Japanese and Oriental ingredients - Kombu & Wakame - dried seaweeds

Kombu

Kombu is a kind of seaweed. Yes Japanese uses many different kind of seaweeds but Kombu (or also called Kobu) is the most popular part. Generally used for making Dashi (stock).
This is a thick part of large long leaf seaweeds, dried perfectly and commonly sold as few lines a pack.
It is hard when you get from a pack, need to use seasor to cut them in pieces.
Has very gentle umami (tastiness) and most basic ingredients and must have thing for making Japanese soups.
I have to say it is not cheep. But if you buy a pack, it lasts years. Small piece like a your thumb nail can be good enough to cook a large pot of tasty miso soup.

<How to store>
It needs to be kept dry, air tight and kept out from sun light; I usually cut them in small pieces like 1cm square then keep them in a bottle.
It may start to have white dust on the surface of dried leafs - that's usually not a problem.
It last really few years as long as you are keeping air tight, but will reduce the original taste. I would recommend to use them up in 2 years.

<How to use>
For stock: Cut it in to a small piece then place it in a cold water in a pot you want to make soup or stock. For general use e.g. miso soup, leave it for few minutes then start heating up the pot, take the Kombu just before the water start to boil. For long cooking meal like Nabe, leave it in soup. If you really want to have a high standard stock e.g. for osumashi (stock clear soup), leave it for 10-15 minutes then take the piece out before start heating up the water.
For other use: leave the leaf in cold water over 30min until it gets enough soft. Use it for wrapping veges, meats, fish to cook or to marinate.

Wakame

This is the another popular kind of dried seaweed. Commonly used as a Sunomono (marinated) salad and for a miso soup. This is a very thin and fluffy part of seaweeds, easy to use. You can eat it with or without cooking.

<How to store>
Same as Kombu.

<How to use>
Place them in a small cup then pour over cold water - the dried wakame gets about 3-5 times more than when it is dried so make sure you pour in enough water to cover when it gets raw. if the things start to grow more than the water, simply add more water. Leave it for about 10 min (or the package you bought instructs). Drain on strainer, squeeze out extra water easily then serve it as a part of salad or for soup.

Japanese and Oriental ingredients: Miso - soy been paste

Miso - fermented soy beans paste

Miso is fermented soy beans paste combined with Kouji - fermentation starter made by rice. It usually takes over a year to naturally ferment the boiled soy beans, therefore requires enough salt to preserve it.
In general, miso has natural sweetness, slight sourness, and at end quite strong saltiness that required for preserving the fermented product. The texture is usually smooth and creamy, combined with the beans natural sweetness, somehow you may feel similarity to Mediterranean humos.
There are a lot of variety per what is in the product e.g. barley, Soba beans, chili etc. or where the product produced from e.g. Sinshu (central Japan), Hokkaido (Hokkaido-island), Saikyo (west side Japan), and how it has been processed e.g. organic, pure soy beans, very matured, sweetened etc.

There are 3 main types: white, red and dark brown.
The white and red miso are mostly made from both rice (Kouji) and soy beans, the colour gets darker by the length of maturating period.
The whiter one has 2 different types in there - one is with shorter processed one with stronger salt, and the other one is with higher rate of Koji, which contains lesser salt and has sweeter taste.
The red type is usually has more matured taste, gets stronger bean smell, sweeter and stronger taste.
The dark brown one usually contains soy beans only; has harder texture and difficult to melt in to soup, stronger bean flavor but with stronger bitterness too.

In general, colder part of Japan makes saltier miso and west side prefer the sweeter miso.
The miso you can find at the any super market does not have very strong fermented smell especially when it is cold, where the real homemade miso often has specific stronger fermented smell and rough texture.
Miso is something that you can produce at your home; the traditional family used to prepare this during the winter time to start using the one after the year, which no longer common among the people living in big town.
Yet, if you travel around Japan, there are uncountable variety of miso that produced in each area with unique taste; we often enjoy buying different kinds and mix them to make our own favorite combinations.

