A Dictionary of Japanese Food. Richard Hosking
even more than amaebi. It is also used for sashimi and agemono, the best example of which, deservedly very popular, is ebi furai, in which these succulent large prawns are coated with egg and bread crumbs and deep-fried. For tempura, the popular prawn is saimaki ebi, about 7 to 10 cm long, but also the larger shiba ebi, 10 to 15 cm, is extensively used. Shiba ebi is particularly tasty and is also used in sushi, sunomono, and kakiage. The botan ebi grows to 14 cm and is in season from October to May. It can be eaten raw and is also prepared as tempura and furai. The hokkai ebi, about 13 cm long, is prolific off the northern shores of Hokkaido. It can be prepared as tsukudani, though much of the catch is peeled and canned. The giant among the prawns is the taishō ebi, 27 cm long. A kind of kuruma ebi, its true name is kōrai (Korean) ebi. It is used for tempura and furai and is good sautéed with vegetables. At the other end of the scale, the sakura ebi is a pretty little shrimp of 5 cm, a light red color and highly luminescent. It can be eaten as is, but is usually dried, either in the sun or with applied heat. It is used to provide a colorful touch.
edamame えだまめ 枝豆 pod soybean Glycine max. In summer, pods of young soybeans (daizu) on the stalk are boiled and the beans eaten as a side dish with beer. Also called sayamame.
edomaezushi えどまえずし 江戸前鮨 See Appendix 11.
egoma えごま 荏胡麻 perilla Perilla frutescens var. frutescens. The leaves are used in the same ways as those of shiso, and the seeds, when parched, smell just like goma. An edible oil (eno-abura) is also made from the seeds.
ei えい 鱝、 鱏 skate, ray Order Rajiformes. The wings of these large fish, up to 2 m in length, must be eaten very fresh. Skate is cooked as nimono, especially misoni (nimono with miso flavoring) and ei no nikogori 鱝の煮凝り, in which the simmered skate is cooled and jellied. It is also made into amazuankake, a kind of ankake with sweetened vinegar.
ekiben えきべん 駅弁 boxed lunch sold at a railway station. All the major railway stations (eki) throughout Japan have for sale their own special boxed lunch. See also bentō.
endō えんどう 豌豆 peas Pisum sativum. Green peas, although they have been grown in Japan for a long time, are not greatly used in traditional Japanese cooking. A favorite use is to mix them with mashed potato as a salad.
enokitake えのきたけ 榎茸 winter mushroom Flammulina velutipes. The heads of these tiny white mushrooms on long, thin stalks, growing in clumps, would average about 1 cm. They are very versatile in use, but are mostly eaten in nabemono.
—F—
fu ふ 麩 wheat gluten. This ancient product for which Kyoto is renowned comes in two forms. One is raw gluten (nama fu). A dough is made from strong flour (high-gluten flour) and water, and the starch is washed away by kneading under water. The resulting sticky substance is almost completely protein. Usually glutinous rice flour or some other flour is incorporated and coloring as desired. It is then steamed. Nama fu is made into all sorts of decorative shapes and has an important place in shōjin ryōri, being used in clear soups and nimono. The other fu is yaki fu, for which nama fu is grilled or dried in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. It is used in soups, nimono, and sunomono.
fucha ryōri ふちゃりょうり 普茶料理 vegetarian cuisine of Chinese-style Zen Buddhism. In Japan it is practiced by the Obaku sect of Zen, centered at Manpuku-ji, the great temple at Obaku, near Uji. This vegetarian cuisine is also served at smaller temples and convents in Kyoto and other places. See also Appendix 15.
fugu ふぐ 河豚 puffer, blowfish Family Tetraodontidae. The various kinds of fugu are best known for their poison, and perhaps the main reason for dining at a fugu restaurant is the uncertainty and excitement that this knowledge arouses in anticipation. Certainly the taste of the fish itself is not sufficiently enticing to make one want to take the risk. Tora fugu is considered the best, and can weigh up to 2.5 kg. The restaurant preparation of fugu is very strictly controlled, but domestic preparation, whether of fugu caught on a fishing expedition or bought in a fish market, leads to deaths from time to time. Many, including myself, have survived eating the liver, which is the tastiest and also the most poisonous part, though it has been illegal to serve the liver since 1984. Fugu is served as sashimi and chirinabe, and the fins are toasted and hot saké poured over them. This saké is usually drunk as an aperitif.
fuka ふか 鱶 another word for shark, especially the larger species. The shark’s fin of Chinese cooking is fukanohire ふかの ひれ 鱶の鰭. Most species of shark are called same in Japanese.
fuki ふき 蕗 Japanese butterbur, sweet coltsfoot Petasites japonicus. Looking like giant rhubarb, the 1.2-m-long stems of this vegetable have a slight flavor of celery. They are blanched and peeled before being fried or made into various pickles. Fuki is also candied. There is a giant variety with 180-cm-tall stalks.
fukinotō ふきのとう 蕗の薹 unopened bud of Japanese butterbur. Available only in early spring, the buds are blanched to remove some of the bitterness and are used in miso shiru, tempura, tsukudani, and nabemono.
fukujinzuke ふくじんづけ 福神漬け one of the most popular pickles and an invariable accompaniment of Japanese-style curry and rice. A mixture of seven vegetables thinly sliced is salted and then pickled in soy sauce and mirin. The seven vegetables are chosen from among white radish, eggplant, lotus root, ginger, shiso buds, turnip, shiitake, udo, sword beans, shirouri, and others.
funa ふな 鮒 wild goldfish Carassius auratus. A freshwater fish mainly found in lakes such as Lake Biwa near Kyoto, famous for its funa called nigoro buna (C. auratus grandoculis), which is made into funazushi, an ancient form of sushi. Funa lives for ten to fifteen years, reaches a length of 40cm, and is at its best in winter. It is used for narezushi, sashimi, sunomono, tsukudani, and in soups. See also narezushi.
furai フライ a very popular method of cooking in which prawns, fillets of fish, or slices of meat are dipped in egg, coated with panko, and deep-fried. Ebi (prawn) furai is a particularly successful dish.
furikake ふりかけ 振り掛け topping sprinkled on hot rice. Usually it contains toasted seaweed and sesame seeds as well as ground dried fish and salt.
furofuki ふろふき 風呂吹き winter dish in which well-boiled white radish or turnip is served with a topping of miso flavored with yuzu or sesame. The classic dish is made with daikon.
—G—
ganmodoki がんもどき 雁擬き tofu product. Tofu is mixed with crushed yamanoimo and chopped vegetables such as carrot, shiitake, and burdock, as well as sesame seeds, ginkgo nuts, and kelp. This mixture is formed into balls, the size and shape largely depending on local custom, and deep-fried. The balls are used in o-den and nimono.
gari がり thinly sliced ginger macerated in sweetened vinegar. Gari is served as a condiment in sushi shops, and the word is special sushi-shop vocabulary.
gazami がざみ 蝤蛑 blue crab Neptunus trituberculatus. See also watarigani.
genmai げんまい 玄米 brown rice Oryza sativa. Few Japanese eat brown (i.e., unpolished) rice, with the result that it is not easy to get hold of. Best cooked in a pressure cooker, even though the latest rice cookers claim to do the job.
genmai su げんまいす 玄米酢 brown-rice vinegar. An excellent, high-class vinegar, often made by the traditional methods. Best of all is glutinous brown-rice vinegar (genmai mochigome su). Not readily available, it has such an elegant sweetness and smoothness that it can be drunk neat.
geso げそ 下足 squid tentacle, cuttlefish tentacle. Often sold from stalls at festivals as teriyaki, these tentacles are also dried for