Homegrown Handmade
Traditional Japanese spice mixes are easy to make, and add sparkle to dishes from any culture.
How to add some Japanese spice to your life
I’ve developed an enormous appreciation for Japanese cuisine since I started hosting Japanese students in a homestay initiative. My last student was a budding chef, here to study New Zealand food. I passed on my knowledge of Kiwi dishes, and she taught me a great deal about Japanese cooking.
This included several spicy condiments she often added instead of just plain salt and pepper. For example, she would season plain rice with salty, nutty, peppery furikake.
If you read the back of a shop-bought packet of furikake (pronounced foo-reecar-keh), you’ll find ingredients such as garlic, red pepper, sesame seed, salt, onion, fish sauce, chicken, chicken fat, soy sauce, egg, and whey powder.
My student chef shared her homemade mixes with me. I've slightly adjusted her recipes, using ingredients more commonly found in NZ.
Furikake
This can be moist or dry and comes in many flavours, including:
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wasabi (or horseradish) furikake;
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nori furikake (with shredded nori seaweed);
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shiso furikake (with the dried red leaves of shiso, Perilla frutescens);
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salmon furikake (fried salmon flakes). It may also contain sesame seeds, bonito fish flakes, blue or green seaweed, nuts, cheese, and dried, crumbed omelette, depending on which version you make.
How to use it
Furikake is typically sprinkled over rice. It can be used in sushi or rice balls, omelettes or scrambled eggs, with pasta, or as a flavouring for popcorn.
I make up a big batch and keep it in an airtight container for a quick flavour boost to a lot of my cooking.