Vegetarian Japanese recipes

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Yaki onigiriGrilled rice balls

Yaki onigiri (焼きおにぎり) are rice balls grilled until they form a crisp, toasty crust, then brushed with soy sauce glaze. They are eaten all over Japan, at izakaya, at barbecues and from the freezer section, as a snack or with miso soup. The inside stays soft and steamy while the outside crackles. Best eaten hot, straight from the pan. Chef's tip: let the shaped rice balls dry for 10 minutes before they go in the pan. A drier surface forms a better crust and won't stick, and the glaze goes on only at the end so it doesn't burn.

30 min

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HiyayakkoChilled tofu with ginger

On a hot July night in any Tokyo izakaya, the first plate to arrive is often a cold block of tofu: hiyayakko, a summer staple that takes five minutes and no cooking. Silky tofu sits in a little pool of soy and is heaped with fresh ginger, spring onion and shiso, so it is cool, creamy and sharp at once. Bonito flakes are the usual topping; here crisp nori and sesame keep it vegan. The common mistake is serving it wet: blot the tofu, or the water dilutes the soy into a pale puddle. Chef's tip: buy the freshest silken (kinugoshi) tofu you can find and chill it well in its water, since this dish is only as good as the tofu.

5 min

Japanese Salads

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Miso nikomi udonUdon in miso broth

In Nagoya, udon is cooked in its broth rather than boiled separately, in a small clay pot called a donabe that comes to the table still bubbling. The broth is made with Aichi's famous dark soybean miso, hatcho miso, which is aged for years and tastes deep, slightly bitter and chocolatey. Nagoya's noodles are deliberately firm, almost chewy at the centre, and locals use the pot's lid as a plate to cool each mouthful. It is a cold-weather lunch, and the egg poached on top is part of the ritual. Our version uses kombu-shiitake dashi and fried tofu instead of chicken. Chef's tip: dissolve the miso in a ladle of broth before adding it. Hatcho miso is dense and stays in lumps if it goes straight in.

30 min

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Zaru sobaChilled buckwheat noodles

Zaru soba (ざるそば) is the simplest and most loved way to eat buckwheat noodles in Japan, served chilled on a bamboo tray (zaru) with a small cup of dipping sauce. You pick up a mouthful of noodles, dip them, and slurp. The usual tsuyu sauce is made with bonito; this one gets its savoury depth from kombu and dried shiitake. Refreshing on a hot day, with grated wasabi, spring onion and a little nori. Chef's tip: the ice-water rinse is not optional. It washes off the surface starch and tightens the noodles so they're slippery and firm; soba shops call this 'shime', the finishing chill.

20 min

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Matcha mochiGreen tea rice cakes

Mochi (もち) are soft, chewy rice cakes made from glutinous rice flour, and Kyoto's confectioners have long flavoured them with matcha from nearby Uji. This quick home version cooks the dough in the microwave rather than pounding steamed rice. Each little green ball is wrapped around a centre of sweet red bean paste and dusted with cornflour. They are best eaten the day they are made, while still soft. Chef's tip: work while the dough is still warm, and keep your hands and the tray well dusted with starch. Warm mochi stretches easily around the filling; once it cools it tears and won't seal.

26 min

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Agedashi tofuFried tofu in warm broth

Agedashi tofu (揚げ出し豆腐) is a classic izakaya dish eaten all over Japan: cubes of soft tofu dusted in potato starch, fried until they form a thin, crisp shell, then bathed in a hot, savoury broth. The coating turns silky as it soaks up the sauce while the tofu inside stays creamy. Usually topped with bonito flakes; here it's grated daikon, ginger and spring onion with a kombu-shiitake broth instead. Chef's tip: coat the tofu in starch right before it goes into the oil, not ahead of time; if it sits, the starch turns damp and the coating fries up gummy instead of crisp.

20 min

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OkonomiyakiSavoury cabbage pancake

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き, 'grilled as you like it') is the pride of Osaka, where it's cooked on hot iron griddles in lively restaurants. Finely shredded cabbage is folded into a light batter with egg and spring onion, then fried into a thick, soft pancake with a crisp outside. It's painted with a fruity brown sauce and zigzagged with mayonnaise. Bonito flakes are usual on top; this vegetarian version uses seaweed flakes and pickled ginger instead. Chef's tip: don't press the pancake down with your spatula while it cooks. Osaka cooks leave it alone so the cabbage steams inside and stays light and fluffy; pressing squeezes out the air.

