Twelve Simple Japanese Recipes | The Alt-Weekly Issue No. 24 (Patreon)

New, Notes, and Nerdiness from JKLA World HQ

After a long and busy trip to Japan, the JKLA team is slowly making its way back to Seattle and reality. Stay tuned for many more involved dispatches and videos from the trip in the weeks and months to come, but in the meantime, you can have a small taste of the food we were enjoying right in your own home with this collection of Japanese recipes I've written over the years, from Serious Eats to YouTube to the New York Times to right here on Patreon.

This Easy Miso Soup uses your electric kettle to make steeping ingredients to make fresh dashi a snap.

Gyudon is a Japanese beef and rice bowl made with thinly shaved beef. Fast Japanese comfort food.

If you want to keep it even more classic home cooking, whip up some Oyakodon—rice bowls topped with simmered chicken and scrambled egg.

Grilling season is nigh upon us. You may not be ready to utilize every part of the chicekn yakitori-style, but you can easily make these Negima skewers with scallions, chicken thighs, and a sweet soy glaze.

The secret to the best Chicken Karaage (crispy izakaya-style fried chicken) is double frying.

Tamago Kake Gohan—Japanese egg and rice bowls—are a breakfast staple in my household (and if your rice cooker can keep rice hot and fresh overnight like my new one can, it's even easier to make).

Some people refer to Okonomiyaki as "Japanese pizza," but honestly, it's more like a big fat cabbage pancake to which you can add whatever other ingredients you'd like.

These are my favorite Japanese Pork and Cabbage Gyozas. They are perhaps the dish I've made most in my life, starting at around 4 years old at my mother's dining room table.

A seimple Teriyaki-Glazed Salmon rice bowl with cucumbers and avocado is quick meal with minimal cleanup.

For an alternate classic take on broiled fish, try my version of Black Cod with Sake-Miso Glaze. (It works just as well for salmon.)

Wafu is a style of cuisine in Japanese where foreign dishes are adapted using Japanese ingredients. This Mentaiko Spaghetti is a classic example, combining Italian pasta with cured pollack roe.

Tonkatsu is another classic western dish that has been thoroughly adopted by the Japanese. In many katsu restaurants these days you'll find thick cutlets of pork or beef that are breaded and fried. My grandmother's old-fashioned version involved pounding the meat thin before breading it in panko and frying it for ultimate crunch and tenderness.

Have You Gotten Your Rice Cooker Yet?

Last week, I announced a new rice cooker in collaboration with Our Place. This cooker was made with non-toxic materials, it looks great on a kitchen counter, it's easy and intuitive to use—and it's got some great, tactile, clicky buttons. But perhaps its most important feature is something you can't see: It uses fuzzy logic technology to ensure perfect cooking every time. Learn more about what that means and consider getting one yourself!