Japanese dishes

Anmitsu  is a Japanese dessert that has been popular for many decades.

It is made of small cubes of agar jelly, a white translucent jelly made from red algae or seaweed.
The agar is dissolved with water (or fruit juice such as apple juice) to make the jelly. It is served in a bowl with sweet azuki bean paste or anko (the an part of anmitsu), boiled peas, often gyūhi and a variety of fruits such as peach slices, mikan, pieces of pineapples, and cherries. The anmitsu usually comes with a small pot of sweet black syrup, or mitsu (the mitsu part of anmitsu) which one pours onto the jelly before eating. Anmitsu is usually eaten with a spoon and fork.

A few variations on this dessert do exist. Mitsumame is anmitsu without bean paste, the mame meaning the peas that are served with the syrup and anko instead. Cream anmitsu is anmitsu with ice cream on top. Shiratama dango are also commonly used as toppings.

Daifukumochi is a Japanese confection consisting of a small round mochi (glutinous rice cake) stuffed with sweet filling, most commonly anko, sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans.

Daifuku comes in many varieties. The most common is white-, pale green-, or pale pink-colored mochi filled with anko. These come in two sizes, one approximately 3cm (1.2in)diameter, the other palm-sized. Some versions contain whole pieces of fruit, mixtures of fruit and anko, or crushed melon paste. Nearly all daifuku are covered in a fine layer of corn or potato starch to keep them from sticking to each other, or to the fingersSome are covered with confectioner's sugar or cocoa powder. Though mochitsuki is the traditional method of makingmochi and daifuku, they can also be cooked in the microwave. Mochi and daifuku are very popular in Japan.

Bento  is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento holds rice, fish or meat, withpickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. Bento boxes are readily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops (弁当屋 bentō-ya^?), railway stations, anddepartment stores. However, Japanese homemakers often spend time and energy on a carefully prepared lunch box for their spouse, child, or themselves.

Bento can be elaborately arranged in a style called "kyaraben" ("character bento"). Kyaraben are typically decorated to look like popular characters from Japanese cartoons (anime), comic books (manga), or video games. Another popular bento style is "oekakiben" or "picture bento". This is decorated to look like people, animals, buildings and monuments, or items such as flowers and plants. Contests are often held where bento arrangers compete for the most aesthetically pleasing arrangements.

There are similar forms of boxed lunches in the Philippines (Baon), Korea (Dosirak), Taiwan (Biandang), and India (Tiffin). Also, Hawaiian culture has adopted localized versions of bento featuring local tastes after over a century of Japanese influence in the islands.

Botamochi are a Japanese sweet made with sweet rice and sweet azuki (red bean) paste. They are made by soaking sweet rice for approximately six hours. The rice is then cooked, and a thick azuki paste is hand-packed around pre-formed balls of rice.

A very similar sweet, ohagi (おはぎ^?), uses a slightly different texture of azuki paste, but is otherwise almost identical. It is made in autumn. Some recipe variations in both cases call for a coating of soy flour to be applied to the botamochi/ohagi after the azuki paste.

The two different names are derived from the Botan (peony) which blooms in the spring and the Hagi (Japanese bush clover or Lespedeza) which blooms during autumn.

Ohagi is named after the bush clover (hagi), which flowers during autumn.

Botamochi is the modern name for the dish Kaimochi (かいもち) mentioned in the Heian Period text Uji Shūi Monogatari (宇治拾遺物語)

Mochi (餅^?) is Japanese rice cake made of mochigome, a short-grain japonica glutinous rice. The rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for theJapanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Mochi is called môa-chî (麻糬) in Taiwan.

Mochi is a multicomponent food consisting of polysaccharides, lipids, protein and water. Mochi has a heterogeneous structure of amylopectin gel, starch grains and air bubbles.^[2] This rice is characterized by its lack of amylose in starch and is derived from short or medium japonica rices. The protein concentration of the rice is a bit higher than normal short-grain rice and the two also differ in amylose content. In mochi rice, the amylose content is negligible which results in the soft gel consistency of mochi.^[3]

Unadon (鰻丼, an abbreviation for unagi + donburi, lit. "eel bowl") is a dish originating in Japan. It consists of a donburi type large bowl filled with steamed white rice, and topped with fillets of eel (unagi) grilled in a style known as kabayaki, similar to teriyaki. 

The fillets are glazed with a sweetened soy-based sauce, called tare and caramelized, preferably over charcoal fire. The fillets are not flayed, and the grayish skin side is placed faced down.Sufficient tare sauce is poured over so that some of it seeps through the rice underneath. By convention, pulverized dried berries of sanshō (called Japanese pepper, although botanically unrelated) are sprinkled on top as seasoning.

Champon also known as Chanpon, is a noodle dish that is a regional cuisine of Nagasaki, Japan. Due to the inspiration from Chinese cuisine, it is also a form of Japanese Chinese cuisine. Champon is made by frying pork, seafood and vegetables with lard; a soup made with chicken and pig bones is added. Ramen noodles made especially for champon are added and then boiled. 