35 min

Japanese Breakfast & Brunch

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Amazake (sweet koji rice drink)

On New Year's Day, crowds queuing for hatsumōde, the first shrine visit of the year, warm their hands on cups of amazake, and shrines all over Japan ladle it out as a welcome. This is the koji kind: cooked rice is held warm with rice koji, whose enzymes turn the starch into sugar, so the drink is sweet with no added sugar and contains no alcohol (unlike the other amazake made from sake lees). It is thick, creamy and gently fragrant, a little like rice pudding you can drink. Serve it hot with a pinch of grated ginger, or chilled in summer. Chef's tip: a cheap probe thermometer is the whole secret; keep the mixture at 55–60 °C and it will turn sweet every time.

480 min

Japanese Drinks

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Nishime (simmered root vegetables)

Nishime is the quiet backbone of the Shōgatsu osechi box all over Japan: root vegetables that grow deep and hold together, cooked so the family stays rooted and united through the year. Unlike chikuzenni, nothing is fried first and there is no chicken here; each vegetable is simmered on its own, very gently, until the seasoned dashi has soaked right in and almost vanished from the pan, so the colours stay clean and the flavours distinct. This version is vegan, with a dashi of kombu and dried shiitake, and the sweetness comes from sugar and mirin, a sweet rice wine (for no alcohol, use 1 tbsp water plus 1 tsp sugar for every tbsp of mirin). Serve it at room temperature in the osechi box, beside rice and pickles, or with zōni. Chef's tip: cook the pale vegetables before the dark ones, so the shiitake never stains the taro.

75 min

Japanese Vegetarian

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Azuki-gayu (red bean rice porridge)

On Koshōgatsu, the 'little New Year' of 15 January, households across Japan eat a bowl of azuki-gayu in the morning; the red of the adzuki beans has long been thought to drive away evil and illness for the year ahead. It is a plain, comforting dish: rice cooked slowly until the grains burst, stained soft pink by the bean cooking water, with the beans themselves floury and tender. It is lightly salted rather than sweet, as it is traditionally eaten. Serve with umeboshi, a sprinkle of sesame salt or a few toasted mochi pieces dropped in at the end. Chef's tip: throw away the first boiling water of the beans to lose their bitterness, but keep the second; that is where the pink colour comes from.

75 min

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Abekawa mochi (kinako mochi)Mochi with roasted soybean flour

Abekawa mochi comes from the banks of the Abe River in Shizuoka, where teahouses served it to travellers on the old Tōkaidō road, and today families all over Japan make it with leftover New Year mochi and at kagami-biraki on 11 January, when the offering cakes are broken open and shared for good health. Kinako, roasted soybean flour, gives a nutty, toasty sweetness, and its golden colour is said to look like gold dust, a wish for wealth in the year ahead. The mochi underneath is pillowy and stretchy. Serve with hot green tea, with a little black sugar syrup (kuromitsu) poured over if you like. Chef's tip: dunk the cooked mochi in hot water just before rolling, so the kinako sticks in an even, velvety coat.

15 min

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Kinukatsugi (steamed baby taro)

In Kyoto and the Kansai region the harvest moon is also called imo meigetsu, the "potato moon", and steamed baby taro are set out beside the moon-viewing dumplings as thanks for the new crop. The name kinukatsugi recalls the silk veils that court ladies once wore over their heads, because the brown skin is peeled halfway so the white taro peeps out beneath it. Squeeze the base and the soft, slippery, nutty flesh pops out, ready to dip in sesame salt. Serve as a snack with green tea or as a side to grilled fish. Taro must always be cooked through, and its raw skin can make hands itch, so wear gloves while you trim it. Chef's tip: cut a shallow ring round the middle of each taro before steaming, so the top half of the skin lifts off neatly.

30 min

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Hanami dango (three-colour dumplings)

When the cherry trees bloom in late March and April, families and colleagues spread blankets under the branches for hanami, and these skewers of pink, white and green dumplings are the sweet that goes with them. The colours tell the story of the season: pink buds on top, white for the fading snow, and green for the summer leaves still to come. They are lightly sweet and pleasantly chewy, with a faint grassiness from the matcha, and need no sauce; just bring a flask of green tea. Mochi is very sticky: cut the dumplings into small pieces for young children and older people, and make sure they chew well and eat sitting down. Chef's tip: add the water a spoonful at a time and stop when the dough feels like a soft earlobe, since rice flours vary a lot in how much they drink.

