Japan
Facts about japan
Japan is an island country located in the Pacific Ocean, made up of the 4 main islands and thousands of smaller islands. The 4 largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, and make up 97% of japan's total land cover. It has the world's 3rd largest economy, and has renounced its' right to declare war.
Regularly eaten food
The main ingredient in most of Japanese food is rice. Some examples of rice in Japanese dishes are rice bowls, sushi, rice balls, curry rice, fried rice, and kayu. Some of the most popular foods are rice balls, curry rice, sushi and ramen. Japanese sweets come in a variety of flavors and ingredients, and usually eaten with a cup of green tea
Celebrations and festivals
Japanese New Year
During Japanese New Year, Japanese people eat a selection of dishes called osechi-ryori. It consists of boiled seaweed, fish cakes, mashed sweet potato and chesnut, simmered burdock root as well as sweetened black soybeans. Most of these dishes are sweet, sour or dried and can keep without refrigeration. Another custom is to eat rice cakes (mochi). Mochi is made into a decoration called kagami mochi, which is formed from two round mochi cakes with a tangerine (daidai) placed on top.
Ramen Recipe
Ramen Recipe
Prep Time: 15 hours
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 3-4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 lb pork.$9.45
- 1 tsp salt. $0.99
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- 6 cups water (1.5L). $0.70
- 50g ginger root, sliced.
- 3 cloves garlic, skinned. $2.30
- 1 bunch green onions. $2.46
- 4 Tbsp soy sauce. $3.40
- 2 Tbsp sake. $3.74
- 1 tsp salt. $0.99
- 1 tsp sesame oil. $3.52
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- 9 oz fresh angel hair pasta (225g) $2.15
- 8 cups water (2L)$9.04
- 2 Tbsp baking soda. $2.46
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- boiled egg halves. $4.80
- bean sprouts, blanched briefly. $2.15
- green onions, cut finely. $2.50
Total: $50.55
Salted pork
Soup
Noodles
Topping
Instructions
- Rub salt on pork and let it sit overnight in the fridge.
- In a pot, put water, ginger root, garlic, green onions and salted pork, and boil at high heat. Skim fat and other floating scums. Then cover, reduce to low heat, and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Let the broth and pork cool completely in pot. Strain and save pork. Slice pork and set aside for a topping.
- Prepare the rest of the toppings now as well (boiled eggs, blanched bean sprouts, cut green onions), before making the soup and noodles. Once the noodles are cooked, you will need to add the soup and toppings right away or the noodles will get soft, so you won't have time to prepare the toppings at the end.
- Boil the broth and add soy sauce, sake, salt and sesame oil. Let it simmer at very low heat until noodles are ready.
- In boiling water in a pot, add baking soda (be careful, it may boil over), then add the fresh angel hair pasta. Cook the pasta for 30 seconds, and strain. Immediately divide noodles into bowls and add soup onto noodles. Top with boiled eggs, bean sprouts, green onions and sliced pork.