Japanese Cooking Terms

A
Abura-age - thin oblong fried pieces of tofu.
Awakuchi - bright soybean sauce.
Azuki - small brown-red beans, used for preparing sweet dishes mainly.
Aka miso - mid-flavored soybean paste.
Amazu - sweet sauce.
Atsu-age - deep-fried tofu.
B
Bancha - sort of tea.
Biwa - loquat, medlar.
Bifun - clear noodles, made of rice-flour with adding potato starch.
Budo - grape.
Beni-shoga (see also Gari) - thinly stuffed and corned ginger root.
Bento - lunch box.
D
Daikon - long, white root vegetable, related to radish.
Daikon-oroshi - small grater, for daikon specially.
Dashi - base broth for soups or stew dishes made of kombu (sea kale) and kezuri-bushi. You can prepare it by yourself or dilute in water dashi-no-moto.
Dashi-kombu - dried kelp.
Dashi-no-moto - powder broth for fast preparation of dashi.
Domburi - crockery, earthen saucer.
E
Eda-mame - fresh new beans.
Enokiidake - small mushrooms with soft aroma and delicate flavor.
F
Futo maki - stodgy rice rolls with vegetables or fish etc., wrapped with nori.
G
Gammodoki - quenelles made of deep-fried tofu with vegetables.
Gari (see also Beni-shoga) - chipped pickle pink ginger; it is traditionally served with sushi.
Gyokuro - sort of green tea.
Ginnan - ginkgo nuts.
Gobo - burdock root.
Gohan - rice.
H
Hakozushi (see also oshizushi) - compressed sushi.
Hakusai (Chinese cabbage) - a vegetable with a white stalk and green leaves.
Harusame - thin noodles, made of azuki beans or starch roots.
Hacho miso - type of miso.
Hashi - chopsticks.
Hijiki - kelp.
Hiyamugi - type of thin noodles.
I
Ikura - salty poppy salmon caviar.
Itigo - strawberry.
Ichiziku - fig.
K
Kabochya - deep-green pumpkin with yellow flesh and nut taste.
Kaiware - daikon sprouts.
Kaki - Japanese persimmon.
Kaki - oysters.
Kamaboko or tikuwa - boiled fish sticks, made of whitefish.
Kampyo - finely cut dried pumpkin; used in sushi.
Kanten (agar-agar) - gelling agent, made of algae.
Kashiwa - oak leaves.