In the general madness for sushi, which we have learned to appreciate in Italy for thirty years, unfortunately we have missed out on many magnificent recipes from Japanese cuisine. And we needed someone who knows the local culture well, ha tested the dishes on site and spoke to those who have always prepared them to translate them to us too. With all the richness of memories that mix with flavors, curiosities and anecdotes. Sushi included (strictly no philadelpia!), but on a much broader and absolutely authentic menu. It's about Grazia Canova Turawhich he just published with Vallardi Japan in the kitchen. «I lived in Tokyo at the beginning of the 70s», she says. «I was 29 years old, and in the Milanese bank I worked for I was the only one who had studied the language. So, when it came to opening a representative office there they decided to send me.” And there, the future Japanese gastronomy expert began to taste incredible dishes – in an era where at most Italians had access to French cuisine – accompanied in the discovery by local colleagues and friends. Until her mother reached her, becoming passionate about her in turn, so much so that she observed her preparations – often on TV – and took notes.
«They were all admired by his ability to understand the recipes, even though he didn't speak Japanese», recalls Grazia Canova Tura. That when many years later she returned to Italy – and her mother was no longer there – she recovered the recipes. Precisely those published now in the new book: here are five based on rice, a great pillar of Japanese gastronomy. With the following premises:
- Among Italian rices the only one that can be used for Japanese cuisine is the ''original'' one, of the common type, highly sticky, with small and rounded grains.
- Label: With your left hand you lift the bowl containing the rice, with your right you grab the sticks and with the tip of them you take a small pile of rice, which due to the type of cooking tends to stick together, and bring it to your mouth . It is not difficult.
- Important warning. In Japanese cuisine, rice must always be washed carefully before cooking.
Gohan: boiled rice

Ingredients: 200 g of rice, water
Preparation: 10 min. Cooking: 15 min. Rest time: 15 min.
The classic cooking method is as follows and, although it is often defined as ''steamed rice'', this term is inaccurate. The rice cooks in the water and, after the fire has been turned off, it finishes cooking in the closed pot. Nowadays in all Japanese homes there is at least one suihanki, the electric pot for cooking rice. It can be programmed and it seems that housewives can no longer do without it. The ladies who taught me how to cook in Japan gohan they limited themselves to the traditional, very simple method, which only requires having a pan with a tight lid. Since then I have survived very well and I have never felt the need to have an object in the kitchen as large as a pressure cooker and as large as the suihanki.
Prepare 200 g of raw rice (about 2 full coffee cups) to have 4 scant portions of boiled rice.
Wash the rice in a large pot, stirring it with one hand, drain the water and repeat the operation until the water is almost clear, finally drain the remaining water, slowly tilting the container, so that the rice remains dry, then, if there is time, leave it in a colander for at least half an hour.
Pour the dry rice into a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, add cold water in this proportion: for 1 cup of rice the same quantity of water is needed (but it is better to add about 10%); you can reach the proportion of 1.5 cups of water for 1 of rice without the final result being ruined: everything depends on the quality of the rice and personal preferences (an empirical method for measuring the water consists in putting the outstretched hand, resting on the rice: the water must not exceed the wrist). Cover and put on the heat. Bring to the boil, reduce to low and cook for 15 minutes. Turn off and let rest for another 15 minutes.
CAUTION: do not open the lid and do not mix. (Rice cooked without ever having uncovered it is called ikimeshi, ''living rice''; if the pot is opened during cooking it is said shinimeshi''dead rice''). Move the rice, without crushing it, with a wooden spoon soaked in water (otherwise it will stick to it) and serve it, soft, in individual bowls.
It is not considered elegant to fill the bowl with rice: usually two or three spoonfuls are offered and then more is served, left warm in the pot, or brought to the table in one of the many wooden containers (ohitsu), simple but refined, which maintain its warmth and adorn every Japanese kitchen. However, it is best not to give the feeling of wanting to save money: a large portion is always appreciated. If guests are expected to eat a good amount, calculate at least two bowls of cooked rice for each one; an Italian is generally satisfied with one, but a Japanese almost always does an encore.
Ochazuke: rice with tea

Ingredients: 1 bowl of cooked white rice per person, wasabi grated, seaweed nori, umeboshi, green tea (also the kind bancha or konbucha), very small osenbei savory of the type yes and some stems of mitsuba (if possible)
Toast the seaweed nori passing it lightly over a flame with the shiny side, then cutting it into thin strips or breaking it into pieces with your hands.
Prepare the cooked rice in bowls a little larger than the usual ones, place 1 in the center umeboshi1 pinch of wasabi1 large pile of seaweed nori and, if you have them available, 1 C of very small ones osenbei and the stems of mitsuba (with leaves) cut into 3 cm pieces; then pour the tea over it. Cover and serve hot.
onigiri: Leftover rice balls

