FIVE ESSENTIAL JAPANESE INGREDIENTS

Japanese rice

‘Short-grain, polished rice that has a soft, sticky, almost melt-inyour-mouth quality. It tends to come from America, as the Japanese versions are very good quality, but really expensive.’

Soy beans

‘They’re in so many products: soy sauce, tofu, miso, and kinako, a roasted soy bean powder that’s added to mochi, ice cream or milkshakes.

It’s used a bit like Horlicks is in the UK.’

Mirin

‘We were taught that the basis of all Japanese cooking is soy sauce, salt, sugar, mirin rice wine and maybe dashi. Mirin is used in small amounts to marinate meat or give desserts a savoury, slightly alcoholic flavour.’

‘Most restaurants serve one specific type – udon, soba, sōmen or ramen – and probably make them in-house.’

Dashi

‘Unless you’re having soba noodles with dashi dipping sauce, it should be a base or background flavour for body. You can buy the stock (dried bonito tuna or fish grated into kelp stock and left to infuse) as granules or readymade. Dashi flakes are used to season finished dishes.’