Traditional Japanese Breakfast

A traditional Japanese breakfast is based on rice, seafood, and fermented foods. A typical Japanese restaurant breakfast presentation would be miso soup, rice with toasted nori, (dried seaweed), or other garnishes, natto (a type of fermented soybeans), rice porridge, grilled fish, tamagoyaki (omelette roll) or raw egg, tsukemo (mixed vegetables) pickles and green tea. Pickles form an important part of the breakfast menu and the Japanese prefer the very salty ones.

Traditional Japanese breakfast is served in a unique way. Japanese food is served in bowls, wherein the bowl of rice is placed to the left of the person and the miso soup to his/her right. Westernization has influenced the Japanese cuisine. But, even today, most of the Japanese love to have their breakfast made in a traditional way.


Traditional Miso Soup

Miso soup is one of the common dishes that is served with steamed rice for breakfast. Miso is a soybean paste that is used in many Japanese dishes. The type of miso and the type of ingredients used in the soup will change the way it tastes. Here it's a recipe of miso soup made with tofu but it can also be made with other vegetables like Chinese cabbage, Japanese pumpkin, mushrooms, natto, potatoes and daikon radish.

Ingredients

• 1 block of tofu
• 2 green onions
• 3-4 tablespoons miso paste
• 3 cups of dashi soup stock

Preparation

Chop the tofu cubes and the green onions into small pieces. Take a heavy bottom pan, put in the dashi soup stock and heat it on medium flame. When it starts boiling, lower the flame and add the tofu pieces and let it cook for some time. Take some dashi soup stock in a small bowl and mix it with the miso till it dissolves well in the liquid. Pour this mixture back into the pan and stir it slowly. Put off the flame before it starts boiling and add in the chopped green onions.

Tamagoyaki



Tamagoyaki is a rolled Japanese omelette and is very sweet to taste. Here is the procedure to make this delicious omelette. A rectangular pan is the best to make rolled omelette; however, you can also use a normal non-stick pan.

Ingredients

• 6 large eggs
• 4 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of mirin (similar to sake, but contains less alcohol content)
• 1/2-1 teaspoon of salt or as per taste
• 3 tablespoons of dashi soup stock
• 1 teaspoon of soy sauce
• vegetable oil

Preparation

Take a large mixing bowl and beat the eggs in it. Add sugar, mirin, soy sauce, salt and dashi soup stock and mix till it blends well. Heat the pan with some oil and pour a part of the egg mixture into the pan. When it starts settingm roll it and shift it to one side of the pan, Again pour a part of the egg mixture in the remaining part of the pan and let it spread under the first roll. When this is half-cooked, roll it over the first one. Continue doing this until all the egg mixture is used. After the omelette is fully cooked, take it from the pan and cut it into pieces. If you are using a normal frying pan, place the rolled omelette onto a bamboo sheet and cut the edges that come out.

Bon appétit !