One reason I’m able to live happily in Japan is that I love the food here, and while I’m always happy to scarf down some sushi, sashimi, soba, udon, sukiyaki and other famous examples of Japanese cuisine, my favorite foods are often much simpler. First, I truly love a dish called soboro, which is scrambled egg and teriyaki-flavored hamburger eaten over rice, equally great for dinner or in bento form. I could literally eat this every day for the rest of my life without complaint. Then there’s omurice, the classic omelet eaten over ketchup-rice, preferably with a heart drawn on top in ketchup by someone special. Finally there’s “tuna maki,” one of the simplest meals in Japan. Just take sheets of nori, spread on some vinagered rice, add tuna mixed with mayonnaise, cucumber and a few strips of tamago-yaki (scrambled egg), and roll it up for a delicious treat my family loves…it’s sort of like the Japanese equivalent of taco night back home. Since a lot of our customers are interested in trying these unique Japanese foods, we’ve got a new handy Roll Sushi Making Set, with everything you need right in one package, plus a great selection of Japanese/English bilingual cookbooks that can teach you how to make it all.
(In case you were curious, the Japanese use the English “tuna” to describe cooked, white tuna fish from a can, and maguro to describe the fish in sushi or sashimi form. The word “sushi” refers to the vinagered rice, not to raw fish, which is why kappa-maki, rolled sushi with cucumber inside, is still sushi.)
One of my favorite Japanese foods is “tuna maki.”
