Sushi...Sushi...Sushi

Nori-maki with tuna.
Others: Nigiri-zushi with toppings of
tuna, sea bass, cuttlefish, ark shell, small sea bream, prawn, anago eel, and omelet.

Sushi has become a favorite food throughout the world, although many people still have never tried it. How about you? Perhaps you are not yet a fan, but once you learn more, maybe you will give it a try.

An “Italian” Meal Not Found in Italy

Spaghetti Napolitan

Cuisine from the West and other parts of the world has made in roads in the Japanese kitchen.

But the Japanese tend to change things a bit to suit their taste preferences, creating some unique crossover recipes. There are, for example, kare raisu (curry and rice), korokke (croquette), and omuraisu (fried seasoned rice wrapped in a thin omelet). These pages introduce a Western/Japanese hybrid called spaghetti napolitan.

Close to the heart of Tokyo is the Jimbocho district. Nestled in among the shops selling old books is a nice spot to eat, called Sabor (Spanish for “taste”). Sabor serves the type of light meals you will find in a kissaten coffee shop, and during the lunch hour the place is often crowded with students and office workers. Many come for the spaghetti napolitan. The spaghetti, a little on the thick side, is boiled and then fried lightly with small pieces of ham, onion, green pepper and mushrooms. It has a nice tomato color. Sabor first opened its doors in 1955, and spaghetti napolitan has been a popular item on the menu since Day 1. On some days, as many as 200 customers ask for it.

The ingredients and recipe differ a little from chef to chef, but one ingredient that is always present is ketchup. Sabor’s cook fries the spaghetti and chopped ingredients, then stirs in a sauce made from a boiled mix of flavorful vegetables, ketchup and tomato purée. When it is ready for the table, on goes a sprinkling of Tabasco pepper sauce and powdered cheese. The spicy pepper and thick cheese flavor bring out the sweet tang of the thick ketchup sauce coating the soft spaghetti.

Soft spaghetti and ketchup—hardly a typical Italian pasta dish, you might say, and you would be right. The recipe comes not from Naples but from Yokohama, Japan.

Very soon after World War II, a chef at a Yokohama hotel came up with the idea of frying boiled spaghetti with tomato sauce and bits of food like ham and green pepper. Tomato sauce is said to have come originally from the Italian city of Naples, and that explains the name, spaghetti napolitan. It could be that, when the recipe spread to ordinary restaurants, it became common to add the ketchup. It is a fairly easy meal to make, and it quickly caught on as a light meal in kissaten coffee shops, and in the home.

Authentic Italian cuisine made its appearance in Japan beginning around the 1970s, and the Japanese have come to appreciate the real thing. But they have certainly not turned their backs on that upstart, spaghetti napolitan. The middle-aged and older keep coming back to it, year after year, and the younger generations see it as one meal option in convenience stores, ready-to-eat, packed in a plastic container. Few Japanese can resist the ketchupy flavor—it whets their appetite and reminds them of the good times they have had, eating this not-from-Naples pasta.

Written by Otani Hiromi, food journalist Photos by Kawada Masahiro

Soy Sauce Desserts

Sweet Uses for Salty Condiment

Soy sauce is a versatile traditional condiment used in a wide range of Japanese dishes. Made by slowly fermenting and aging soybeans, it has a rich flavor and distinctive aroma. Although it has a famously salty taste, chocolate and other sweets flavored with soy sauce have hit the market and are enjoying something of a boom. These treats have a flavor that is best described as being “salty-sweet.” The combination of sugar and soy sauce is not unusual in Japanese cuisine, and the innovative use of soy sauce in sweet desserts is garnering many fans.

Established Producers Branch OutKagawa, a prefecture on the island of Shikoku, is dotted with soy sauce breweries, and recently even long-established producers from the region have been putting new soy sauce products on the market. Kamebishi Co., for example, has been in business since 1753. The company’s new product, Soy Chocolat, has stirred considerable interest since going on sale. It combines Belgian chocolate with a light, freeze-dried soy sauce that has been aged for three years. The company also makes several unusual flavors of gelato, including soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and moromi (unfiltered soy sauce produced during the manufacturing process). It also sells parfaits made with these gelatos, which can be topped with soy sauce-flavored wafers in the style of rice crackers.

Heiwado Shodoshima Crème Caramel.

There is also an experiment underway to spur economic development in rural communities with soy sauce sweets. Shodoshima is a small island that is part of Kagawa Prefecture. In the course of a nationwide campaign to publicize the soy sauce for which it is known, the island initiated a project to develop soy sauce-flavored crème caramel, which has now hit the market. Heiwado Shodoshima Crème Caramel was created through a process of trial and error as the participants in the project attempted to figure out how to preserve the aroma of soy sauce and temper the salty aftertaste. The soy sauce used in the pudding is a low-sodium variety from an established maker founded more than 100 years ago. The product’s reputation grew via the Internet and word of mouth, and at peak periods 5,000 of the crème caramels are ordered in a month.

Soy Sauce for Ice CreamThere are many other kinds of soy sauce confections, including soy sauce specially brewed for use on ice cream. Simply by pouring this sauce over your ice cream, you can enjoy an entirely new flavor. Several companies make this type of sauce, such as Yamakawa Jozo, a soy sauce manufacturer based in Gifu Prefecture. The company’s ice cream sauce has become a big hit among consumers nationwide, who can order it on line. The thick syrup is poured on top of ice cream; when it is mixed in, the ice cream takes on a caramel-like flavor. Another popular production is an ice cream soy sauce made by Yamato Soysauce & Miso Co., a manufacturer established in 1911. With sugar and thick malt syrup for extra sweetness, it is perfect for those who are fond of a rich textured soy sauce flavor.

Nanaotorii Soy Sauce Roll Cake.

Chef Tsujiguchi Hironobu, a renowned pastry chef at a Japanese sweets shop of Waraku Beniya has created the Nanaotorii Soy Sauce Roll Cake, made with a heavy two-year-old soy sauce, a soft spongy dough, and custard cream. The cakes have a delicate soy sauce aroma that, combined with their mild sweetness, yields a subtle taste reminiscent of caramel.

Soy Sauce has become one of essential kitchen items along with Japanese cuisine; it is already a familiar flavor to many people outside Japan. Perhaps soy sauce desserts, too, will one day enjoy the same level of popularity. (October 2008)