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Nabe

Nabemono (鍋物, なべ物, literally nabe: cooking pot + mono: things or kinds) often simply called Nabe, refers to a class of Japanese hot pots known as one pot dishes. Traditionally the pots are made of clay (donabe) which can keep warm for a while after taken off from the fire, or cast thick iron which evenly distributes heat. The pots are usually placed in the center of dining tables and shared by multiple persons.

Most nabemono are stews and soups served during the cool and cold seasons. In modern times, nabemono are kept hot at the dining table by portable stoves. The dish is frequently cooked at the table, and diners can choose the ingredients they want from the pot. When the ingredients are cooked, each person picks it up to eat with some sauce. Further ingredients are successively added to the pot.

Eating together from a shared pot is considered as an important feature of nabemono, making close relationships. There are generally two types of nabemono: flavored lightly with kombu and eaten with dipping sauce in order to enjoy the taste of the ingredients themselves; and deeply flavored typically with miso, soy sauce, dashi, and/or sweet soy and eaten without further flavoring.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabemono

Ojiya

A traditional Japanese one pot meal using either fresh or leftover rice and finely diced vegetables.  For macrobiotic quality we cook the rice until it's soft and add it to a medley of root and leafy vegetables cooked separately, then combined with the grain and seasoned with miso.  It  makes a hearty yet relaxing dish, and the leftovers are delicious in the morning as breakfast porridge.

Rice Balls

"Rice supplies a metal-type (autumn) energy and a sweet taste. The umeboshi in the center supplies the sour (spring) taste of the plum, summer (fire) energy comes from the shiso leaves with which it is pickled. The salty taste acquired during the pickling process represents the winter as does the nori with its floating-type energy and a slightly bitter taste. This combination of factors produces a food that is particularly well-balanced and thus it is possible to eat only rice balls for days without feeling tired or producing any troubles."

 Michio Kushi   Macrobiotic Home Remedies, p. 45, Japan Publications, Inc., 1985

The rice ball is more popular in Japan than a sandwich.  Rice balls are a traditional Japanese food eaten at lunch, picnics, parties and work.  Matter of fact, rice balls are the highest selling food at Japanese convenience stores. About 20 kinds of rice balls are sold in specialty rice ball shops and about 10 kinds of rice balls are sold in conveniences stores.   They even come frozen for microwave reheating.

Rice Kayu

 Bread

Kayu is a traditional rice bread made from a combination of whole wheat flour and cooked brown rice.  Natural fermentation allows it to rise, and it can be either baked or steamed in a pressure cooker.  The bread is almost like a cake, dense, sweet and irresistible.

Sushi

In Japanese cuisine, sushi is a food made of plain or vinegared rice combined with seafood or vegetables. Sushi fillings may be raw, cooked, or marinated. Sushi should not be confused with raw seafood dishes such as sashimi, where rice is topped with raw fish.  Sushi served rolled in nori (dried sheets of laver, a kind of pressed and dried alga) is called nori maki (rolls).

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi

Click Here for a video of sushi making.

Sweet Vegetable Jam

Jams are made from very long cooked finely cut sweet vegetables such as onions, carrots, and squash, or, for variety, a combination of these vegetables.  They are made without water, or just a very small amount for carrots and squash, and without salt or any other seasonings.  We cook the jam in a heavy pot with a flame tamer for five or six hours, or overnight.  The water evaporated from the cooking is replaced by the water from the vegetables--especially with onions--as it cooks.  The jam turns a dark color toward the end of the cooking  process. It is delicious as a spread or part of a meal.

Tempura

Tempura (Japanese: てんぷら or 天麩羅, tenpura) refers to classic Japanese deep fried batter-dipped vegetables. The batter is made of ice cold water and flour. Small, dry bite-sized pieces of food are dipped in flour, then in batter, and then deep fried for 2-3 minutes. In high-class restaurants, sesame oil or a mixture of sesame and other cooking oils is used.

Western chefs frequently include tempura dishes on their menus but seldom with 'authentic' results. This largely stems from a misunderstanding about mixing the batter which, in classic cookery must be beaten until homogeneous. Good tempura batter is mixed with chopsticks, but only for a few seconds. This leaves numerous lumps in the mixture and results in the unique tempura structure when cooked. Also crucial is that tempura batter be made freshly, with ice-cold water, in small batches.

Batter-coated deep frying was introduced to the Japanese by Portuguese missionaries during the 16th century. The word tempura derives from the Portuguese missionaries' custom of eating fish during Lent.

Cooked bits of tempura are traditionally dipped in a sauce  of roughly three parts dashi, one part mirin, and one part shoyu before eating. Tempura is commonly served with grated daikon and is best eaten hot immediately after frying.

Often cooked in this fashion are shiitake mushroom, sweet potato, yam, kabocha squash, burdock, carrot, lotus root, broccoli, zucchini and a wide variety of fish. In Japan, restaurants specializing in tempura range from inexpensive fast food chains to highly revered and very expensive five-star restaurants. Many restaurants offer tempura as part of a set meal or a bento (lunch box).  Tempura is also used in combination with other foods such as over soba (buckwheat noodles), or over steamed rice and on top of udon soup.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempura

Tofu

Cheese

Tofu Cheese, or Pickled Tofu, is a protein dish made by spreading miso paste on a block of tofu and letting it ferment.  Tofu cheese is used in dressings, sauces and spreads, and is delicious inside home made sushi.