List of Japanese dishes

Below is a list of dishes found in Japanese cuisine

Contents

Rice dishes

  • Genmai gohan (玄米御飯): brown rice
  • Okowa (おこわ): cooked glutinous rice
  • Mugi gohan/meshi (麦御飯, 麦飯): white rice cooked with barley
  • Rice with a raw egg (卵掛け御飯Tamago kake gohan), (海苔)nori, and furikake are popular condiments in Japanese breakfast
  • (御茶漬け)Ochazuke: hot green tea or (出汁)dashi poured over cooked white rice, often with various savory ingredients such as (梅干)umeboshi or (漬物)tsukemono.
  • Onigiri: balls of rice with a filling in the middle. Japanese equivalent of sandwiches.
  • (炊き込み御飯)Takikomi gohan: Japanese-style pilaf cooked with various ingredients and flavored with soy, dashi, etc.
  • (釜飯)Kamameshi: rice topped with vegetables and chicken or seafood, then baked in an individual-sized pot
  • (赤飯)Sekihan: red rice. white rice cooked with (小豆)azuki beans to Glutinous rice

Congee

Donburi

A one-bowl dish, consisting of a donburi (どんぶり, 丼, big bowl) full of hot steamed rice with various savory toppings:

Sushi

Sushi (寿司,鮨,鮓) is a vinegared rice topped or mixed with various fresh ingredients, usually seafood or vegetables.

Alcoholic beverages

Sake(酒) is a rice wine that typically contains 12%–20% alcohol and is made by a double fermentation of rice. Kōjji yeast is first used to ferment the rice starch into sugar. Regular brewing yeast is used in the second fermentation to make alcohol. At traditional meals, it is considered an equivalent to rice and is not simultaneously taken with other rice-based dishes. Side dishes for sake is particularly called sakana or otsumami.

Shōchū is a distilled beverage, most commonly made from barley, sweet potatoes, or rice. Typically, it contains 25% alcohol by volume.

Other staples

Noodles (men-rui, 麺類)

Noodles often take the place of rice in a meal. However, the Japanese appetite for rice is so strong that many restaurants even serve noodles-rice combination sets.

Bread (pan, パン)

Bread (the word "pan" is derived from the Portuguese pão)[1] is not native to Japan and is not considered traditional Japanese food, but since its introduction in the 16th century it has become common.

Common Japanese main and side dishes (okazu, おかず)

Deep-fried dishes (agemono, 揚げ物)

Grilled and pan-fried dishes (yakimono, 焼き物)

Nabemono (one pot "steamboat" cooking, 鍋物)

Nabemono includes:

Nimono (stewed dishes, 煮物)

Itamemono (stir-fried dishes, 炒め物)

Stir-frying is not a native method of cooking in Japan, however mock-Chinese stir fries such as yasai itame (stir fried vegetables) have been a staple in homes and canteens across Japan since the 1950s. Home grown stir fries include:

Sashimi

Sashimi (刺身) is raw, thinly sliced foods served with a dipping sauce and simple garnishes; usually fish or shellfish served with soy sauce and wasabi. Less common variations include:

Soups (suimono (吸い物) and shirumono (汁物))

Soups include:

Pickled or salted foods (tsukemono 漬け物 (pickled or fragrant things)

These foods are usually served in tiny portions, as a side dish to be eaten with white rice, to accompany sake or as a topping for rice porridges.

Miscellaneous

Chinmi

Chinmi are regional delicacies, and include:

Although most Japanese eschew eating insects, in some regions, locust (inago, ja:イナゴ)[4] and bee larvae (hachinoko, ja:蜂の子)[5] are not uncommon dishes. The larvae of species of caddisflies and stoneflies (zaza-mushi, ja:ざざむし), harvested from the Tenryū river as it flows through Ina, Nagano, is also boiled and canned, or boiled and then sautéed in soy sauce and sugar.[6] Japanese clawed salamander (Hakone Sanshōuo, ja:ハコネサンショウウオ, Onychodactylus japonicus) is eaten as well in Hinoemata, Fukushima in early summer.

Sweets and snacks (okashi (おかし), oyatsu (おやつ))

See also Category:Japanese desserts and sweets

Japanese-style sweets (wagashi, 和菓子)

Wagashi include

Old-fashioned Japanese-style sweets (dagashi, 駄菓子)

Western-style sweets (yōgashi, 洋菓子)

Yōgashi are Western-style sweets, but in Japan are typically very light or spongy.

Sweets bread (kashi pan, 菓子パン)

Other snacks

See also List of Japanese snacks and Category:Japanese snack food

Snacks include:

Tea and other drinks

Tea and non-alcoholic beverages

Sea also Japanese green teas and Japanese drinks

Soft drinks

Alcoholic beverages

Imported and adapted foods

Japan has incorporated imported food from across the world (mostly from Asia, Europe and to a lesser extent the Americas), and have historically adapted many to make them their own.

Foods imported from Portugal in the 16th century

Yōshoku

Yōshoku (洋食) is a style of Western-influenced food.

  • Kaki furai (カキフライ,牡蠣フライ) - breaded oyster
  • Ebi furai (エビフライ,海老フライ) - breaded shrimp
  • Korokke ("croquette"コロッケ) - breaded mashed potato and minced meat patties. When white sauce is added, it is called cream korokke. Other ingredients such as crab meat, shrimp, or mushrooms are also used instead of minced meat which are called kani-, ebi-, or kinoko-cream korokke, respectively.
  • Tonkatsu, Menchi katsu, chicken katsu, beef katsu, kujira katsu - breaded and deep-fried pork, minced meat patties, chicken, beef, and whale, respectively.

Other items were popularized after the war:

Other homegrown cuisine of foreign origin

Adaptations

Japanese flavorings

Many Japanese foods are prepared using one or more of the following:

Less traditional, but widely used ingredients include:

See also

References