Today dear readers I am on the blog tour for Japanese Home Cooking (Published By Murdoch Books 5th July 2022) By Maori Murota. A big thank you to the publishers for sending me a copy to read and review, always appreciated. Also the lovely Anne for the invite, always a pleasure to work with.
Japanese Home Cooking
Learn to cook authentic Japanese food from scratch at home, with step by step recipes for the traditional classics like ramen noodles, broth, sushi rice or homemade tofu as well as recipes for more contemporary fusion dishes. Maori Murota takes you to the heart of today’s Japanese family home cooking, sharing the recipes she learned while she watched her own mother and grandmother cook. Here are 100 recipes – eggplant spaghetti, pepper and miso sauce, donburi, baked sweet potato, soba salad, roast chicken with lemongrass, onigiri, hot dog, Japanese curry, steamed nut cake – many of which are vegan friendly and plant-based, to take you to the heart of Japanese home cooking.
About The Author
Author Maori Murota grew up in Tokyo and was inspired to write this book by her mother’s cooking and memories of growing up in Tokyo, cooking at home, eating out. Her mission is to demystify Japanese food, to make it accessible and understood by anyone and everyone interested in learning about a food culture and eating well. Maori left Japan when she was 17 to live in New York, and also spent time in Indonesia. In 2003 she settled in Paris, where she worked as a stylist, before exchanging the world of fashion for food in 2009. Completely self-taught, Maori became chef at Parisian restaurants Do and Bento at La Conserverie. Now an event caterer and private chef, she also gives classes in authentic Japanese home cooking. Her book Tokyo Cult Recipes, also published by Murdoch Books, is an international best-seller.
My Review
There is nothing more satisfying or comforting than home cooked food. It brings families together and creates memories that soothe the soul. In this book the reader will learn how to cook authentic Japanese food from scratch at home. They will follow a step by step guide for traditional classics like ramen noodles, sushi rice and onigiri. There are also some contemporary fusion dishes to try that will dazzle your tastebuds into submission. Murota takes the reader into the heart of today’s Japanese family home where she shares recipes that she has learned from watching her mother and grandmother cook. There are 100 recipes, plenty to explore and discover which ones will become your favourite. What are you waiting for dear reader? Dig in.
Murota enjoys sharing with the reader the traditional recipes for the everyday Japanese dishes that she grew up with as well as her own inventions inspired by other cultures’ foods. It’s fascinating to disocver and read about this mixture of traditional and modern fusion with Japanese cuisine.
The reader learns about the contents of a kitchen in Japan and how it will often have stored in its cupboards olive oil, nuoc cham, gochujang (spicy Korean paste) and cheese. The Japanese are extremely interested in foods from other cultures and often adopt them to add novelty to their cooking. However they still honour and hold dear to their traditions that past generations used.
What inspired Murota to write her cookbook was the changes of life with her daughter being born and Covid-19. The lockdowns changed her view on food and she began wanting to use more locally produced food with less of an environmental impact. Murota and her family were on a small island in France when the first lockdown happened. It was difficult to find Japanese products and so she started to make her own. She surprised herself with how delicious it was and not at all as complicated as she worried it might have been. She realised how much joy there was in cooking at home, making everything from scratch just like her mother and grandmother did. She didn’t need to worry abut not finding any Japanese grocery stores as she could make it herself.
Murota follows mostly a vegan diet and adds where she can in her recipes vegan versions. She provides as many vegan alternatives as she can in this book and assures the reader that you can cook totally plant-based Japanese dishes that taste amazing. Murota wants to share her recipes with everyone, no matter what their religion or diet. She adapts and doesn’t exclude anyone from experiencing the wonder that is Japanese food. She hopes that her cookbook will inspire the reader’s everyday cooking and that they enjoy making the dishes. She would be over the moon if it helps them find their own version of Japanese cuisine.
I enjoyed learning a brief bit of history on some of the recipes and how Murota shares memories. Her father used to prepare Nikuman and Yasaiman (pork buns and vegetable buns) on the weekend and the smell of them wafting from the kitchen would make her mouth water. Her father loved cooking which was a surprise as a Japanese man of his generation, men were not allowed in the kitchen. Murota learned to cook with passion and love thanks to her father and it definitely shows in the recipes. There is such warmth and love kneaded into each one.
The photos in this book are mouthwatering to look at. Every dish displayed looks delicious and I can almost smell how heavenly it’s going to taste. The photos are clear and help show the reader how they should prepare the dish. It’s useful to see and makes the whole cooking experience that much smoother as you feel you have a teacher, helping and showing you what to do.
Me and my family love Japanese food, If I could afford it I would live off sushi. We tried making onigiri together and it was heavenly. There are no Japanese grocery stores where we live and no restaurants nearby to indulge in. Thanks to this book we now have an easy to follow, step by step recipe and can buy the ingredients to make it at home, bliss! Next on our list to make is some gyoza and strawberry and anko mochi. I love, love mochi!
I give Japanese Home Cooking By Maori Murota a Five out of Five paw rating
Deliciously divine! Every recipe is crafted with passion and a desire to seduce the tastebuds.
Don’t forget to follow the rest of the blog tour, dates below, enjoy!
Links
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@MurdochBooksUK
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Bunny’s Pause 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
Oo, this sounds like a good cook book! And I love that it includes a little history about the recipes. I’m always interested in learning about where my meals come from and why they are the way they are.