Japanese

Try packaged Asian rice mix (or steamed white rice), and tomato and cucumber salad sprinkled with seasoned rice vinegar. To end, spoon sliced fruits over mango sorbet. Look for the horseradish paste in the Asian foods section or next to the packaged sushi.

A soy-sake marinade is the base for a delicious reduction sauce. For convenience, begin this one day ahead and refrigerate the steak in its marinade overnight.

After being tenderized by a beer marinade, these chops require only a quick turn on the grill or under the broiler to form the centerpiece of a hearty meal.

Somen Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 hr In a six-part series in 1975, correspondent Elizabeth Andoh taught us about the reverent seasonality of Japanese cuisine. It was with this summer recipe that many of us learned that noodles as well as rice are eaten in Japan. The concept of icy-cold noodles took only one taste to grasp: Andoh's recipe for somen is one of the lightest and most refreshing pasta preparations we've ever had.

After making this flavorful dressing in the processor, we give it a whirl in the blender for the smoothest texture. Crisp iceberg lettuce stands up best to this thick dressing. Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 15 min

This simple, comforting, home-style dish evolved after the Meiji Restoration, when beef entered the Japanese diet. You can easily use pork or chicken instead of the beef. Enjoy it on a snowy winter night with a side of greens.

Black cod is steeped in sweet miso before being baked in the oven. The sweetness of Nobu-style Saikyo Miso is an excellent match with the plumpness of the fish.

In addition to dressing greens, this is especially good drizzled over sliced avocado. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Serve over freshly steamed rice and garnish with chopped green onions.

Edamame are fun to eat, the slightly fuzzy bright-green pods tickle your lips as you gently suck the beans into your mouth. Provide bowls for the empty pods.

Negimaki Many New Yorkers owe their first sushi experience to the boom in the city's Japanese population during the 1980s, which in turn led to a proliferation of Japanese restaurants. These beautiful rolls aren't raw—they're seared to create a flavorful brown crust and a medium-rare center.

Dashi Active time: 5 min Start to finish: 30 min Elizabeth Andoh's recipe for dashi provides more than you'll need for the dipping sauce but just enough extra for two nice bowls of miso soup: Heat up the stock and stir in a couple of tablespoons of miso, a handful of diced tofu, and a sprinkling of sliced scallion.

An easy dish that uses some traditional Japanese ingredients, including miso. Made from fermented soybeans, miso paste comes in various shades, with the darker ones being stronger in flavor. This recipe calls for white miso (also called shiro-miso), which is sweeter and more delicate.