40 min

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Hishi mochi (diamond rice cakes)

Hishi mochi sit on the tiered doll display for Hinamatsuri, Girls' Day on 3 March, and their colours are a little poem about early spring: green for new grass pushing through, white for the last snow, pink for peach blossom (some families also read them as health, purity and protection from evil). The diamond shape is said to echo the water chestnut and a wish for growth and many children. This home version is made from glutinous rice flour set in a square tin, so the cake is soft, bouncy and only gently sweet, with a grassy hint from matcha. Serve small pieces with green tea, or beside chirashizushi and clam soup at the festival table. Mochi is very sticky: cut it small for young children and older people, and see that they chew well and eat sitting down. Chef's tip: press each layer on while the one below is still warm and tacky, so the three bond into one cake.

120 min

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Sakurayu (salted cherry blossom tea)

Sakurayu is not really tea at all but salt-pickled cherry blossoms steeped in hot water, and it is served all over Japan at engagements, weddings and other happy occasions, as well as in the hanami season. Green tea is avoided at such moments because "muddying the tea" is a phrase for being evasive, while a blossom opening in a clear cup is a picture of a bright beginning. The drink is pale pink, gently salty and faintly scented of cherry and almond. The blossoms are bought ready-salted (sakura no shiozuke) from Japanese grocers. Serve it with small sweets such as sakura mochi or hanami dango. Chef's tip: use water just off the boil and pour it slowly down the side of the cup, so the petals open without tearing.

5 min

Japanese Drinks

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Kuwai no nimono (simmered arrowhead)

Kuwai, the arrowhead tuber with its proud little sprout, appears in osechi boxes in Kansai and across Japan because it says 'me ga deru': a bud comes out, a wish for success and for children to grow and thrive. It tastes like a cross between chestnut and potato, with a faint pleasant bitterness, and simmering it slowly in sweet dashi gives it a smooth, dense texture. This version is vegan, using kombu dashi, and the seasoning includes mirin, a sweet rice wine (for no alcohol, swap the mirin for 2 tbsp water plus 2 tsp sugar). Serve it at room temperature among the other osechi dishes, or with grilled fish and rice. Chef's tip: leave the tubers to cool completely in their liquid; that is when they soak up the flavour.

45 min

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Chitose ame (thousand-year candy)

Chitose ame, "thousand-year candy", are the long red and white sugar sticks that children carry home from the shrine at Shichi-Go-San in November, in Tokyo and now right across Japan. The length of the stick is a wish for a long life, and red and white are the colours of celebration. Pulling the cooling sugar fills it with air, turning it from clear to a silky, opaque white with a soft, almost milky crunch. Boiling sugar reaches more than 150 °C, so wear heatproof gloves, work on a heatproof silicone mat, and keep children well away until the candy has cooled; they can admire the finished sticks. Hard sweets are a choking risk for small children, so break off small pieces for them and stay with them while they eat. Chef's tip: oil your gloves lightly and keep pulling until the candy turns satiny and starts to resist; that is when it sets into sticks.

60 min

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Konpeito (Japanese sugar stars)

Konpeito came to Japan with Portuguese traders in the sixteenth century and became a treasured gift; Kyoto confectioners still make them the old way, rolling them in a tilted, heated pan for two weeks or more. Today the tiny pastel stars are given as wedding and birth favours, slipped into tins of emergency hardtack biscuits, and nibbled with green tea. They crunch like a sugar cube and taste purely of sugar, sometimes with a hint of fruit. This home version uses a wok over the lowest heat and a few patient hours, which gives smaller, knobbly stars rather than the perfect shop ones. They are naturally egg-free: they are made of nothing but sugar, and the setting comes from thin layers of syrup crystallising one after another. Chef's tip: add the syrup a teaspoon at a time and keep the crystals rolling until dry. The common mistake is pouring in too much, which glues everything into one clump.

240 min

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Sekihan (red bean rice)

Sekihan, "red rice", is Japan's celebration dish, cooked nationwide for birthdays, weddings and especially Shichi-Go-San in November, when girls aged three and seven and boys aged five visit the shrine in their best clothes. Red has long been thought to drive away bad luck, so rice tinted with adzuki beans is a wish for the children's health and growth. Steamed glutinous rice gives a chewy, slightly springy texture and a nutty bean flavour, finished with black sesame salt. Some cooks sprinkle the rice with a spoonful of sake while it steams; this is optional, and the bean liquid alone gives an alcohol-free version. Serve it warm or at room temperature with tai no shioyaki and clear soup. Chef's tip: ladle the bean cooking liquid high in the air and pour it back several times; the contact with air deepens its red, and the rice turns a stronger pink.

