From Sept/Oct '98

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EATING OUT WITH EASE

Japanese Restaurants

Japanese people are the longest lived on earth and have in the past enjoyed good health with a trim vigorous appearance because of their starch-based diet. You should expect a Japanese restaurant to be a delightful, healthy, dining experience. Unfortunately, just like the modern generation of people living in Japan today, restaurants have shifted their foods more toward an American theme of red meat, poultry, and seafood centered meals. To date, they have not incorporated dairy products and much of the menu is still not deep fried in oil. However, on every menu you will find Vegetable Tempura, which is battered and deep fried vegetables, and deep fried bean curd (tofu). These fried items, although vegetarian, are to be avoided.

SUSHI

You may want to start your order with the sushi bar, and we’re not talking raw fish. You will be ordering various cooked and raw vegetables rolled in rice. "Nigiri" is a plain roll with a vegetable center and "Maki" means there is an outer covering of seaweed. All of the following can be ordered either as Nigiri or Maki style.

Sushi (vegetarian):

Vegetarian Futo Maki (cucumber, mushroom, avocado, and radish) Also referred to as a big roll.

Yasai Maki (assorted vegetable roll)

Horenso (spinach)

Hiyashi Wakame (seaweed)

Kappa Maki (cucumber)

Oshinko roll (radish)

Kampo (cooked dried gourd)

Avocado Maki

Shitake Maki (Black mushroom)

Ninjin Maki (carrot)

Natto (fermented soybeans)

Go Bo (Burdock)

Ume-Kyu (pickled plum)

Asparagus Maki

Eggplant Maki

Watercress Maki

One restaurant serves an 81-piece vegetarian combination sushi platter for $35:

9pc Vegetarian Futo Maki roll

18pc Cucumber roll

12pc Avocado roll

12pc Japanese pickles roll

12pc Carrot roll

6pc Black mushroom roll

6pc Cooked gourd roll

6pc Inari (Inari is sweetened rice covered with a tofu wrapper)

You eat sushi with chopsticks or your hands, but never with a fork. The sushi is dipped in soy sauce. Hopefully, the brand served is not made with MSG (you may need to bring your own). Wasabi is a hot green horseradish mustard that is mixed with the soy sauce (it can be mouth burning hot--be careful). Don't soak the rice in the soy sauce mixture; instead, dip a corner lightly in the sauce. Fresh ginger is always severed with the sushi and is used to clear the palate between different sushi courses.

APPETIZERS

Appetizers include Gyoza (Japanese style potstickers--steamed not fried. Ask!), assorted Japanese pickles, Mozuku (marinated Japanese kelp).

SOUPS

You may look at the soups and find only Miso (Shiru) soup, which is never very filling and quite salty. But if you look carefully over the noodle soups you should find Udon vegetable soup. This is a soup made with fat (as in wide) refined wheat flour noodles and vegetables in a seasoned both (made with no oil). Maybe there is only chicken, beef, and pork Udon on the menu. Don’t panic. They make it from scratch. Just tell them to leave out the animal products, which may include fish cake and a half of whole egg. Udon soup is so hearty that it serves as your main course. There is also Norisui, which is a clear broth with seaweed. Ask them to skip the fish powder.

SALADS

Japanese salads use seasoned vinegar for the dressing (never oil). Sunomono, is a cucumber based salad often served with tangerine slices. Wakame salad is a typical Japanese salad made from seaweed. You can also order a standard green salad with a vinegar dressing.

MAIN COURSES

There are many fresh cooked vegetable and/or tofu combinations that you might order for a main dish if you still have room. Ask if there is a vegetarian sauce made without oil that you can have over your dish. An example, Japanese mushrooms sautéed in a light ginger-soy sauce served over soba noodles.

Starches to be served with vegetables include soba (cold buckwheat noodles), typical Japanese noodles, and of course steamed white rice (brown would be better, but white is not a bad second choice).

SIDE DISHES

Delicious side dishes include Hiyayakko (cold tofu) and Endamame (cooked salted soybeans).

DESSERT

For dessert Chilled Lee Chee ( Japanese fruit), fresh fruit, or sorbet.

From Sept/Oct '98

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Back Issues of Newsletter