive enzymes, is a must accompaniment when we eat deep-fried food. I used my onioroshi (see my previous blog) to grate the radish, so it produced chunky and easy to consume form.  Oh, it was so so delicious.

Ramps (garlicky early spring plant) are back to Union Square Market this week. This means that spring is definitely back to New York City. I am offering Spring Japanese Dinner cooking class at International Culinary Center at French Culinary Institute next friday, April 17th. Please come to join me to prepare 1) Soramame no surinagashi (kelp stock based, clean and mellow sweet tasting, fava bean soup), haruyasai no shira-ae (spring vegetables with nutty and chunky tofu dressing), dorado no mushimono (kelp stock poached dorada) with bright yellow kimizu sauce, and rice topped with miso flavored ground lamb.  After mastering the techniques you can enjoy these recipes with many other spring vegetables.  Please visit; http://www.internationalculinarycenter.com/recreational_classes_landing.htm and SEE YOU THERE!

Jose broke down the top of the round into three pieces. In this final photo you see one cut shaped like a triangle. This piece is called…. (more…)