Let's Cook Japanese Food! : Everyday Recipes for Authentic Dishes

Turn your idea of difficult Japanese cooking on its head with this new edition of “Let’s Cook Japanese Food!’ People love Japanese food but think they have to go out to a restaurant to get it. But it’s something everyone can cook, easily and deliciously, at home! When you think Japanese food—it’s sushi, or ramen, or raw fish—or just too hard. Amy Kaneko, an American married to a Japanese husband, learned from the best—her mother-in-law and sister-in-law—and brings her culinary experience to your kitchen. Using easy-to-find ingredients, familiar techniques, and authentic flavors, you won’t believe how simple it is to make real Japanese food that is this delicious.

Home-style Japanese cooking is demystified in this refreshing and informative cookbook. After marrying into a Japanese family, the American author was taken under her mother-in-law's wing to learn the ins and outs of Japanese cooking. Here she presents her acquired knowledge in an appealingly designed book with Japanese graphic motifs and color photos. The recipes themselves are a mix of family favorites and restaurant dishes Kaneko learned to recreate at home. Yet readers will see few of the familiar foods available in Japanese restaurants in the U.S. Instead, the book illustrates how to make Japanese home-style favorites, like Gyoza and Tempura, as well as Yoshuko dishes combining Japanese and Western influences, like Curry Rice, and Omu Rice, an omelet stuffed with tomato-y chicken fried rice. In a helpful glossary, Kaneko identifies the basic ingredients and equipment needed to recreate these recipes in an average Western kitchen. Chapters devoted to Tofu and Eggs; Vegetables, Fish and Shellfish; Meat and Poultry; and Rice Noodles and Dumplings intersperse recipes with boxes that highlight Japanese traditions and recollections on the author’s time living in Tokyo. 

From Amazon.com:
This is a wonderful cookbook for those who love to eat Japanese food but are a bit intimidated by how complicated preparing it may seem. I've been making simple Japanese dishes for years, but I wanted to add more than just onigiri, sushi and udon into the mix. Amy Kaneko's book provides a good variety of dishes that are not that difficult to prepare and are sure to make your family's tummies satisfied. Even the pickiest of eaters (kids) will find some of Amy's recipes rather tasty.

Amy Kaneko is an American home cook and mother who spent 2 years living in Japan with her Japanese husband. Under the tutelage of her mother-in-law and Japanese friends and family, Kaneko, who has worked in the cookbook publishing industry for 20 years, decided to take what she had learned and share it with Westerners unfamiliar with what Japanese people really eat at home. She has lived in Tokyo, New York, and San Francisco, and currently lives in Boulder, CO with her husband and bilingual teenage daughters.