TODD COLEMAN

Japanese-Inspired Dishes

Japanese cooking is unparalleled for its emphasis on fresh ingredients, light but lasting flavors, and time-tested techniques.

Use as many herbs as possible when making this crispy tempura. They are delicious served before dinner with champagne or a champagne cocktail.

These snacks are garnished with pickled and variously carved Japanese red and white turnips and broth-simmered red carrots.

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Other root vegetables, such as turnips, rutabagas, or parsnips, may be used for this dish, based on this recipe from Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji.

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This dish is based on one that appears in the Japanese-language cookbook Saisai Gohan by Yumiko Kanou (Shibata-Shoten, 2004), the chef and owner of Nakaiseki Sen, a vegetarian restaurant in Tokyo. See the recipe for Japanese-Style Fried Brown Rice »

JAPAN For thousands of years, Japanese cooks have used the fermented soybean paste called miso to preserve fish. Now that modern refrigeration is available, they turn to miso not for its preservative qualities but for the sweet and salty flavor it lends.

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Browning the duck, braising it, and then re-frying the pieces makes for super crispy skin and tender meat, perfectly complemented by a flavorful chile, ginger, and sugar-spiked sauce. Get the recipe for Crispy Duck with Udon Noodles »

These salmon skewers are basted with a sweet sauce, then grilled over charcoal to caramelize the sauce and add a smoky flavor.

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This Japanese take on the Italian classic, made with sake-steamed littleneck clams, shiitake mushrooms, and julienned yakinori, is our new favorite way to eat pasta. The mushrooms and seaweed lend the umami notes provided by pancetta in the original dish.

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The recipe for this elegant fish soup was inspired by the version served at Kitcho, the legendary Kyoto restaurant. The soup's deeply flavored broth, called dashi, gets its boost of umami flavor from kombu seaweed (a type of kelp) and dried bonito flakes, two staples of the Japanese pantry. See the recipe for Tai Kabura (Sea Bream and Turnip Hot Pot) »

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_ Tadashi Ono, Matsuri, New York City_ "It only has three ingredients: salt, hot pepper, and yuzu, the Japanese citrus, but it's fascinating. It has spice, fragrance, aroma &emdash; everything." Read the complete SAVEUR 100 story » See the complete list of SAVEUR 100 items »

Caramelized onions and kombu, an edible dried kelp commonly used in Japanese cooking, fortify the broth in this deeply-flavored dish. See the recipe for Spelt Spaghetti with Kombu and Onion Broth »

This popular Japanese condiment, flavored with Worcestershire sauce and dry mustard powder, is the key sauce on a fried pork tonkatsu sandwich.

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Stir-frying yuba crisps its edges, intensifying its flavor and texture.

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These simple chicken and scallion skewers gain loads of flavor from a basting of homemade yakitori sauce, a versatile marinade for most any meat or vegetable. Get the recipe for Chicken and Scallion Skewers with Yakitori Sauce (Negima Yakitori) »

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In the Japanese kitchen, "teriyaki" means a dish that's glazed and grilled or broiled. Jarred versions of sweet-salty teriyaki sauce are available, but it's so easy to make from scratch, and so versatile, that we make our own and slather it onto salmon before cooking, which allows the sugars in the sauce to caramelize, for a deep, rich flavor.

This vibrantly orange dressing was made famous by Japanese-American steak houses. It gets its incomparably clean flavor from puréed carrot and fresh ginger.

For this tempura dipping sauce, dashi is laced with soy sauce and mirin and punctuated with fresh-grated daikon and ginger.

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Earthy sage enhances the woodsy flavor of shiitake mushrooms in this simple fried appetizer.

Toasted sesame oil and hot chile oil spice up this porky ramen.

Ripe tomatoes develop umami-rich flavor when grilled with a soy sauce marinade. Mitsuba, a Japanese relative of parsley, lends a mild cilantro-like freshness.

Frequently found in Japanese baking, black sugar, or kuru sato, is made by boiling unrefined sugar cane and has a flavor similar to dark brown sugar. Combined with ginger, it adds spice and a deep molasses flavor to a traditional old fashioned.

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Sansho, the Japanese equivalent of Sichuan pepper, adds kick to these sake-and-mirin-marinated wings. A fresh squeeze of lemon brightens them up for serving. Get the recipe for Japanese-Style Chicken Wings »

Any root vegetable—squash, carrots, turnips, potatoes—can be used to make this silky, umami-rich soup from award-winning Japanese cookbook author Hiroko Shimbo.

Ginger-spiced green beans make a light and simple side dish.

Meaty shiitake mushrooms mimic the texture of eel in this sticky-sauced stir-fry from Portland, Oregon, restaurant BTU Brasserie.

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"Sardines" and "miso soup" probably don't go in the same sentence very often, but here they make a great pair. Get the recipe for Sardine Miso Ball Soup »

This classic Tokyo pasta dish, adapted from a recipe by chef Tadashi Ono, gets pungent flavor from the spicy marinated pollock roe called mentaiko. See the recipe for Mentaiko Spaghetti (Tokyo-Style Fish Roe Pasta) »

Stir-frying yuba crisps its edges, intensifying its flavor and texture.