Book Review provided by: Dragonfly	Exclusive VP Book Review
	Japanese Vegetarian Cooking: From Simple Soups to Sushi by Patricia Richfield 176 pages

I love this book. The recipes in it really are simple, as the title claims, and they seemed to be authentic. My husband takes regular trips to Japan and was quite pleased when I began making several of the dishes that he enjoys when he travels over there. The author lived in Japan for several years, so she has been able to successfully pass along these recipes to us in this cookbook. At the beginning of the book, she gives a brief history of Japanese vegetarian tradition, cooking and dining Japanese style, what to drink with your Japanese meals, suggested menus, and even how to use chopsticks.

This is not a vegan cookbook. While none of the recipes contain dairy, as it is not a traditional part of the Japanese diet, some of the recipes do contain egg and there is a section on egg dishes. Those recipes that are not suitable for vegans are clearing marked with a special symbol.

Something I think is very helpful in this book is the section on Japanese ingredients and utensils. This helped me to identify what some of the ingredients are in the book and helped me while I was shopping for specific ingredients. There is also a brief page listing suppliers of Japanese food. Very, very helpful if, like me, you live in a rather small town and finding these ingredients is next to impossible. I did have a difficult time finding some of the ingredients. I can find seaweed, but there are a number of different kinds of seaweed out there, so trying to find exactly what was called for in the book locally wasn’t always easy (and sometimes impossible). Because I was able to make do with what I found, I didn’t use the supplier list in the back of the book.

These are the recipes we tried:

Dashi – Vegetarian Stock p. 30

• This smells and tastes like the sea. It is used in many of the soup recipes in the book and including the Tempura Tsuyu recipe. I’m not real crazy about it alone, but it’s the flavor I recall from eating at traditional Japanese restaurants and my husband was quite pleased with the taste it lent many dishes. It called for tororo-kombu seaweed and I couldn’t find that, so I used the seaweed I had.

Shoga Meshi – Gingered Rice p. 53

• Such a simple dish and very good. A real crowd pleaser. I fixed tempura to go with it.

Sushi Meshi – Sweet-Vinegared Sushi Rice p. 60

• This is the rice used in sushi rolls. Another easy recipe.

Hosomaki – Thin Sushi Rolls p. 62

• I make sushi rolls all the time, so I really didn’t need a recipe to follow, but I did want to try it because I’ve never had takuan, pickled radish. Can’t say that I am a fan of it after tasting it, but we should all try something new every now and then.

Zaru Soba – Chilled Buckwheat Noodles – 80

• Buckwheat noodles are my favorite noodle to eat. The last time my husband traveled to Japan, he had this very same dish and he said that this tasted just like it. I loved it, too.

Satsuma-Imo Su-Age – Deep-Fried Sweet Potatoes p. 116

• So simple, just 2 ingredients: sweet potatoes and schichimi-togarashi (Japanese seven-spice pepper). I made this because I have never used schichimi-togarashi. Really good. I served this with Zaru Soba.

Okonomi Yaki – Vegetable Pancake p. 118

• This recipe calls for egg, but I used an egg substitute. Turned out good. I wasn’t overly fond of it, but my husband liked it. He had okonomi yaki in Japan once and he said that this tasted just like it.

Yasai No Tempura – Deep-Fried Vegetables in a Light Crispy Batter p. 119

• Another recipe that calls for egg. I used club soda as the lightening/leavening agent. We all liked this, but really, who doesn’t like tempura? I served this alongside the okonomi yaki.

Tempura Tsuyu – Tempura Dipping Sauce p. 121

• Only 4 ingredients (one of them is dashi, which you have to make, but it’s fast and easy to make – I had it ready, in the freezer). This was also used in the zaru soba recipe. Tasty.

Kyuri To Shoga No Ichiya Zuke – Overnight Gingered Crispy Cucumber Pickle p. 149

• I wasn’t too crazy about this recipe. I just didn’t like the combination of flavors happening here. It has ginger, soy sauce and schichimi-togarashi in it. Blech.

The book even tells how to make Japanese tea and how to drink it and a recipe for Umeshu (Plum Wine). I am not fond of umeshu, but my husband is, so once I locate green plums, I’ll make some for him.

I had a lot of fun with this cookbook. We love Japanese food and I’m thrilled to be able to create authentic-tasting Japanese dishes. The best part is that they really are simple to make and we enjoyed nearly every single recipe. My husband even helped out when making some of them. I think this book deserves all 4 forks!

VegPeople Rating:

4 forks out of 4

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