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Dashi	Nattou	Umeboshi	Toufu	Konnyaku	Nori	email
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Japanese Traditional Favorite Food
		Talking about Japanese traditional favorite food, "Dashi", "nattou", "umeboshi", "toufu", "konnyaku","nori" never fail to come to Japanese people's mind. We use "dashi" quite often when making food. "Nattou","umeboshi", "toufu", "konnyaku","nori" are low calorie and good for health. Many products made of these stuffs such as toufu pudding and konnyaku noodle, which even the Japanese might not know, can be purchased at shops.

		Dashi Dashi is a basic stock and takes an important role in making basic taste of Japanese cuisine. How to make dashi 1) Wipe "konbu" kelp lightly with cloth. 2) Place water and konbu in a pot and heat it with medium heat. Remove konbu just before water gets boiled. 3) Add 1 and 2/3 oz water and add "katsuo-bushi", bonito flakes. When the water boils, remove the pot from heat. 4) Skim the surface to remove foam. 5) When bonito flakes sink into the bottom of the pot, strain it with a dish towel. If you think it difficult to make"dashi" by yourself, just purchase "dashi" at Japanese supermarkets.
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		Nattou Nattou is fermented soy beans. Fungus living in nattou kills vice coliform bacteria and it prevents us from getting food poisoning. Everyone knows nattou is good for health but because of its unique smell and viscosity, even Japanese people, some of them hate eating it. On the other hands, some of them like its smell and viscosity and eat it quite often especially for breakfast. Nattou is usually served on top of hot rice like this but some of the Nattou lover eat Nattou-ramen (ramen topped with nattou), Nattou-carrey (curry mixed with nattou) etc.
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		Umeboshi Umeboshi is unripe Japanese plums preserved in salt. Only one piece of umeboshi in onigiri (rice ball) prevent it from getting rotten. It give good effect to stomach and is recommended for those suffering from slight stomach ache. It's originally sour and it has various kinds of umeboshi such as "shiso zuke" (plums preserved with shiso, perilla leaf, in salt), "usujio shio zuke" (same like shiso zuke except it is less salty), "konbu ume" (plums preserved with konbu, kelp, in salt), honey umeboshi (plums preserved in honey. it is sweet) and more.
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		Toufu Toufu is soy milk curdled by bittern. Hiyayakko (cold tofu) and Yudoufu (tofu simmered in a hot water) are the well known way to eat. It is quite easy to make such tofu dishes. The other food made of tofu or by-product of making tofu are Aburaage (fried slices of tofu), Atusage (fried tofu), Agedashi-doufe (fried tofu served in a warm soy-based broth, topped with sliced leek), Yuba (soy milk skin, the skin that collects at the top of a vat of soy milk). Aburaage, Atuage and Yuba are usually used for simmered food or pot dishes. Aburaage can also be eaten by just grilling it, dip slightly into soy sauce and eat. Agedashi-doufe is one of the Japanese favorite. Add some soy sauce and eat. These days, many kinds of tofu are sold such as Kouya-doufu (Freeze-dried bean curd) Cheese-doufu (Toufu mixed with cheese) Kaisou-doufu (Toufu mixed with seaweed) Kanimiso-doufu (Toufu mixed with crab guts) Maccha-doufu (Toufu mixed with powdered green tea) Goma-doufu (Toufu mixed with sesame) Tamago-doufu (Toufu mixed with egg) Toufu-soumen (Noodle made of toufu) Toufu-purin (Pudding made of tofu). Toufu is very popular among those who want to go on a diet because it has very low calorie and good for the health.
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		Konnyaku Devil's tongue jelly made from powdered konnyaku add with water and calcium-hydroxide. It is one of the indispensable ingredients when making sukiyaki, oden and more. It has no calorie and is popular especially among ladies. There are various ways to eat konnyaku like Konnyaku no sashimi (raw konnyaku sliced thinly), konnyaku ramen (noodle using noodles made of konnyaku), tama konnyaku (ball-shaped konnyaku simmered in a soy-based broth, it is one of the special products of Yamagata prefecture), konnyaku jelly, and konnyaku stake.
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		Nori Seaweed is widely used as the thin, black, toasted sheets of "nori". Nori is usually used to wrap rice to make onigiri (rice ball) and to make "maki-zushi". Cheese wrapped by nori is very tasty and nori itself can be eaten just by dipping slightly into soy sauce and place on rice.
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