Japanese Cooking Challenge

This week, I made a monumental discovery --- a Japanese grocery store has opened at the end of my block! Literally, all I need to do is walk a mere two minutes from my apartment building and the grocery store is right there! This is amazing!

I love Japanese food, but I don't usually cook it. There are several reasons for this, which I will share with you all. 

Reason 1: It's hard. Japanese flavors are complicated and frankly, Japanese cooking takes a really long time!

Reason 2: The Japanese grocery stores are kind of far away --- the closest is a 20 minute walk. Sure, that's not too far, but when you are carrying a lot of groceries, 20 minutes can feel like an eternity.

Reason 3: Following reason #2, Japanese ingredients are rather expensive.

With all that on the table, you may be wondering, "why are you cooking Japanese now?" Well, with the Japanese grocery store around the corner, I have no excuse. This place has everything I could possibly want AND compared to other Japanese grocery stores, the products sold here are rather inexpensive! 

I've also decided to challenge myself to cook Japanese food because I can't always rely on my mother AND eating Japanese food at a restaurant is rather expensive. I've mastered most cuisines, but Japanese cuisine has eluded me for a while now. 

So with that, I am challenging myself to cook a variety of Japanese foods as often as possible! Wish me luck!!! (If I'm lucky, I'll impress my mother!) 

The kick-off to my challenge (moving clockwise):

- Kinpira: a classic Japanese side dish made from burdock root and carrots (It's a personal favorite)

- Baked Shio-Koji Chicken Thighs: shio koji is a popular Japanese salt-based marinade and the flavors it brings out is amazing! (The shio koji I used was made by my mother.)

- Steamed Onion and Green Peppers with Ponzu and Katsuobushi (katsuobushi is dried bonito flakes)