Many people knows that the miso is the main ingredient to make miso soup, however unlike the strong taste that you feel when you try it only by its own, it is salty but has too less flavor to make the soup by its own; therefore generally requires to get some stock taste - we call Dashi - out from Konbu seaweed and fish flakes before adding any miso.
Lately you can find some product that Miso already combined with the stock taste in a pack- to help making miso soup quickly.

Miso loses its flavour if you over cook; to make miso soup (I may describe detail in another post one day) tastier, you make Dashi soup first then cook the chosen ingredients in the Dashi before adding miso paste, then stop the fire before the soup gets totally boiling again.

<Example products you can find in UK>
Easy and good: Marukome restaurant taste (red miso)

This miso has Dashi already combined.
Easy to use, makes most commonly good taste soup.
Majority of Japanese glossary shops carry this product e.g. TK tradings.

Excellent: Saikyo shiro miso

This is an western Japanese style miso, contains higher rate of good quality Kouji, which makes the miso naturally sweeter. It does not contain alcohol usually but has sake aroma slightly.
Most of eastern Japanese include Tokyo region people, like me, use this miso and other general brown miso mixed.
TK trading used to carry this product - then, it became too expensive and now disapeared. Today I no longer can find this product in UK, I just found the another maker's same type product as below at RiceWine shop:

Presumably good: Clearspring Sweet White Miso - apparently Waitrose started to carry this.

I must be honest I've never try this particular product yet. Looking at the description of this product in their web page, this must have followed the Saikyo style miso making.
I'm expecting to try in near feature.

Daily use: Hanamaruki Soy been paste White type (Sinshu style shiro miso)

While ago, Tesco carried this product. Hanamaruki is a well known traditional Miso provider, the product is from Sinshu where the white miso is more saltier than other area. Hope they will carry again. This product does not contain Dashi.

Daily use: Hikari Miso Junsei Sinshu Miso (red miso)

This is at the bottom of market price, however has no lesser taste than the above products. Criticism if I have to say is that those cheaper product has less characteristics and salted quite stronger.
However, like I commented above, we usually mix those cheaper miso with the other miso, especially the one over "unique" miso like country-side style miso or the home made ones.


Unique: Mugi Miso (Barley miso) - Japan Center original

This has usually more gentle sweetness than the regular miso and contains bits of barley remaining, and that makes this type products unique texture. We use this type of product for vegetable dip than making miso soup.

Unique: Clearspring Hatchou Miso

Hatchou Miso is often combined with Mirin - sweeten cooking wine - and used for the following recipes: BBQ Tofu, boiled Konnaku, boiled Daikon, Oven baked aubergine.
It has strong beans flavor with the natural bitterness; when sweeten by Mirin, that gives a vivid contrast against those very simple flavor ingredients. Usually served as a part of source over the foods. You can also use this for general BBQ source and for vegetable dips too.

Miso usually doesn't need to be kept in the refrigerator until you open the package, but most of them are easy to change its colour and flavor by the sun light; so it is ideal to keep it in a cupboard.
Miso can last much longer than soy source with the original taste, however it gets harder. The product contains the active fermentation base - so basically oxygen and warmness will help the product to continue the fermentation process further, and that changes the original miso taste. Once you open the package, it is ideal to keep the package in a tapper-ware or buy the product with sealing pack to keep out air, and must keep it in a refrigerate.

Japanese and Oriental ingredients: Rice vinegar

Rice vinegar

The Japanese rice vinegar has a gentle rice flavour with very light natural sweetness, light but stingy and clear sour taste. Basic one has not malted or sweetened. The clear taste of rice vinegar does not bother the food original taste.
Using the same basic rice vinegar, there are so many varieties of way to marinate ingredients; the vinegar is seasoned differently per the marinating ingredients, to suite the ingredients its taste.
For example, the vinegar used for sushi rice is not plane rice vinegar, but the one seasoned by sugar and salt. By the portion of sugar and soy source mixed with vinegar makes the basic few varieties. Mixing with flutes juice like lemon, or flutes meat like ume (salted plum) are the another popular style. 
Marinating food is one of very popular way to preserve food and kill bacteria, which is easier to grow under the Japanese high heat & humidity summer condition.

