The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook [Hardcover]

"This is the real thing -- real Japanese family food. Visually appealing, it's a home-cook-friendly book."

For nearly thirty years, Katsuyo Kobayashi has been showing people how to make good food with a minimum of fuss. She's Japan's most trusted and popular television cooking personality, and the best-selling author of 140 books.
In The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook, she presents foolproof recipes that anyone can make. All the ingredients are readily available outside Japan, and the cooking methods are kept simple and straightforward.
A large full-color photograph of each completed dish is shown opposite the recipe, for easy reference. Small photos of the cooking process, also in color, are in the right-hand margin, with notes from Kobayashi about points to remember or substitutions that can be made for ingredients that may be less familiar. Calories and preparation time are noted for each dish.
This is real Japanese family-style food-the kind that you won't find in restaurants but that people are really eating every day, at home. Japanese cooking today is made rich in variety by Asian and European influences, and this book reflects that diversity. Many of the great traditional recipes of Japan are here, such as Japanese Pan-Fried Chicken and Tofu with Sweet Miso Sauce, but so are recipes that came to Japan from China and were adapted to Japanese tastes, like Gyoza Pot Stickers, Steamed Shumai Dumplings, and Banbanji Chilled Sesame Chicken. There's Japanese-style curry, and the popular "Omrice"--delicious flavored rice wrapped inside a thin omelette. There are even Japanese-style hamburgers, flavored with soy sauce and sake.
Now, you can enjoy Japanese home cooking without ever leaving home.

Katsuyo Kobayashi is Japan's favorite television cooking personality, and the best-selling author of 140 books.

In her popular noontime program and many of her cookbooks she focuses on teaching people to cook delicious home-style food fast. She has appeared on the wildly successful program IRON CHEF and been declared the winner. She owns a restaurant and a cafe in Tokyo.

Following are two recipes from the book.

Japanese Pan-Fried Chicken
15 minutes

2 to 3 boneless chicken thighs
8 fresh shiitake mushrooms
8 shishito sweet green peppers (or 3 small bell peppers)
2 to 3 Tbsp mirin (or 2 to 3 Tbsp sake + 2 tsp sugar)
2 to 3 Tbsp soy sauce
Japanese sansho pepper (optional)
shichimi togarashi red pepper, or red chili flakes (optional)

1. Trim off any excess fat from the chicken.
2. Cut off hard stems of the mushrooms, and cut each mushroom in half or into quarters. If using bell peppers, remove caps and seeds, and cut lengthwise into 4 to 6 pieces.
3. Make the sauce by combining mirin and soy sauce, and set aside.
4. Heat a nonstick fry pan until very hot. Place chicken skin-side down and fry over medium-high heat until the skin starts to crisp and turn golden brown. Turn chicken over and brown the other side. Add shiitake and green peppers to the pan.
5. When the meat is just cooked through, add the sauce. Turn chicken and vegetables repeatedly, to develop the flavor.
6. When sauce thickens, remove chicken from the pan and cut into easy-to-eat pieces. Arrange attractively on a dish with mushrooms and peppers. Serve hot, setting out sansho pepper and shichimi togarashi red pepper on the table as optional seasonings.

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Asparagus Saute
10 minutes

7 to 8 asparagus spears
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
a pinch of roasted white sesame seeds

1. Cut off the hard base of the asparagus spears. Peel the lower part of each spear and cut spears into 3 or 4 pieces of about equal length. Cut any thicker sections in half lengthwise.
2. Heat the oil in a fry pan and saute asparagus over medium-high heat until cooked through.
3. Turn off heat briefly to add the soy sauce. Then saute over medium heat, stirring constantly to keep asparagus from burning, until all the liquid evaporates.
4. Sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

To roast, place in a fry pan and heat, shaking the pan constantly. When seeds turn golden brown, remove from heat. Roasted sesame seeds can also be ground slightly (this can be done between your fingers) to bring out the flavor.