120 min

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Tsukimi udon (moon-viewing udon)

Tsukimi means moon-viewing, and in noodle shops all over Japan the name is given to any bowl topped with an egg: the yolk is the full harvest moon, the white the clouds drifting round it, and it is a favourite around the September moon festival. Here the broth is a vegetarian kombu and shiitake dashi seasoned with soy, sweetened with a little sugar instead of mirin so it has no alcohol, giving a clean, savoury base for silky thick noodles and a rich yolk you break into the soup. Add spring onions and a pinch of shichimi, and eat at once. Egg safety: use pasteurised eggs or British Lion eggs if the yolk will stay runny, and for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system, poach the egg in the broth until it is firm. Chef's tip: heat the kombu slowly and lift it out before the water boils, which keeps the broth sweet and clear.

25 min

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Nerikiri (hand-shaped bean paste flowers)

Nerikiri are the jewel-like sweets of the tea ceremony in Kyoto and Tokyo, shaped by hand into the flower, leaf or fruit of the season: cherry blossom in April, hydrangea in June, chrysanthemum in autumn. Each is served alone on a small plate before thick matcha, cut with a pick. The dough is white bean paste kneaded with gyuhi, a soft paste of glutinous rice flour and sugar, and it feels like fine modelling clay, smooth and gently sweet, wrapped around a centre of red bean paste. They are naturally egg-free: the gyuhi gives the bean paste stretch and holds the carved shapes, so no other binder is needed. This simple five-petal flower is a good first shape. Chef's tip: dry the white bean paste well before adding the gyuhi; the common mistake is a soft, wet dough that slumps and loses its petals within minutes.

90 min

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Fukumame (roasted lucky soybeans)

On Setsubun, the eve of spring in early February, households all over Japan fling roasted soybeans out of the door shouting "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (demons out, luck in), then each person eats one bean for every year of their age, plus one for the year ahead. The beans are called fukumame, "fortune beans", and roasting them matters: a raw bean could sprout, and a demon's bean must not take root. Home-roasted ones are nutty, toasty and properly crunchy, far better than the packet kind, and they are good with green tea or scattered over a salad. Whole roasted beans are a choking hazard, so do not give them to children under five; grind theirs to a powder and sprinkle it on rice or yoghurt instead. Chef's tip: let a test bean cool for a minute before you judge it, because hot beans always feel softer than they will be.

30 min

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Kuri gohan (chestnut rice)

Kuri gohan is one of the great dishes of the Japanese autumn, made all over the country when fresh chestnuts arrive in September, and it is often eaten around the harvest moon, when chestnuts are offered beside dumplings and taro (the later moon-viewing in October is even nicknamed the "chestnut moon"). Sweet, fluffy chunks of chestnut sit in salty, slightly sticky rice scented with kombu, and the dish is all about the season's bounty. It traditionally uses a spoonful of sake; this is optional, and plain water works perfectly well for an alcohol-free version. Serve with miso soup, pickles and grilled fish, sprinkled with black sesame salt. Chef's tip: soak the chestnuts in hot water for 30 minutes before peeling; the shells soften and the furry inner skin lifts away far more easily.

75 min

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Rakugan (pressed dry sweets for tea)

Rakugan are higashi, the dry sweets served before thin matcha at a tea ceremony, and the castle towns of Kanazawa and Matsue, both with a long tea tradition, are famous for them. Fine sugar and roasted rice flour are pressed into carved wooden moulds to make cherry blossoms in spring, maple leaves in autumn and plum flowers in winter; they also appear on Obon altars as offerings. They feel firm in the hand but dissolve on the tongue into a delicate, clean sweetness, which balances the bitterness of the tea. Serve two or three per person with matcha or sencha. They are naturally egg-free: a few drops of water make the fine sugar just damp enough to stick, the roasted rice flour holds the shape, and drying sets it hard. Chef's tip: add water a few drops at a time and stop when the sugar feels like damp sand; the common mistake is too much water, which glues the mixture into the mould.

