Eat Your Japanese Greens

For the new arrival in Japan, vegetables may present a bewildering variety of unfamiliar shapes and sizes, but they’re healthful and add great color and texture to your home cooking. My biggest challenge in the kitchen is to incorporate a wide variety of these foods into my diet. Many of them are loaded with nutrition and with a little know how, they’re easy to prepare.

Brassicas in Japan

Photo Jeremy Keith 

You may be familiar with some Asian brassicas such as bok choi, the crunchy, leafy vegetable that is commonly used in Chinese-style stir fries. They’re widely available in markets in Europe and North America, too. Bok choi, referred to as chingensai in Japan, has some relatives that are a great addition to your diet. They’re loaded with fiber, and Vitamins A and C.

One of these relatives is komatsuna, or Japanese mustard spinach. It’s got long stalks and a broad, dark green leaf. One of my favorite ways to prepare hakusai and komatsuna is stir fried with a little oil, minced garlic and ginger, and sliced carrots. This simple stir fry is a good accompaniment for dinner or as an addition to bento box lunches.

Another brassica, Hakusai, commonly referred to in English as napa cabbage or Chinese cabbage, is a large vegetable, up to 3 kg in weight. It has dense and crunchy leaves. A simple way to prepare hakusai is to chop and stir fry the leaves in oil with a dash of ponzu vinegar and salt and pepper. Hakusai is also a great addition to nabe hot pot.

Seaweed

Many people think seaweed is a culinary specialty of Asian cuisines, but did you know that seaweed is traditionally a delicacy in Scotland? Scottish people have incorporated dulse, rich in iron and vitamins, and other seaweeds, into their diet for centuries. And it’s delicious, too.

Photo えむかとー

Here in Japan, a wide variety of seaweed is consumed. Wakame, for example, is rich in iodine, vitamins and minerals. One of my favorite kinds of soup is tsuyu broth with wakame and sesame seeds. It’s warming, flavorful and good for you. Wakame also has Omega-3. If you are not consuming a lot of fish and eggs on a vegetarian or vegan diet, this is a good source of this fatty acid.

Nori seaweed, which you find wrapped around sushi and garnishing ramen is loaded with Vitamin A, Vitami C, and potassium. It’s a source of iron, too. At home, you can wrap grilled mochi in nori, or drape a roasted sheet over your bento box rice.

You may wonder where you can find a good overview of Japanese vegetable cookery. One of my go-to sources is スピードおかず便利帳　Speed Okazu Benri-cho. The table of contents lists ingredients by category in easy and quick recipe. Browsing the local bookstore may reveal many similar pictorial cookbooks that show you how to prepare healthful veggies.