HIMONO(stockfish)

The word Himono means dry foods, especially dried fishes.

As you know, a dried fish(stockfish) has a long storage life and high amount of nutrients. Besides, it has good flavor and it's very cheap. So, it's a essential element of Japanese cuisine.

There are several ways of making Himono such as Maruboshi(drying a fish without removing its gut), Niboshi(boiling a fish before drying), Mirin-boshi(soaking a fish in Mirin before drying) and Hiraki-boshi(removing gut). Among them, Japanese people prefer Hiraki-boshi and it's served in many Japanese restaurants.

There are many kinds of fishes served as Himono such as:

Aji - Hiraki or Mirin-boshi
Sanma - Hiraki or Maruboshi
Hokke - Hiraki
Iwashi - Niboshi or Maruboshi

Especially, Aji and Sanma are extremely popular. You can buy them in any supermarkets at a very low price.

Kyushoku 4 : NIKU-JAGA(beef stew)

Niku-Jaga is a kind of Japanese stew. "Niku" means meat, and "Jaga" stands for "Jaga-Imo" which means a potato, so Niku-Jaga is a stew mainly consists of meat and potatoes.

The sauce of Niku-Jaga contains sugar, soy sauce and sake. Sake is Japanese rice wine, which is used as a seasoning in many Japanese cuisine. The taste of the sauce is mild and a little salty-sweet.

Niku-Jaga is a very popular and familiar dish for many Japanese because it's cheap, easy to cook and nutritious. You can eat it in some homestyle restaurants and Izakaya(Japanese-style pub).

Links:
Recipe for Niku-Jaga

Kyushoku 3 : MABO-DOFU(Mapo doufu)

MABO-DOFU(Mapo doufu) is a kind of Chinese dish using tofu. In China, it's a very hot and spicy meal. But many Japanese people prefer a more mild taste, so most Chinese restaurants in Japan season it with less amount of spices.

There are some other variations of Mabo dishes such as MABO-NASU(eggplant), MABO-HARUSAME(bean thread noodles) and MABO-DONBURI(rice), and all of them are very cheap and easy to cook. You can buy a Mabo sauce, which is a sauce containing spices and some Welsh onions, at a number of grocery stores. Of course, you can buy a tofu at around 100 yen at any supermarkets and most convenience stores. And some supermarkets sell it at less than 30 yen.

Links:
Recipe for Mabo-Dofu

Kyushoku 2 : KOROKKE(croquette)

KOROKKE is a kind of western-style dish(YOSHOKU). It's derived from a French dish, Croquette.

[How To Make Korokke]

1 Peel potatos and boil.
2 Mash 1.
3 Saute onions and ground meat.
4 Mix 2 and 3.
5 Season 4 with salt and pepper.
6 Shape 5 into oval patties(like a hamburger steak).
7 Coat 6 with flour.
8 Dip 7 in beaten egg.
9 Coat 8 with breadcrumbs(Panko is better).
10 Deep-fry 9.

Korokke is very popular since it's cheap and has a wide variety of styles such as cream Korokke, curry Korokke and crab Korokke. You can easily cook it in your home since almost all supermarkets in Japan sell frozen Korokke at a very low price.

Links:
Recipe for Korokke

Kyushoku 1 : GYOZA(Jiaozi)

GYOZA is a Chinese dish, which is pronounced as "Jiaozi" in China. Chinese people eat Gyoza as a staple food and it's very popular in their country. In Japan, it's also popular and many restaurants serve it.

Gyoza is served in several different styles. Sui-Gyoza, boiled Gyoza, is the most popular style in China. But Japanese people much prefer Yaki-Gyoza, pan-fried Gyoza, and Age-Gyoza, deep-fried Gyoza.

You can easily cook a Gyoza in your home since most supermarkets in Japan sell frozen Gyoza at a low price. All you need to cook it are a frying pan, oil and some water. If you are interested in some other Chinese dishes too, you should buy a wok, a Chinese frying pan, because you can pan-fry, deep-fry, boil and steam in it. In fact, a number of Japanese people have one in their homes and often use it.

Links:
Recipe for Gyoza
Gyoza No Ohsho - Japanese popular Chinese franchise