<Example products you can find in UK>
I have to say, I use only Mizkan brand. I never could accept any other makers taste as this is my family taste. But I think I'm not the only one.

Daily use: Mizkan Distilled White Vinegar

Honestly this type has lesser flavour but really cheaper. Yet the stingy vinegar sour taste gets much gentle than the western distilled white vinegars. For the heated menu like Sweet and Sour pork, this works well.

 Good: Mizkan Rice Vinegar (Most of Japanese grocery store has this product)

Has richer rice flavour, slightly sweeter and lesser stingy sour taste than above. Usually cooked with sugar and other ingredients for a very short period to control the stingy sour taste even more.
ASDA carries equivalent product:

Variety: Mizkan Sushi-zu (Seasoned vinegar/Sushi vinegar)

You can make your own Sushi-zu from above regular rice vinegar, but this is very convenient for daily use.
It has been seasoned by sugar and salt, and has lesser stingy sourness than above.
If you are looking for the rice vinegar for general salad, this is the one you like to buy.
Lately Tesco start to carry the next product:

Variety: Mizkan Powdered Sushi Vinegar Mix

If you are novice making sushi rice, this powder style is easier to make sushi rice evenly.

For cooking
Commonly used for marinating vegetable, fish and sea food. Cooking meat with vinegar softens the meats. The sushi rice vinegar makes very simple and light tasting salad dressing. 

Other use
Lately vinegar is more likely to be used for cleaning household, just like the lemon juice.

Japanese and Oriental ingredients: Sake/Nihon shu (Japanese rice wine)

Sake/Nihon shu (Japanese rice wine)

Nihon shu, known as Sake in English world is a rice wine produced from Japanese rice in Japan.
It has sweetness and slight dry taste. Compare to regular wine, it does not have that much fruitiness and the gorgeous flavor. It doesn't have strong smell or flavor, that allows the liquor to supports the ingredients original taste stronger. It can be used for cooking as well as you can drink it cold, warm and hot.
It has variety of grade per the complication of the way to produce it, who produce it, and what kind of rice and ingredients are used. It is not always better the taste when the price is higher, it is selected by how you like the taste, much like general wines.
Typically the one produced by pure rice (Jun-mai shu) has more sweeter taste, the one longer processed one (Sei shu) has more dryer taste.

Be aware that the "cooking sake" we call is not a plain sake; generally it has been seasoned and flavored.
I would rather buy a cheapest sake to use for cooking rather than using the cooking sake for my dish.

<Example products you can find in UK>
Good: Sawano tsuru
I'm amaized and didnt know that Waitrose sales this product today and so reasonable price! Before, ASDA had carried a smaller bottle of below Takara product but apparently they don't do that anymore.
This one does really fit to your daily drink and for cooking.

Daily use: Takara ShoChikuBai (find in TK Trading and many Japanese groceries shop)

Just barely fit for your drinking (in my liking) but good for cooking.

Too good for cooking, just for drinking!: Hakkaisan

This is my best selection I can find in reasonable price in UK. It is a kind of Jun-mai shu so has light sweetness than dry ones but in a good balance.

Serving for drink
Because Sake has very light taste in general, it is better to be serve in the room temperature to enjoy its full flavor especially for the good ones. You may find it more dryer the taste when it is cooled; I like to serve very sweet flavor ones from refrigerator. Nice to serve it in cold with sushi or sashimi, that also reduce the smell of fish remains in your mouth (just like a grass of wine for a piece of cheese).
Serving sake in hot has totally different affect, it make the sake more stronger flavor and warms your body quickly. Nice to be served in this way with dry foods, strongly flavored meals (like yakitori, teriyaki).

For cooking
Commonly used for marinating meets before cook and making source (e.g. soba noodle source, nimono source, teriyaki source etc.). It is also used for cooking Sushi rice.

