Ideas for cooking Japanese cuisine

@Amanda do you have recommendation for okonomiyaki fillings or do you go with the standard things?

@urara when I am making at home, sometimes I like to add some things like tomatoes or carrots.

At restaurants though, I usually try to go with cheese or potato okonomiyaki. what about you?

btw I live with a Japanese person and when I first got to Japan, he was so so upset I wanted to put tofu in our yakisoba. He said, it’s not how it’s supposed to be, it’s not the normal way. Sometimes Japanese people don’t like to break the norm and try new things. So actually I don’t have the chance to change it that often…

@Amanda ppl and the norm...omg *facepalm* sometimes I wonder if my husband realizes that marrying a foreigner isn't really the norm 😂😂

Veggies sound great! Personally I'm not super found of okonomiyaki in the first place and second I try to avoid gluten 😅 on the rare times I've eaten it it was always at home and i just followed the instructions on the package, so I think my ingredients are pretty standard (cabbage and pork with aonori, katsuobushi, sauce and mayonnaise)

I agree! Nabe is my go to dish in winter. Especially because I live in Hokkaido, and it's perfect for the cold climate here. It's good when you're on a diet too. Just add more vegetables and tofu, and it's super healthy.

I enjoy making nabe dishes, too. I think that the supermarket broths are unnecessary, though. Making broth is easy. There are so many kinds of broth-making (dashi) condiments. Kombu, dried shiitake, and various kinds of fishes (iriko, iwashi, and ago are wonderful) are often used. If you boil these condiments for around 10 minutes before making nabe, it's even better than the packaged types that have a lot of artificial chemical additives. You can also easily add shoyu, nihonshu, miso, or other flavors to make your own original nabe. Adding kimchi makes for a spicy meal.

For a more filling meal, you can add udon or ramen into the pot, too. Or, for a twist, you can use kuzu-kiri or bi-fun noodles. Kuzu-kiri uses kudzu, a very healthy starch, and bi-fun noodles are made of rice. I also add thin slices of mochi in my nabe sometimes. All of these are a great substitute for rice.