Japanese Home Cooking

My grandmother’s way to make Japanese dried persimmons (hoshigaki) on a balcony: peel, dip in boiling water, tie, hang, and check on them now and then. Plus what to do if yours have no stems.

On a rushed day in Japan, I made udon in 19 minutes with just shiro dashi for seasoning and mushrooms from my freezer. Here’s how.

Two side dishes from a home dinner in Japan: carrot shirishiri and sesame miso cucumber, made with a few ingredients and served in glass containers.

Kuri gohan, Japanese chestnut rice, from my grandmother’s chestnuts: how I boil them, peel them with chestnut shears, cook the rice and freeze the rest.

Frozen gyoza in one pan, a broccoli and tuna salad in a microwave steamer, and leftovers from the fridge: a real weekday lunch at home in Japan.

Eight MUJI curry pouches you can only buy in Japan, tasted and ranked — heat levels, what’s in them, and which ones are worth the shipping cost.