I have never imagined how well balanced traditional Japanese home cooking food was until I moved away. Italian, French or Spanish cuisines were more exciting and inspiring to me when I lived in Japan. So I used to go to those restaurants with my friends.
Since my husband and I moved to the U.K., I have been cooking more Western style than Japanese style. As a result of this, I managed to put on 10 kg within 10 years and my husband had some high blood pressure issues and was over weight.
As we both love eating good food, it became obvious for us that we have been eating too much delicious food more than we should have. His diagnose made me re-think our daily diet and to consider cooking healthier Japanese home cooking, the kind I was brought up with.
Since I started cooking more Japanese food, I have seen a big difference in the ingredients I buy regularly. Here are some ingredients we have been eating a lot more with Japanese home cooking.
- Grain rice and noodle
- Soy beans product like tofu, Miso, soy sauce, mirin and Natto
- Spring onions, chinese leaf, pak choi, spinich, pointy cabagge, beans sprouts, shiitake, king oyster mushrooms, ginger, garlic and shiso leaves.
- Root vegetables like burdock, lotus roots, Daikon radish( mooli ), Taro potatos and Yam potatos
- mackerel, mussles, salmon, king prawns, sea bream, sea bass, yellow tail, tuna and other seafood.
I’m going to write about the health benefits of those ingredients next time.