200 min

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Isobeyaki (grilled mochi with soy and nori)

In the first days of the year, Japanese kitchens are full of mochi, the rice cakes pounded or bought for Shōgatsu, and isobeyaki is the easiest, most loved way to eat them. The name means 'grilled on the rocky shore', after the sea flavour of nori, and mochi itself stands for strength and long life because it stretches without breaking. Each cake puffs and blisters in the pan, then gets a lacquer of sweet soy and a crisp sheet of seaweed; the outside crackles while the inside turns stretchy and molten. Serve as a snack with green tea, or alongside a bowl of miso soup. Chef's tip: brush the soy on only once the mochi has puffed, or it will burn before the middle is soft.

15 min

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Nanohana karashi-ae (rapeseed blossoms with mustard)

Nanohana, the budding shoots of the rapeseed plant, arrive in Japanese shops at the end of winter, and their little yellow-green flower heads are a sign that spring has come. That makes them a natural side dish for Hinamatsuri on 3 March, next to chirashizushi and clam soup. The greens are blanched just until tender, then dressed with Japanese karashi mustard loosened with soy sauce and kombu dashi: pleasantly bitter, nose-tinglingly hot and very fresh. Outside Japan, tenderstem broccoli or cime di rapa works almost as well. Chef's tip: dress the greens at the last minute, because the soy starts to dull the green colour within half an hour.

15 min

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Tsukimi dango (moon-viewing dumplings)

On the night of the harvest moon in September or early October, families across Japan set a tray of plain white dumplings by the window with a vase of pampas grass, as thanks for the harvest and an offering to the full moon. The round white dango stand for the moon itself, and the traditional count is fifteen, for the fifteenth night of the eighth lunar month, stacked nine, four and two. This Kanto-style dough is steamed and then kneaded, which gives a smoother, firmer bite than boiled dango, with a clean rice flavour that loves a dusting of kinako or a spoonful of sweet red bean paste once the moon-viewing is over. Mochi is very sticky: cut the dumplings small for young children and older people, and see that they chew well and eat sitting down. Chef's tip: knead the steamed dough while it is still hot, wrapped in a damp cloth, until it turns satiny.

40 min

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Uiro (ういろう, steamed rice-flour cake)

Uiro is the classic sweet of Nagoya, sold in long blocks at the station as a souvenir, and Yamaguchi has its own lighter version made with bracken starch. It is eaten through the year with tea, and in June a triangular version topped with azuki, minazuki, is eaten in Kyoto to mark the halfway point of the year. A simple batter of non-glutinous rice flour, sugar and water is steamed into a firm, smooth, slightly springy cake with a gentle sweetness. This one is flavoured with matcha; stir in a little sweet bean paste or sakura instead for variety. Uiro is naturally egg-free: steaming cooks the rice starch, which sets the cake into a dense, clean-cutting slab with no binder needed. Chef's tip: the common mistake is cutting it hot; let it cool completely, then slice with a wet knife or a piece of cling film, or it smears.

75 min

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Monaka (最中, rice wafers with azuki bean paste)Rice wafers with sweet bean paste

Monaka is sold in wagashi shops all over Japan, from Tokyo's old districts to temple towns, often pressed into the shape of a flower, a fish or a local landmark. It is a year-round tea sweet and a favourite souvenir. Two crisp, paper-light wafers made of glutinous rice flour and water are filled with tsubuan, a chunky azuki paste cooked with sugar. The wafer is dry and toasty, the filling dense, sweet and earthy, and the pleasure is in eating it before the shell softens. Serve with matcha or sencha. Making the shells needs a special iron mould, so we use bought monaka shells; they are normally just rice flour and water, but check the pack to be sure they are eggless. The bean paste is naturally egg-free, set by the azuki's own starch and the sugar. Chef's tip: the common mistake is filling them in advance; sandwich them just before serving, or the wafers go limp.

120 min

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Mizu shingen mochi (Yamanashi raindrop cake)

Mizu shingen mochi comes from Hokuto in Yamanashi, at the foot of the Southern Alps, where a sweet shop first set the local spring water into a trembling, glass-clear dome. It is a summer sweet, eaten in the heat of July and August, and it has to be eaten within half an hour of being made, before it starts to weep. There is almost no flavour of its own: the point is the cool, melting texture, with nutty kinako and dark kuromitsu syrup poured over at the table. Despite the name it is not a rice mochi at all, and it is naturally egg-free. Agar, a seaweed setting agent, holds the water in shape; using just enough to set it makes it melt on the tongue. Serve with green tea. Chef's tip: boil the agar hard for a full 2 minutes; just warming it is the common mistake, and the domes stay liquid in the mould.