Unlike other ramen dishes, only one pan is needed as the noodles are boiled in the soup. Depending on the season and the situation, the ingredients differ. Hence the taste and style may depend on the location and time of year.

Dango is a Japanese dumpling and sweets made from mochiko (rice flour), related to mochi. It is often served with green tea. Dangois eaten year-round, but the different varieties are traditionally eaten in given seasons. Three to four dango are often served on a skewer.

Kusaya is a Japanese style salted-dried fish and fermented fish. It is famous for its malodorousness, and is similar to the pungent fermented Swedish herring called surströmming.

Ramen is a Japanese noodle soup dish. It consists of Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat- or (occasionally) fish-based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as sliced pork (チャーシュー chāshū^?), dried seaweed(海苔 nori^?), kamaboko, green onions. 

Nearly every region in Japan has its own variation of ramen, from the tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen ofKyushu to the miso ramen of Hokkaido.

Udon is a type of thick wheat flour noodle of Japanese cuisine.

Udon is often served hot as a noodle soup in its simplest form, as kake udon, in a mildly flavoured broth called kakejiru, which is made of dashi, soy sauce (shōyu), and mirin. It is usually topped with thinly chopped scallions. Other common toppings include tempura, often prawn or kakiage (a type of mixed tempura fritter), or aburaage, a type of deep-fried tofu pockets seasoned with sugar, mirin, and soy sauce. A thin slice of kamaboko, a halfmoon-shaped fish cake, is often added. Shichimi can be added to taste.

The flavor of broth and topping vary from region to region. Usually, dark brown broth, made from dark soy sauce (koikuchi shōyu), is used in eastern Japan, and light brown broth, made from light soy sauce (usukuchi shōyu), is used in western Japan. This is even noticeable in packaged instant noodles, which are often sold in two different versions for east and west.

Sōsu Yakisoba (ソース焼きそば^?) or Yakisoba (焼きそば^?), literally fried noodles (in sauce for the former), is considered a Japanese dish but originated in China and is technically a derivative of Chinese chow mein. It first appeared in food stalls in Japan at some point during the early 20th century.

^[1] Although soba means buckwheat, typically suggesting noodles made from that flour in mainland Japan, yakisoba noodles are made fromwheat flour similar to ramen. It is typically flavoured with a sweetened, thickened condiment similar to Oyster sauce.

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き o-konomi-yaki^?) ) is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked" (cf. yakitori and yakisoba).

 Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with the Kansai or Hiroshima areas of Japan , but is widely available throughout the country. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region. Tokyo okonomiyaki is usually smaller than a Hiroshima or Kansai okonomiyaki.

Sara udon literally "plate noodles" is a dish native to Nagasaki prefecture, Japan.

Consisting of a base of noodles, and a topping of fried cabbage, bean sprouts and other vegetables, as well as squid, prawns, pork, kamaboko etc. There are two main varieties of noodles, thinner crispy noodles fried in oil (called pari pari, bari bari, or bari men); as a result this variation is reminiscent of Cantonese-style Chow Mein. Another variation uses thicker Chinese noodles (called chanpon noodles).

The style and thickness of noodles varies between restaurants. Many restaurants outside Nagasaki prefecture serve only thin noodles which has led to the common misconception that the dish is only ever served with thin noodles.

If many people are eating together, it is customary for everyone to take their portion from a single large central dish.

There are food delivery services (demae) that specialise in sara udon for parties or offices that are working overtime.

Sara-udon is sometimes served in school meals at grade schools in Nagasaki prefecture.

Takoyaki is a ball-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special takoyaki pan. It is typically filled with minced or diced octopus (tako), tempura scraps (tenkasu), pickled ginger, and green onion. Takoyaki are brushed with takoyaki sauce, similar to Worcestershire sauce, and mayonnaise. The takoyaki is then sprinkled with green laver (aonori) and shavings of dried bonito (katsuobushi). There are many variations to the takoyaki recipe, for example, ponzu (soy sauce with dashi and citrus vinegar), goma-dare (sesame-and-vinegar sauce) or vinegared dashi.

Takoyaki was first popularized in Osaka, where a street vendor named Tomekichi Endo is credited with its invention in 1935. Takoyaki was inspired byakashiyaki, a small round dumpling from the city of Akashi in Hyōgo Prefecture made of an egg-rich batter and octopus. Takoyaki was initially popular in the Kansai region, and later spread to the Kantō region and other areas of Japan. Takoyaki is associated with yatai street food stalls, and there are many well-established takoyaki specialty restaurants, particularly in the Kansai region. Takoyaki is now sold at commercial outlets, such as supermarkets and 24-hour convenience stores.

Yaki is derived from "yaku" (焼く^?) which is one of the cooking methods in Japanese cuisine, meaning "to fry or grill", and can be found in the names of other Japanese cuisine items such as teppanyaki, yakitori, teriyaki and sukiyaki.

Tempura  is a Japanese dish of seafood or vegetables that have been battered and deep fried.

 http://en.wikipedia.org