Ingredients: cooked white rice, umeboshi, katsuobushi, soy sauce, taraco, black sesame seeds or gomashio, seaweed nori, salt.
Preparation: 30 min.
Of very ancient origins, dating back to the 8th century, onigiri is the most common type of picnic, travel, office or school food as an accompaniment to lunch brought from home. The best onigiri they are made with freshly cooked white rice, but I think this recipe is especially useful for using leftover rice.
One of the ingredients mentioned above is placed inside the meatballs, which go prepare as follows:
- Remove the stone umeboshi
- THEshout the katsuobushi with soy sauce
- Toast the black sesame seeds
- Toast the seaweed on the heat nori from the shiny side and cut it into 2-3 cm wide slices.
Wash your hands well. Prepare a bowl filled with very salted cold water. Keep your hands well wet with salt water because otherwise the rice will stick to them.
Place a spoonful of rice on your left hand, with a finger of your right hand make a hole in the center and insert 1 umeboshi (or 1 c of katsuobushi seasoned in soy sauce or 1 c of tarako crumbled). Then, with your right hand, crush the meatball to give it a circular, cylindrical or triangular shape. Press so that the rice takes shape and the grains do not detach from each other, but at the same time take care that the mass does not become too hard.
Place the meatball on a plate and wrap a strip of seaweed around it nori. Sprinkle one or both ends with black sesame. Arrange three on each diner's plate and serve. It goes well with pickled ginger.
These meatballs (without the seaweed nori) can be grilled and served hot, brushed with soy sauce. In preparing theonigiri you can wet your hands in unsalted water and spray one hand with powder konbucha before giving the rice the desired shape; The salty taste of seaweed tea adds a delicious seafood flavor.
The ingredients to put in the center of theonigiri they can be varied: small pieces of cooked and salted salmon, pieces of chicken cooked with misosalted vegetables and how much it can tickle our imagination.
Kuri gohan: rice and chestnuts

Ingredients: 3 cups of rice, 20 chestnuts, 4 c ofmirin, 1c salt
Preparation: 40 min. + 1 night
Cooking: 15 min. Rest time: 1 night + 15 min.
In Japan, chestnuts are also used in daily cooking, not only as dried fruit or in the preparation of desserts. Their appearance on the table marks the arrival of autumn.
Leave the chestnuts in cold water for 1 night. Wash the rice well and let it drain for about half an hour. In the meantime, peel the chestnuts, remove the internal skin, cut them in half (or into 3-4 pieces if they are large) and put them again in cold water. Pour the rice and drained chestnuts into a saucepan, add 4.5 cups of water, then the mirin and salt, mix well, cover, put on the heat, bring to the boil, reduce to low and cook for 15 minutes. Turn off and leave to rest for another 15 minutes without uncovering.
Move the rice with a wooden spoon soaked in water (otherwise it will stick) and serve it in the appropriate bowls, without crushing it. The chestnuts (at least some pieces) must be visible. If there is any leftover, leave it in the pan covered with a cloth.
Okayu: rice for the sick

Ingredients: 2 cups rice, water, salt
Preparation: 5 min. Cooking: 30 min.
Wash the rice as in the basic recipe, drain it and place it in a saucepan with a much higher dose of water than usual: 8 cups of water for 1 cup of rice.
Place on the heat without the lid, bring to the boil, lower the heat and leave to cook without stirring until the rice is very tender and the water has reduced to form a thick soup (or a watery risotto). Finally add a little salt and mix. Pour hot into large ceramic or lacquer bowls.
When serving, you can add one of the following ingredients: 1 umeboshi; 1 pinch of katsuobushi flavored with a few drops of soy sauce; 1 raw egg yolk; seaweed nori chopped or cut into thin strips; slices of takuan; 1 umeboshi and leek cut into thin rings.
Variant: cook the rice as described above, adding peeled, diced sweet potatoes and 10 cm of seaweed konbu divided into three pieces. Leave to cook for a long time and, just before serving, add salt to taste.
Curiosity. To those who feel unwell or have an upset stomach, the Japanese always immediately offer a bowl of okay. I have to say that they are right, this very light, thick rice soup similar to a tasteless risotto is a kind of cure-all.
And it shouldn't be unknown to us. When I was a child, my grandmother used to prepare a soupy rice very similar to this when I had a stomach ache. The first time Mrs. Kimura offered me okay like quasi-medicine, the flavors of childhood resurfaced from afar, enveloped me in sweetness and I felt at home. Maybe I will mention Ms. Kimura again. She had ''adopted'' me and an Italian friend who was studying in Tokyo, she took us to see the sumohe gave us phantasmagoric gifts of all kinds (kimono with precious accessories and other wonders) and took us to restaurants where we would never have set foot: thanks to her I was able to taste and appreciate the best gastronomic specialties of Japan.
Source: Vanity Fair

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