Wasabi Avocado Salad (わさびアボガドサラダ）

Do you know avocado goes well with soy sauce and Wasabi ? I cut avocado into half and put soy sauce and Wasabi in the pit after removing the seed. Then you can literally dig it in.
I made it to decent looking salad this time. Bon Appetite !

Chicken Karaage (鶏から揚げ）

Chicken Karaage is fried chicken in Japanese style.
Its butter is starch, soy sauce, and some other stuffs as you like. 
There is Karaage butter mix sold in Japanese markets which is very popular.
It includes something to make chicken soft as well as flavor.
I add graded onion to it and marinate chicken more than 1hr.

Sweet Hijiki Seaweed ( ひじきの煮物）

One ingredient which is particular to Japanese cuisine is seaweed.
It has strong flavor and can produce soup stock, or it can be eaten like normal vegetables.
This dish is made of Hijiki seaweed and one of the standard dishes in Japanese households.

How to make:
1: soak dried Hijiki in water till it gets soft
2: Put Hijiki, sliced carrots, and tofu skin in a pot, and add soy sauce, sugar, sake, and a bit of dashi (if you have). Boil till carrots get soft.

Potato Salad with Corn and Tomato （コーンとトマトの入ったポテトサラダ）

I mixed sweet corn, sliced tomato, and potato with mayonnaise and cayenne pepper.
Since sweet corn in California is very sweet, cayenne pepper gives good contrast.

Spinach and Almond Filo Pizza （ほうれん草とアーモンドのフィロピザ）

I do not like American pizza dough so much because it fills me up with just a slice !
In stead, I used few pieces of Filo dough which is thin like a piece of paper. Filo dough is used to make Middle Eastern sweets such as Baklava.
Good thing about using Filo dough is you don't need to care about oven temperature, but just bake in whatever temperature till it gets crispy.

I also made Margarita version of Filo dough pizza.

Lamb Chop, Potato, Asparagus, and Olive (ラムチョップ、ポテト、アスパラガスとオリーブのプレート）

This is one of the easiest recipes I like. Find whatever you feel like eating, drizzle nice olive oil on them, and put them in a oven. Just by sitting in front of TV for 30min, Voila !, wonderful dinner is in front of you ! A glass of nice wine and fresh baguette will surely bring it to even higher level :)

 

Orange Beet, Tomato, and Shiso Mint Salad (黄色ビート、トマトとシソのサラダ）

I had magically tasty black flakes on eggplant hummus, and asked the restaurant what it is. It turned out to be fried mint and basil leaves. They fried leaves till they get really black, but they did not taste bitter or burnt at all. Rather, they taste like spice. I experimented the same method on Shiso leaves, a  Japanese mint. I could not fry it till it got so black, but it added a nice hint to orange beet and tomato.

Chicken Cream Stew (チキンクリームシチュー)

Chicken cream stew is quite common in Japan.
When autumn is around the corner, we will see TV ads of cream stew cubes in the same style as Japanese curry cubes which basically makes cream stew or curry just by being melted in hot water.
This time, I didn't use that cube, but made the sauce by myself. It's basically white sauce made of butter, flour, and milk.

Cajun Chicken and Crumble Feta Cheese on Baked Prune (ケージャンチキンとフェタチーズとアーモンドをのせた焼きプルーン）

Main part of dish is baked prune topped with French Feta cheese and roasted almond.
This is really good !
Chicken spiced with Cajun spice mix and asparagus were baked in a oven altogether with prune.

Stuffed Baby Portabella Mushroom （マッシュルームの詰め物）

I stuffed baby Portabella mushroom with French Feta cheese and green onion cream.
I added egg to colligate cheese cream, but it may not be necessary.
I garnished it with chopped dill which I recently purchased as a plant.

Polo, Persian Pilaf (ペルシャ風炊き込みご飯）

Do you know what is Polo ? Polo I'm talking about here is not a type of sport, but rice dish usually served with Kebab in Persian culture. The one I had first time at my favorite Persian restaurant contained almond and various kinds of dry fruits, and it goes perfectly well with spicy and savory meat such as Kebab..
I came up with the idea of making my own polo today for a potluck at my vegetarian friends' place.
I added saffron dried raisin, and butter to half Indian Basmati rice and half Japanese rice, and cook it with rice cooker. When the rice is cooked, I added salt/pepper and sliced almond.
It is very easy, and looks fancy dish.

Bean Sprout Ramen （もやしあんかけラーメン）

There is a cafeteria right next to class room building in my college,
and I always sneaked out around 3pm to have this Ramen there.
Since bean sprout is very cheap  even in Japan, somewhere around 30 cents per bag, this Ramen was also very cheap ~ $3. I should check if they still have this menu !
Oba-chan who makes this Ramen suggested me to put a little bit of vinegar, and this became unforgettable taste for me. Bean Sprout sauce is creamy and sweet, and vinegar brings up the sweetness in nice way.

Steamed Fish and Mushroom in a bag （お魚ときのこのフォイル焼き）

This is one of the most common way to cook fish in Japan, and it's the easiest one.
I recently remember this method from a book called "Lunch in Paris". The author is American lady and living in France. I don't know where she came to know this recipe, but I've never seen it anywhere else other than Japan or China.
How to make is very easy, but this is an experience: As soon as you open the bag, all the nice flavor burst into the air.

How to make :
1: place white fish, mushroom, and onion slice in a alumni foil.
2: Close the foil to make a bag.
3: Place it in toaster oven, and bake it for 30 min.
4: Squeeze lemon and put soy sauce on it before you eat.

Soy Sauce Spagetti (お醤油パスタ）

I came up this pasta one day, and just love it since then.
Garlic, bacon, and soy sauce bring this particular flavor.
I like to put zucchini which also goes terrifically well with soy sauce and garlic.
My younger sister gave me this microwave spaghetti boiler, and since then it became so easy to make pasta. You can get one in Japanese one-dollar shop like Daiso. It's basically a long tapper ware. You can put cold water, salt, and pasta, and microwave it to boil pasta. I think any microwave-save dish will do. 

Yellow Beet Root Salad (黄ビートのサラダ）

Not only red, but there is yellow beet root.
I have salad of yellow beet root in Chez Pannise, one of the most famous restaurant in US.
I put olive oil, creamy dressing, and balsamic vinegar on it.