Discover 4 Japanese recipes, from quick favourites to slower weekend cooking.
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◷ 42 mineasy
Springy wheat noodles, thinly sliced pork and cabbage with a little bite, tossed in a tangy-savoury yakisoba sauce. Cooking two separate portions keeps a domestic frying pan hot enough to fry rather than steam.
Oct 17
◷ 24 mineasy
Pan-seared salmon finished in a thin, glossy Japanese soy, mirin and sake glaze. Gentle simmering keeps the fish moist, while a separate final reduction prevents overcooking.
Oct 14
◷ 30 mineasy
Moist, gently flaking salmon with a thin, glossy miso glaze, served with tender sesame spinach. Adding the glaze towards the end of roasting gives light caramelisation without scorching the miso.
Oct 6
◷ 23 minmedium
A gently sweet-savoury Japanese rolled omelette with tender, fully cooked folds. Four thin layers are cooked and rolled in a regular nonstick frying pan, then cut into thick slices.
Oct 3Compare the ingredients, cooking time and equipment below to find a dish that fits your plans. Each recipe includes quantities and a step-by-step method.
Preparation takes 17 minutes. Cooking takes 26 minutes. Allow 42 minutes in total. Makes 2 servings. Key ingredients: plain ready-steamed yakisoba wheat noodles, weighed as sold, raw boneless pork loin, trimmed weight, white cabbage, trimmed weight, onion, peeled weight, carrot, peeled weight. Equipment: 28–30 cm heavy frying pan, Microwave and microwave-safe dish or packaging specified by the noodle manufacturer, Tongs or two spatulas, Fine needle-tip food thermometer with a sensing section suitable for 2–3 mm-thick meat, Vegetable chopping board and separate raw-meat board, Knife, Two small sauce bowls, Clean plate for cooked pork, Two serving plates, Kitchen paper.
Kitchen tip: Keep each batch to half the noodles, 100 g raw pork and 170 g prepared vegetables. Doubling this load in one domestic frying pan encourages steaming.
Preparation takes 10 minutes. Cooking takes 17 minutes. Allow 24 minutes in total. Makes 2 servings. Key ingredients: boneless, skin-on salmon fillets, raw weight, approximately 2.5 cm thick, ordinary Japanese soy sauce, hon-mirin, unsalted drinking sake, caster sugar. Equipment: 24 cm non-stick frying pan with room for both fillets without touching, Broad fish slice, Small measuring jug and measuring spoons, Kitchen paper, Spoon, Clean plate for cooked fish and two serving plates, Digital probe thermometer, Microwave, if required by the rice pouch.
Kitchen tip: Use fillets about 2.5 cm thick for the suggested cooking stages. Pieces thicker than 3 cm need longer gentle cooking; do not raise the heat to hurry them.
Preparation takes 14 minutes. Cooking takes 27 minutes. Allow 30 minutes in total. Makes 2 servings. Key ingredients: boneless, skin-on salmon fillets, raw weight, each approximately 2.5–3 cm thick, mild white miso, mirin, Japanese soy sauce, or 5 ml water if the glaze base is already quite salty, water for the glaze. Equipment: Oven, Shallow metal baking tray, approximately 30 × 20 cm, Foil, optional for lining the tray or shielding the glaze, 28 cm frying pan with a lid, Small mixing bowl and small bowl for toasted seeds, Measuring spoons, Spoon or pastry brush, Colander, Fish slice, Clean serving utensils.
Kitchen tip: Start with chilled, fully thawed salmon. If using frozen fish, thaw in the fridge beforehand and follow the pack's use-by instructions; this schedule starts with thawed fillets.
Preparation takes 7 minutes. Cooking takes 15 minutes. Allow 23 minutes in total. Makes 2 servings. Key ingredients: eggs, caster sugar, mirin, Japanese soy sauce (shoyu), water. Equipment: 20 cm nonstick frying pan with an undamaged surface and approximately 15–17 cm flat cooking base, Flexible, heat-resistant silicone spatula, Silicone pastry brush, Mixing bowl and fork or whisk, Measuring jug, Small dish for oil, Clean chopping board and knife, Thin-probe food thermometer, Fine sieve, optional.
Kitchen tip: Use the specified small pan: a much larger cooking base spreads the egg too thinly to roll reliably.