Japanese and Oriental ingredients: Shal Hsing Rice Wine (Chinese molted rice wine)

Shal Hsing Rice Wine

Shal Hsing Rice Wine is a product must have one if you want to cook Chinese foods.
It is popular for cooking as well as for drinking.

The liquor has a distinguished smell when it is cooked; you can say this is the smell of Chinese cousin.
Compare to the excellent smell, you may not find the taste significantly special when you try it from bottle. It is slightly bitter, molted flavor and very dry as no sweetness to feel.
However it gives total difference when it is cooked in a source or soup, and served warm to your mouth.

You can find this product in most of Chinese groceries stores such as here:
Wai Yee Hong

Lately Tesco start to carry this product, you can find in the world food section:
Tesco Groceries

Serving for drink
My preferred way to drink this is in hot. Warm the bottle (or a portion in a heat resistible ceramic bottle) in a pot of boiling water until bottle gets as hot as you need some towel to hold (Open the bottle cap a bit before you start heating!).
Serve it in a shot grass (heat resistible ones) with some spoons of crystal sugar. Mix them lightly before drink.

For cooking
There are so many Chinese famous dish cooked with this liquor, e.g. Sweet and Sour Pork, Stir-fried beef with black-been source, Steamed Whole Fish with Ginger and Spring Onion etc.
Adding the liquor to the food makes it gorgeous, the liqueur gives the food extra taste color and brightness.
It accelerate the feeling of warmness of the dish.

Japanese and oriental ingredients: Soy sauce

Soy sauce

Soy saucehas a lot of similarity with balsamic vinegar. It has sweetness, saltiness, smooth texture but with slight thickness, deep and complex flavor.

It has a lot of variety in kind, taste, maturity and specific category by region base. 

Both gets reduce the freshness and the flavor in quite a short time. Adding them to food adds up extra depth for the entire flavor.  

In Tokyo, many of us use the regular soy saucefor everything. For sushi, for cocking food, for dipping and all. Kansai - the west Japan uses light soy source more frequently. For specific cooking we use more specific varieties e.g. Tosa region soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Tamari (dark) soy source etc.

Regular soy sauce

This isn't really a category, but the most popularly used level of taste and thickness after excluding all specific ones. 

The soy source in bottle looks totally black, but if you put on a dish it has dark red-brown color, but unlike the real dark soy source we categories, the source is much liquidly and smooth.

There are a lot of different grade even in the same regular soy sauce, just as the proper balsamic vinegar.  The taste of soy sauce really varies just as its price. Honestly, the more expensive soy sauce you buy, the better the taste.

Good regular soy sauce tastes flesh, smooth, lightly sweet and not so salty, more than anything, it's tasty.

Cheep or old regular soy sauce test salty, tick, gets slightly sour, you can feel some dust of dried soy sauce in the liquid.

<Example products>

Very good: Kikkoman Tokusen Maldaizu Shoyu (extra selective whole soy beans soy source) 

The price is double from the one below product but the taste is equally better. If you really want to taste sushi better, you need one at your home. 

Daily use: Kikkoman Shoyu (Kikkoman soy source)

You can find a large bottle at any Asian/Oriental shops. 

Tesco and ASDA also sales the small serving bottles.

There are proper imported from Japan version, produced by EU / US version and from China version. Taste wise - you may not find that significant difference.

Soy sauce is very delicate, it require to be stored in a cool dark place.

I needed to store it in refrigerator when I was in Tokyo, now I can keep it in dark cool place is more than enough in England. The bottle needs to be capped firmly well as it also changes its taste by air.

All soy sauce must be used when it is flesh because the soy sauce taste changes significantly by time. 

Full large bottles are ideally to be spent within a month or less. The serving style small bottles should be spent in a week or so.

Saying this, I know it's difficult for many people to spend that quick. You can make the taste last longer if you cover the top of bottle with clear wrap well (for the serving small bottles), store the bottles in your refrigerator when you don't use.

For me, I buy just a daily use one, reason because I cannot cook sushi or sashimi as frequently as I can spend the whole bottle of good soy source up before it changes the taste.