If you want to try your hand at Japanese food, all you need is soy sauce, miso, sake, mirin, and hondashi, and you will be able to make a variety of dishes.
First, try buying only soy sauce and hondashi. With just that, you can make many Japanese dishes, such as Nikujyaga, Oyakodon, and so on.
Nikujyaga(meat and potato stew)
Butanosyougayaki(grilled pork with ginger)
Gyudon(Beef bowl with rice topped with beef)
Butadon(Bowl of rice topped with pork)
Oyakodon(Bowl of rice topped with chicken and eggs)
Basic seasonings
Japanese condiments list
Sugar
This is ordinary sugar found in your home.
Salt
This is ordinary Salt found in your home.
Vinegar
Rice vinegar can be used, but common white vinegar will also work. However, use "sushi vinegar" when making sushi.
Soy Sauce
It is a Japanese sauce made by brewing soybeans. Kikkoman is recommended.
Miso
A semi-solid seasoning made by steaming or boiling the main ingredient soybeans, adding kouji (malted rice) and salt, and fermenting and maturing the mixture.
Other Seasonings
Sake
Makes it easier to develop flavor Removes odors from meat, fish, etc. Allows flavors to soak in more easilyAdds an elegant aroma to dishes.
Sake contains no salt, but "cooking sake" does. Therefore, if "cooking sake" is used, adjust the salt concentration accordingly.
Mirin (sweet cooking rice wine)
Mirin is generally used to add not only sweetness but also richness and flavor, and to add shine and luster to dishes. However, it also has the effect of making meat and fish tough, so care should be taken not to use too much. In dishes such as sukiyaki and butakakuni, where you want to soften the meat, it is best to sweeten it with sugar.
Soup stock
Hondashi (Japanese Soup Stock)
A granulated Japanese soup stock based on dried bonito flakes.
Round chicken stock
Authentic chicken broth made by slowly simmering chicken meat and chicken broth.
Ingredients for soup stock
Katsuobushi
A Japanese preserved food made by boiling and aging bonito.
Be careful to store it carefully because it is so good that cats will jump on it.
Kombu (any kelp of genus Laminaria)
A source of dashi broth recommended for vegans and vegetarians because it is vegetable-based.
Shiitake mushroom
A source of dashi broth recommended for vegans and vegetarians because it is vegetable-based.
Spice
Grated garlic
Grated ginger
Curry powder
Sauce
Okonomiyaki sauce
Yakisobai sauce
Tonkatsu Sauce
Bull Dog Tonkatsu Sauce
Ponzu soy Sauce
A mixture of citrus juice and vinegar with soy sauce. Used for dumplings and other dishes.
If ponzu soy sauce is not available when eating gyoza, vinegar soy sauce mixed with vinegar and soy sauce can be used as a substitute.
Oyster sauce
Oil
Sesame oil
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