80 min

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Kibi dango (吉備団子, Okayama soft millet rice cakes)

Kibi dango is Okayama's souvenir sweet, sold in boxes at the station and tied to the folk tale of Momotarō, the peach boy, who shared them with a dog, a monkey and a pheasant on his way to fight the ogres. It is a year-round snack with green tea. Today's version is a gyuhi, a soft, cooked dough of glutinous rice flour, sugar and starch syrup, with a little millet flour for a pale-gold colour and a gentle, grainy sweetness. The small flat rounds are pillowy, smooth and stretchy, dusted with potato starch. The cakes are naturally egg-free: cooking the glutinous rice flour with sugar and syrup turns it into an elastic dough that binds itself, and the sugar keeps it soft for days. Chef's tip: add the sugar in three goes and stir until each lot is absorbed; the common mistake is tipping it in at once, which makes the dough seize and go lumpy. Cut them small for children and supervise, as with any mochi.

40 min

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葛切り (Kuzukiri, Kyoto kudzu noodles)

Kuzukiri is a summer sweet of Kyoto, served most famously in the old tea houses of Gion: a lacquered box of clear, flat noodles floating in iced water, with a cup of dark kuromitsu black-sugar syrup to dip them in. It is eaten in the hottest months as a refreshing afternoon dessert with green tea. The noodles are cool, springy and smooth, with a clean, faintly sweet taste, and the syrup is deep, smoky and molasses-rich. It is naturally egg-free and plant-based: pure kudzu starch mixed with water sets into a firm, glass-clear sheet when it is cooked in a thin layer over boiling water, the starch alone doing the binding. Serve it within half an hour of making it. Chef's tip: buy pure kudzu starch rather than a blend; the common mistake is making kuzukiri ahead, because within an hour or two it turns cloudy and stiff.

45 min

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HōtōThick noodles in miso soup

Hōtō is the winter pot of Yamanashi, at the foot of Mount Fuji, served bubbling in iron pans in Kofu restaurants after a cold day on the slopes. Thick, wide, unsalted wheat noodles go into the miso broth raw, with kabocha squash that half melts and thickens everything. This vegetarian version uses kombu-shiitake dashi and adds firm tofu and fried tofu pouches, so a bowl gives about 22 g of protein, from the tofu, wheat noodles and miso. The common mistake is boiling the noodles separately or salting the dough; hōtō noodles are cooked in the pot so their starch makes the broth silky. Rest the dough for 30 minutes before rolling. Chef's tip: dissolve the miso in a ladle of broth and add it in two goes, half early for depth and half at the end for aroma, and never let it boil hard afterwards.

80 min

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Sansai sobaBuckwheat noodles with mountain vegetables

In the mountains of Yamagata, Akita and Nagano, spring brings sansai, the wild shoots foraged from the hillsides: bracken, royal fern, nameko and more. Station-side soba shops serve them on hot buckwheat noodles all year, using salted or boiled sansai packed for winter. This version uses a kombu and shiitake broth instead of the usual bonito dashi, and sugar in place of mirin, so it is vegan and alcohol-free. A bowl gives about 14 g of protein from the buckwheat noodles, mushrooms and soy, so it is not high-protein. Most soba contains wheat; 100% buckwheat noodles are needed for a gluten-free bowl, along with tamari. The common mistake is putting boiled noodles straight into the broth: their starch clouds and thickens it. Chef's tip: rinse the cooked soba under cold water, rubbing it gently, then dunk it in hot water to rewarm before it goes in the bowl.

50 min

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Noppe-jiruTaro and vegetable soup

Noppe-jiru is the everyday and festive soup of Niigata, cooked in big pots for New Year, the Obon holidays and winter family gatherings, and served hot or even cold the next day. Taro, carrot, konnyaku, shiitake and fried tofu are simmered in a soy-seasoned dashi, and the taro's own starch, helped by a little potato starch, gives it a soft, gentle thickness. Many homes use bonito or chicken; this is the vegetarian version with kombu-shiitake dashi. It is warming and earthy, with about 5 g of protein per portion from the fried tofu and shiitake. The usual mistake is skipping the salt rub on the taro, which leaves the broth sticky and gluey rather than silky. Chef's tip: cut all the vegetables to the same small size so every spoonful has a bit of everything.

