Kitchen Culture Cooking Club
EXPLORE and PRACTICE Japanese cooking in your own kitchenAbout Kitchen Culture Cooking Club
Welcome to the Kitchen Culture Cooking Club, a community space providing encouragement to those who want to EXPLORE and PRACTICE Japan’s washoku wisdom in their own kitchens.
To facilitate this, themed projects will be posted to this page periodically. Project Assignments and links to relevant reference material stored on this site will be posted to this page. Anyone, anywhere in the world, with a sincere interest in Japanese food culture is welcome to browse the contents of this page and then replicate the themed project in their own kitchen.
For those who wish to display-and-discuss their projects with like-minded people, I invite you to join the KITCHEN CULTURE Cooking Club Facebook Group (formerly the TSUDOI Project), an interactive community space.
Project NAGA NEGI
NAGA NEGI・長葱
Indispensible in nabé (hot pot) cookery, as a condiment and in soups all parts of naga negi (Allium fistulosum) are edible. Plan from the start to use the plant fully.
If your naga negi have roots attached, wash them thoroughly to remove all the dirt that clings to them. Slice off the very bottom and set these roots, called higé (“whiskers”), to dry. Dusted in cornstarch and deep fried they become an onion-y, crunchy nibble or garnish for salads and soups (also nice added to grilled cheese sandwiches).
Next, divvy up the stalks into 3 parts: the thick white stalk, the green blades, and the mid-section where the blades diverge from the stalk. Save any scraps and bruised green tops to enrich stock or to infuse oil and/or vinegar.
Enjoying Naga Negi Various Ways
Slice the white stalk into 1-inch (2.5 cm) lengths and skillet-sear to enjoy on their own or add to hot pot nabe. Download a recipe for: YAKI NAGA NEGI no TSUMIRÉ NABÉ ( Seared Japanese Leeks & Chicken Ball Hot Pot 焼き長ネギのつみれ鍋)
Both white and green parts of naga negi are briefly blanched, then sauced in a dish called nuta. Download a recipe for: NAGA NEGI no NUTA (Japanese Leeks in Tart-Miso Sauce 長ネギのぬた)
Other suggestions on using naga negi:
Leek Miso (pg 103) and Miso-Thickened Pork and Vegetable Soup (pg 119) WASHOKU; Creamy Japanese Leek Soup with Miso (pg 84) and Pan-Toasted Okara with Leeks and Root Vegetables (pg 167) KANSHA; Braised Beef and Vegetables (Sukiyaki; pg 110) At Home with Japanese Cooking (available thru subscription to CKBK).
What will YOU make with NAGA NEGI??? Please track your kitchen activity with photos and add a brief description. Then post your NAGA NEGI Adventures to the Kitchen Culture Cooking Club.
Looking forward to seeing what you make in YOUR kitchen!
My February 2023 NEWSLETTER is about naga negi.
Recipes and Resources
Stock (Dashi)
Dashi stock is essential to making soups and simmered or stewed dishes. Dashi is also used when making many egg dishes and all sorts of sauces, dips and dressings. Using good dashi will make a noticeable difference in the outcome of so many dishes you prepare.
Click to download recipes for (vegan) Kelp Alone Stock or Standard Sea Stock + Smoky Sea Stock
How to Cook Rice
In Japanese, the word for cooked rice, ご飯 GOHAN, is the same as the word for a meal, ご飯 GOHAN. Indeed rice is central to the meal. Download the Rice with Mixed Grains recipe.
How to Prepare Sushi Rice
Sushi dishes are made with rice that has been seasoned (with sweetened vinegar) AFTER being cooked. Download the Classic Sushi Rice recipe.
Quick Pickles
The Japanese enjoy a wide variety of tsukémono pickles, many can be assembled quickly and are ready to eat within a short time.
Download a recipe for Quick-Fix Hakusai Cabbage.
Project Watermelon
Most watermelons are quite large and (unless you are feeding a crowd) are not easily consumed in a single session. This Kitchen Culture Cooking Club project is about finding ways to enjoy every bit of watermelon -- flesh and rind -- over a period of several days to...
Project Bounty of the Seas
Bring a Bounty of Sea Vegetables to YOUR Table Resources and recipes for preparing three versitile sea vegetables: ARAMÉ, WAKAMÉ, and HIJIKI.Aramé is often listed as a substitute for hijiki in soy-braised nimono dishes. Like hijiki, aramé is dark brown and when sold...
Bounty of the Seas
Celebrating the Bounty of the Seas The inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been consuming sea vegetables –KAISŌ 海藻 -- for millennia. Early evidence of consumption of aramé, wakamé, and hijiki has been found in burial mounds dating back to the Jomon Period (c....
Project Frozen Ices
Using the basic description and recipe (for Banana-Ginger Ice) in the Kitchen Culture blog post, try making different flavors: Kuro Goma (Black Sesame), Matcha (Green Tea), and Ichigo (Strawberry) are especially tasty. KANSHA (pg 230) has a recipe for Brown Sugar Ice...
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