Add your content here "So...What Is That?": A Quick Guide to Some Japanese Ingredients
Let's face it, sometimes you see something in a grocery store or conbini or enkai and have no idea what you are looking at. While this page only begins to touch on the world of Japanese food, hopefully it'll explain some things.
Oden:one dish containing many of the mysterious ingredients explained below. It's the stuff boiling away at conbini counters from fall to spring.
Things Made From Fish:
Surimi
Surimi is a paste made of pulverized fish (and additives such as oil and salt, sugar, and soy beans). It is used to make many different foods, including mock crab.
Hanpen 半片
Hanpen is one of the many foods made from surimi. Hanpen tends to be thicker and is boiled in production. It is almost never eaten raw, but rather boiled or fried, sometimes stuffed with fillings. It is common is dishes like oden.
Chikuwa 竹輪
Chikuwa is also made of surimi, but it is fried around a stick during production to imitate the shape of bamboo. It is sometimes filled with cucumber or cheese. It is also common in dishes like oden, but is also used in bentos.
Kamaboko 蒲鉾
Another form of surimi, usually served in a dome shape (or pointy circle). It is also boiled during production, and is sometimes dyed pink around the edge. It is often seen in soba, udon, and noppe dishes, though it is a common bento garnish as well.
Things Made from Soy Beans (a.k.a. daizu 大豆)
Tofu 豆腐
Bean curd that comes in soft (kinugoshi 絹ごし) and firm (momen 木綿). It is also sold flavored with sesame seeds (gomadofu), eggs (tamagodofu), and walnuts (kurumidofu).
Aburaage 油揚げ
Deep fried tofu that can be cut open and filled with things. It is most commonly used to make inarizushi, but it is also the main topping of "kitsune" style udon and soba.
Atusage 厚揚げ
Another type of deep fried tofu, but as the name implies, it is thicker. It is more like tofu with a fried outer layer that a thin fried slab.
Ganmodoki がんもどき (often called "ganmo" for short)
Another type of deep fried tofu, with vegetables mixed in. Often made into a round shape, it is quite common in oden.
Koyadofu 高野豆腐
Freeze dried tofu. Although the name implies it has vegetables, it does not. The name is connected to its origins rather than its contents. It must be soaked in water before it can be eaten and has a spongy texture once cooked.
Yuba 湯葉
A byproduct of soy milk production, it is the layer of skin that develops on the top of soy milk. It can be found fresh or dried, and I hear it can be expensive.
Okara おから
The low fat, high fiber pulp that results from the tofu making process. Cheap and nutritious, it can be used to make veggie burgers. It is often cooked with vegetables to make a food called unohana (pictured below).
Things That are "Neba-Neba"
"Neba-neba" is the Japanese term used to describe things that have a sticky and slimy goo around them.
Natto 納豆
The most notorious of the neba-neba foods, natto are fermented beans known for being stinky. Although many foreigners nowdays like natto, Japanese people are under the impression that foeigners cannot eat it. This is partially because a good amount of Japanese people also do not care for natto.
Nameko なめこ
A type of mushroom with a natural gooey coating. It is often eaten in miso soup or on soba.
Tororo とろろ
Made from grated yamaimo or nagaimo, it is a sticky potato goo. Like nameko, it is frequently found as a soba topping, but it is an ingredient in many okonomiyaki recipes as well.
Mozuku もずく
A type of seaweed from Okinawa, it is slimy and a little sour. It is often served as a side dish, rather than in cooking. It might just pop up at an enkai...
Potatoes, Other Root Vegetables, and Mountain Vegetables
Jagaimo ジャガイモ
A basic potato, the type that's found all over the world.
Satsumaimo サツマイモ（薩摩芋）
A sweet potato, very similar to Western sweet potatoes and yams.
Satoimo 里芋
Also known as taro root, it is round and brown in appearance, looking like the plant bulb that it is. Often cooked in boiled foods and stews, it has a softer texture than a regular potato and is slightly neba-neba.
Yamaimo 山芋・ Nagaimo 長芋
A longer potato that seems mainly used to make tororo. It is hard and cylindrical, with a light brown outside. Yamaimo are found growing wild on mountains, nagaimo is the name for the cultivated variety.
Gobo 牛蒡
Referred to as "burdock root" in English, it is a long, thin stalk. It is put into a variety of dishes, the most popular of which is kinpira gobo. To cook it, it must be soaked in water to keep it from discoloring.
Renkon 蓮根
Round and hard in shape with many holes in the center, it is the root of the lotus plant. It is used in a variety of dishes and makes delicious tempura.
Takenoko 竹の子
Bamboo shoots, which are often sold cut into pieces that look like half of a cone with many slots in the side. They are often sold in a briney water, which makes cooking much faster (renkon and gobo are also sold this way).
Sansai 山菜
As the kanji imply, they are mountain vegetables, often sold together in pack preserved in water. They are most frequently used on top of udon or soba, or else cooked into rice. The general mix is the following (none of which have English names beyond their scientific classifications): fukinoto, gyojyaninniku, kogomi, koshiabura, mitsuba, seri, taranome, udo, warabi, zenmai. Nameko are also included sometimes.
Seaweeds
Hijiki ひじき
Considered very healthy, it is short and black, with a slightly whispy shape. It is a little rubbery to chew on. Hijiki salad, with beans and carrots is very popular. It contains trace amounts of arsenic, however, so do not over consume it.
Kombu 昆布
The key ingredient in dashi (Japanese soup stock) besides katsuo bushi (bonito shaved fish flakes), it can be bought in long strips or in a powdered form. It can be eaten fresh, as well.
Wakame 若布
Often found it miso soup, it is dark green and soft, with a slightly rubbery/ slimy texture. It is also used to make seaweed salads.
Nori 海苔
The dried seaweed that is used for sushi, onigiri, senbei, garnish...
Other (a.k.a. The REALLY Weird Ones)
Fu 麩
Wheat gluten which can be purchased fresh but is often sold dried. It is that stuff that comes in small circles, round disks, or half balls that look like croutons. When soaked in water it becomes soft and spongy. Very good in miso soup.
Konnyaku こんにゃく
A rubbery, strange substance that is used in a many dishes, often cut into thin strips. It is made of devil's tongue, which is a large plant bulb. The finished product is usually either grey with brown spots or a clear, milky white color. It can be purchased in many forms, including blocks, balls, sashimi strips, and noodles call shirataki. Konnyaku dama, or balls, are often found boiled in broth until they turn brown at winter festivals. Konnyaku and shirataki are both used in oden. It can also be made into fruit flavored jellies (jellos). It is very low in calories, so it is also used to make "diet" products.