45 min

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Nameko jiruNameko mushroom miso soup

Nameko jiru is one of the most common miso soups in Japan, made in homes from Tohoku to Kyushu for breakfast or dinner, especially in autumn and winter when the small amber nameko mushrooms are cheap. The mushrooms have a natural silky coating that gives the soup a gently thickened, slippery feel, which the Japanese love. Homes usually use bonito dashi; this is the vegetarian version, with kombu and dried shiitake. A bowl has about 7 g of protein, from the tofu and miso. The most common mistake is boiling the soup after the miso goes in: it kills the aroma and turns the miso grainy. Chef's tip: give nameko only a quick rinse in a sieve, and never scrub away the gel; that coating is what makes the soup.

15 min

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Gobo saladBurdock and carrot salad

Gobo salad is a fixture of Japanese supermarket delis, bento boxes and izakaya small plates from Tokyo to Osaka, eaten all year but especially in autumn and winter when burdock is at its best. Thin matchsticks of earthy burdock and sweet carrot are blanched until just tender, then tossed in a creamy dressing of mayonnaise, ground toasted sesame, soy and rice vinegar, giving a crunchy, nutty, slightly sweet side for rice or grilled tofu. It is vegetarian but not vegan, because of the egg in the mayonnaise; shop-bought mayonnaise is made with pasteurised egg, so it is safe for everyone. A portion gives about 3 g of protein, from the sesame and egg, so treat it as a side. The most common mistake is skipping the soak: cut burdock darkens and turns bitter within minutes unless it goes straight into water with a dash of vinegar. Chef's tip: dress the vegetables while still slightly warm; they drink up the soy and vinegar first, so the mayonnaise coats rather than slides off.

20 min

Japanese Salads

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Mugi gohan with tororoBarley rice with grated yam

Mugi gohan, white rice cooked with flattened barley, was everyday food in rural Japan and is back on family tables for its nutty chew and fibre. In Shizuoka and along the old Tokaido road it is famously eaten as mugitoro: barley rice under a pour of grated nagaimo yam loosened with seasoned dashi, slurped quickly at lunch. A portion is about 300 kcal and gives roughly 8 g of protein, so it is light rather than high in protein. The usual mistake is using the plain rice water ratio: barley drinks more, so add extra water or the grains stay hard. Raw nagaimo can make sensitive skin itch, so peel it with gloves on. The dashi here is made from kombu and shiitake, with no bonito. Chef's tip: grate the yam on the finest side of the grater and beat it with a spoon for a minute; it turns light and fluffy and coats the rice evenly.

70 min

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Wakatake-niBamboo shoot and wakame simmer

Wakatake-ni means 'young bamboo simmer', and in Kyoto it marks the few weeks of April when fresh shoots arrive from the hills around Rakusai; it is served in small bowls at home and in kaiseki menus as a quiet taste of spring. Tender bamboo shoot is simmered in a pale, lightly seasoned broth, and soft wakame goes in at the very end, so the bowl is all clean, sweet and sea flavours. Classic recipes use bonito dashi; this one uses kombu and dried shiitake, and sugar instead of mirin, so it is vegan and alcohol-free. It is a light side dish of about 4 g of protein per portion. The common mistake is boiling the wakame with the bamboo: it turns slimy and drab, so it needs only a minute. Chef's tip: cool the bamboo in the broth for 10 minutes before reheating; it drinks up the seasoning far better than it does while boiling.

35 min

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Mozuku-zuSeaweed in sweet vinegar

In Okinawa, where most of Japan's mozuku is farmed, a small bowl of mozuku-zu starts many a home supper and izakaya meal, especially in the hot months. The fine, slippery strands of seaweed are rinsed of their salt and served cold in a gentle dressing of rice vinegar, a little sugar and soy, topped with grated ginger, so it tastes clean, sour and of the sea. Shop versions often use bonito dashi; this one uses kombu dashi, so it is vegan. It is very light, with less than 1 g of protein a portion, so it belongs alongside a tofu dish and rice rather than as a main. The most common mistake is not rinsing salted mozuku enough: it needs two or three changes of water or the dish turns harsh. Chef's tip: chill the dressing and the bowls well; mozuku-zu should be served icy cold.

