ORDFORKLARING & BEGREBERDAIKON
A long,
white radish, often grated or cut into fine strips. Daikon helps
dissolve stagnant fat deposits that have accumulated in the body.
Freshly grated raw daikon is especially helpful in the digestion of oily
foods.
DASHI
An all-purpose stock for soups and simmered dishes
usually made with kombu (a type of seaweed) and flavoured with dried
shiitake or bonito (a type of tuna) flakes.
GARI
Pickled
ginger, usually pink and thinly sliced. Served with sushi to cleanse the
palate between courses.
GOHAN
Rice.
HASHI
Chopsticks.
KAISEKI
A
traditional Japanese meal consisting of a series of small,seasonal
dishes,each resembling an appetizer both in size and beauty of
presentation. Natural, hand-crafted serving-ware is carefully chosen to
complement the season, the food, and the food’s arrangement. Like the
tea ceremony. Kaiseki was initially a formal, highly refined, spiritual
discipline marked by the Zen ideals of simplicity, harmony, and
restraint.
MAKI
Sushi format, rolled piece of rice filled with raw fish
(tekka maki – tuna, sake maki – salmon) or vegetables like cucumber
(kappa maki), wrapped in nori and cut into four to six handsome pieces.
MIRIN
Sweet rice wine traditionally
made by a complex destillation and double-fermentation process. Used in
cooking as a high-quality sweetener and seasoning.
MISO
A
protein-rich, fermented bean paste made from soybeans,usually with the
addition of barley or brown or white rice. Miso is used in soup stocks
and as a seasoning.It comes in a wide variety of styles from white to
red, from slightly sweet to very salty and earthy, and crunchy or
smooth.
NIGIRI
SUSHI
Sushi format, hand-shaped piece of rice with any sort
of sliced raw fish on top.
NORI
Thin sheets of dried sea
vegetable. Nori is often roasted over a flame until its colour turns
from black or purple to green. It is used as a garnish, wrapped around
rice balls or other foods, or cooked with tamari as a condiment.
SAKE
Fermented
rice wine made from koji and rice (between 15% and 16% alcohol). Sake
is usually served warm in small cups but can be served at room
temperature or chilled in small wooden boxes with salt at the rim.
SASHIMI
Raw, slivered fish, usually served with a dip made of
shoyu and wasabi. The different styles of filleting are highly
ritualised,different fish are cut in different ways.
SHIITAKE
Cultivated mushrooms grown on
hardwood logs or enriched sawdust.
SUSHI
Nowadays
sushi is commonly known as raw fish on a piece of rice. But actually
sushi means vinegared rice that is rolled with vegetables, fish or
pickles, then wrapped in nori, and sliced into rounds (Norimaki). There
are different sushi formats: Nigiri (hand-shaped), futo (thick), maki
(rolled), temaki (hand-rolled), chirashi (scattered on top of the rice).
TEISHOKU
Japanese for set meal.
TEMAKI
Sushi format, rolled nori like a
cylinder filled with rice and raw fish and vegetables.
TEMPURA
A method
of cooking in which vegetables, fish or seafood are coated with batter
and deep-fried in vegetable oil. Served with a shoyu-based dipping
sauce, to which you add finely-grated daikon. Tempura is often served
with soup, rice or noodles, and pickles.
TERIYAKI
A sauce made of a thick reduction of shoyu,saké,sugar
and spice. It is also the name of the cooking method in which meat is
marinated in shoyu and a wine (mirin or saké), then grilled and served
in this sauce.
TOFU
Soybean curd made from soybeans
and nigari. Used in soups, vegetable dishes, dressings. Tofu is high in
protein, low in fat, and cholesterol-free.
WAKAME
A long, thin brown sea vegetable used in a variety of
dishes. Wakame has a sweet taste and a delicate texture. It is
especially good in miso soup.
WASABI
A light green Japanese root that
has been dried, powdered, and made into a paste. It is traditionally
used as a seasoning in sushi, sashimi, and in dipping sauces. Wasabi is
very hot with a taste reminiscent of horseradish.
