April 3, 2020
Book Review
Japanese Food Made Easy
Author: Aya Nishimura
Publisher: Murdock Books
Paperback Pp. 218
By Syed Rifaquat Ali
Food stylist Aya Nishimura, coming from a family of chefs, has painstakingly portrayed the varied food habits of the Japanese people in her magnum opus 'Japanese Food Made Easy.'
The paperback volume depicts each recipe in simple-to-understand language for every chef and housewife, coupled with beautiful photographs/illustrations. The front and back covers are designed spectacularly.
Japanese house cooking is easy to understand and simple with no complex techniques. "All you need are the well-selected ingredients and seasonings that elevate a dish to something truly special," says the author.
Aya Nishimura elaborates: Japanese Food Made Easy showcases favourite recipes such as ramen, gyoza, teriyaki and tonkatsu, as well as Japanese dishes generally eaten at home, such as grilled peppers with bonito flakes, kakiage fritters and homemade fried tofu.
You will discover how to make your own teriyaki sauce, tonkatsu sauce, miso dressing and schichimi togarashi (seven chilli mix) - these homemade versions are a healthier alternative to store-bought and will bring instant flavour to the simplest dish.
The book enlightens how to use healthy ingredients, such as miso and tofu, in everyday cooking ---from traditional miso soup and miso-marinated fish to more Western-flavoured tofu and tomato salads, tofu cheesecakes and miso caramel sauce.
Keeping in view that not much is known about traditional Japanese recipes and customary food outside Japan, this volume should be freely receptive in every continent.
To look at overall food habits of the Japanese, there is not much use of spices in the Japanese cuisine.
Martin Schneider, a westerner, who visited Japan sometime back, wrote about his experience of Japanese food pretty realistically: unlike in some other east-Asian countries where you can routinely expect some degree of spiciness resistance in the populace, you will find extremely mixed levels of this among Japanese people.
Unlike in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and a few other Asian countries, the staple Japanese food is not spicy. But it wildly varies among the regions and can go really hot. It is not like all apanese eat only the stereotype staple Japanese food.
It is just the opposite. For instance, the famous Hokkaido soup curry. It is often so spicy that it literally burns and makes you cry. Even the South Koreans like spicy food, but to the extent bearable.
The Japanese are mostly non-veg. as the ubiquity of fish in the Japanese diet suggests. 4.7 per cent of Japanese are vegetarians or vegan (2.7 per cent identified as vegan, compared yo 7 per cent in the U.S.).
To cap it all, Aya Nishimura has done a remarkably good job in outlining the varied food stuff and food habits of the Japanese people pretty succinctly.
Syed Rifaquat Ali is Sydney-based journalist
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
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