10 min

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Dango-jiruDumplings in miso soup

In Oita prefecture on Kyushu, dango-jiru is a grandmother's winter supper: a soft wheat dough is rested, then pulled by hand into long, flat ribbons and dropped straight into a miso soup of taro, burdock, carrot, daikon and mushrooms. Oita cooks usually use mild barley miso and often add pork or chicken; this vegetarian version uses kombu-shiitake dashi and fried tofu instead. A bowl gives about 13 g of protein, from the dumplings, miso and tofu, so it is not high-protein. The common mistake is stretching the dough before it has rested: it springs back and tears. Give it at least 30 minutes. Chef's tip: keep the rested dough pieces in a bowl of water and stretch them with wet hands; they pull out long and thin without breaking.

75 min

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Mame gohanRice with green peas

When the first pea pods arrive in Japanese greengrocers in April and May, home cooks from Kyoto to Tokyo make mame gohan: short-grain rice steamed with a strip of kombu and lightly salted, then folded through with sweet, bright green peas. It is eaten warm with miso soup and pickles, or pressed into onigiri for a spring picnic. A bowl gives about 9 g of protein, from the rice and peas, so serve it with tofu or an egg dish if you want a fuller meal; it is not a high-protein dish on its own. Many recipes add a splash of sake; this version leaves it out, so it is alcohol-free. The common mistake is cooking the peas with the rice from the start: they turn khaki and wrinkled. Here they are boiled separately and added at the end. Chef's tip: let the peas cool in their salted cooking water rather than draining them hot; they stay plump instead of puckering.

70 min

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Iri-dofuScrambled tofu with vegetables

Iri-dofu is a thrifty home dish cooked all over Japan, from Tokyo flats to farmhouses in Shikoku, made to fill out a weekday dinner tray or a bento. Firm tofu is crumbled and stirred in a dry pan until it turns fluffy, then cooked with carrot, shiitake and green beans in soy and dashi, with an egg stirred through at the end. It tastes gently sweet and savoury, and is eaten warm or cold with rice and miso soup. This version uses a kombu and shiitake dashi, so it is vegetarian. A portion gives about 22 g of protein, from the tofu and egg. The common mistake is not drying the tofu enough, which leaves a watery scramble. Chef's tip: keep stirring until the tofu crumbs squeak against the pan; that is when they are dry enough to soak up the seasoning.

25 min

Japanese Vegetarian

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Atsuage no nimonoSimmered fried tofu and greens

Atsuage no nimono is the kind of simmered dish that turns up on everyday dinner tables across Japan, especially in autumn and winter when komatsuna and spinach are at their best. Thick blocks of fried tofu, crisp outside and soft within, are simmered in a light, slightly sweet broth of dashi and soy until they drink it up, then the greens go in for the last few minutes. This version uses kombu and shiitake dashi and no mirin, so it is vegan and alcohol-free. Served as a main for two with rice, each portion gives about 23 g of protein, from the fried tofu. The common mistake is boiling the broth hard, which toughens the tofu and makes the greens drab. Chef's tip: pour boiling water over the atsuage first to rinse off surface oil; the broth then soaks in instead of sliding off.

25 min

Japanese Vegetarian

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Kombu maki with burdock and carrotKelp rolls with burdock and carrot

Kombu maki is one of the dishes packed into the lacquered boxes of osechi for New Year's Day all over Japan, where the word kombu is a pun on yorokobu, 'to rejoice'. Soft kelp is rolled around a filling, tied with ribbons of dried gourd and simmered slowly until it can be cut with chopsticks. Families often roll it around herring or salmon; here it is filled with burdock and carrot, cooked in kombu broth and sweetened with sugar instead of mirin, so it is vegan and alcohol-free. Each portion of three rolls has about 3 g of protein, so it is a side, not a main. It keeps for 4 days in the fridge and is eaten cold. The common mistake is rushing the simmer: the kelp needs a full hour or it stays chewy. Chef's tip: keep a drop-lid or a circle of baking paper on the surface the whole time, so the rolls cook evenly without being turned.

105 min

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OkayuPlain rice porridge with pickled plum

Okayu is the porridge Japanese mothers make when someone is ill, tired or simply needs something gentle, and it is also eaten on 7 January as part of the new year with seven spring herbs. This weeknight version starts from cooked rice, simmered in water with a little salt until soft, white and spoonable, then served with a sour-salty umeboshi plum to stir in. The mistake is stirring it constantly, which breaks the grains and turns it gluey; stir only now and then. Chef's tip: for the full, silkier version, start with 100 g raw rice and 1 litre of water and simmer, lid ajar, for 40 minutes.

17 min