The Japanese Pantry

Emiko Davies · The Japanese Pantry

This sesame sauce is one of the classics of Japanese home cooking, and can be used to dress up any simply blanched or raw vegetables. My grandmother would usually do this with spinach. It’s also delicious with blanched broccoli, green beans, asparagus, raw grated carrots and even non-Japanese produce such as avocado. I also love this on a chilled wobbly block of tofu. For the gomaae, make sure you’re using toasted sesame seeds. If, by chance, you’ve got raw sesame seeds, you’ll need to toast them to a hazelnut-brown colour first. While the gomaae can be made in advance, you want to dice and dress the avocado right before serving.

Emiko Davies · The Japanese Pantry

You can often order tsukune in a yakitori shop, along with a variety of other chicken cuts grilled on sticks over coals. It might come as one long patty or smaller balls piled onto the stick; or, sometimes, without even the sticks and as flatter patties. In some places the ground chicken might have crunchy cartilage through it (chicken cartilage is a valuable food in Japan, both for its texture and its richness in collagen). But at home it’s much easier to make these as regular meatballs, simply pan-fried and then finished in a characteristic teriyaki sauce. These are great on their own as an appetiser, or turn them into the main meal with rice, miso soup and some pickles. They’re also perfect in bento boxes or added to a donburi. VARIATIONS: Use any white fish instead of chicken – because the fish is softer, it will make flatter patties. For a vegan version, use fork-mashed tofu (but not silken tofu, which is too moist). This is basically a tofu fritter known a ganmodoki, and it usu