Our List of Must Have Japanese Pantry Essentials
If you have been following us for quite some time now, you’ll know that we love to cook Japanese food. If you do too, you may have noticed that most of our recipes ask for the same Japanese ingredients as they typically form the foundation of most Japanese cooking. In today’s post, we will be sharing with you our list of Must Have Japanese Pantry Essentials. These are the ingredients we feel you should have in your pantry at all times and will allow you to make the majority of Japanese recipes you find.
We will be organizing this list accordingly:
- Dry Goods
- Sauces
- Condiments & seasonings
Where applicable, we will be including links to some of our favourite Japanese recipes where we utilize some of these Must Have Japanese Pantry Essentials. You should be able to find most of these items at your local specialty Japanese supermarket/store or perhaps in the international aisle of your local grocery store. Without further ado, let’s jump into it!
Dry Goods
Konbu (Kelp)
Konbu is absolutely a must have Japanese pantry essentials item. It is dried sea kelp which helps flavour Japanese stock (dashi). It is rich in glutamates which helps give dashi it’s umami flavour. It is often sold in large dried sheets but you can easily break off the necessary amount when making your stock.
Katsuobushi (Dried Bonito Flakes)
If you’ve ever had Takoyaki or Okonomiyaki, you may have noticed these strange flakes garnished on top of these dishes that move and look like it’s alive due to the heat from the dish. Katsuobushi (or dried bonito flakes) is made by shaving dried, smoked bonito (a type of fish) which is often used to either garnish Japanese dishes or infuse flavour into Dashi. We love sprinkling this on top of almost everything – it makes everything taste so much better! We like to keep our extra unused bonito flakes fresh in vacuum sealed containers.
Panko
Panko is Japanese Bread Crumb which is often used in dishes that are deep fried such as tempura and tonkatsu. It’s different from traditional American bread crumbs in the sense that it is more airy and flaky than your standard “shake and bake”. When not in use, we recommend storing it in an air tight container (once opened) to retain its freshness.
Japanese Rice
There are so many types of Japanese rice but the one we naturally gravitate towards is Koshihikari. It is considered to be a premium short-grain rice (aka “King of rice”) which is known for its sweet aroma, fluffiness, sticky texture, and great taste. Feel free to experiment with different types of Japanese rice that best suits your taste.
Sauces
Dashi
Dashi is the Japanese equivalent of Chicken Broth. It is often used as the foundation of every Japanese dish where it be used in sauces or soups. It is often made with a combination of konbu, water, and dried bonito flakes (all of which are on this list :)). If you plan on making lots of Japanese dishes, we recommend whipping up a large batch of dashi which can be stored in the fridge for up to a week. If you have extra dashi that can’t be used up, you can freeze it for up to a 3 months. Dashi is most commonly used to make Miso Soup.
Mirin
Mirin is a type of sweet cooking wine often used to add sweetness and a subtle sake-like flavour to sauces and glazes. It is often a staple item used in most Japanese sauces along with sake and soy sauce. It is also used in popular Japanese dishes like Teriyaki Chicken and the tare sauce served with Agedashi Tofu. A small bottle can go a long way, just make sure to keep it refrigerated to extend its shelf life.
Sake
Many people may be familiar with Sake as the alcohol of choice to drink at Japanese restaurants but it is also often used in cooking as well. Luckily, there is little to no alcohol content left after adding Sake to the dish as it is often evaporated during the cooking process. Keep a bottle near by to either drink or cook with! It’s extremely versatile. We get ours at our local liquor store but it is also sold at most Asian grocery stores in the same aisle as their cooking wines.
Japanese Soy Sauce
There’s soy sauce that is more commonly used in cooking (i.e. Chinese Soy Sauce) and then there’s Japanese soy sauce. Technically, both Chinese soy sauce and Japanese soy sauce can work in most Japanese recipes but we try to use Japanese soy sauce in our Japanese dishes where possible. The reason for this is because their flavour profiles are completely different! We tend to find Japanese soy sauce to be lighter and slightly sweeter in flavour whereas Chinese soy sauces are darker and have a bolder flavour. If you can’t find Japanese soy sauce at your local grocery stores, you can substitute with Chinese soy sauce.
Rice Vinegar
Rice Vinegar is a type of vinegar made from fermented rice. It is most commonly used in making pickled vegetables, sushi rice, and salad dressings. We love to make our own sushi rice which we use to make our own chirashi or sushi at home. It’s so good that we actually rarely get sushi takeout anymore!
Condiments & Seasonings
Miso paste
Miso is made from fermented soybeans with salt and koji (mold-inoculated grains used in the fermentation process). Sometimes it is made with other ingredients to give a different flavour profile which explains the different type of miso. Miso can be categorized by ingredients or by color. There are common 3 types of miso: White, Red, and Yellow.
The miso paste we commonly gravitate towards is Shiro Miso (White Miso) and this is because it is more mild in flavour than Red Miso which may be stronger in flavour. It is also a bit sweeter than Yellow Miso. However, yellow miso is known to be the most versatile so pick the one you like most! Sometimes we like to mix different types of miso (i.e. a few scoops of white miso and one scoop of red miso) just to experiment with different flavour profiles. Get creative!
Miso paste isn’t just used to make Miso Soup, but it is great in marinades as well due to the strong umami flavour it yields to dishes such as our infamous Nobu’s Miso Black Cod recipe.
Fresh Wasabi
If you’ve eaten at popular all you can eat Japanese restaurants (or food court sushi), you may be familiar with the playdough like wasabi that is large and pliable. While that type of wasabi can be extremely spicy in small amounts, real wasabi made from freshly grated wasabi root is actually sweeter and milder in spice. Add a bit of this to your sushi/sashimi pieces, mix it in with your ochazuke, or add a bit of this to your steak like you would with horseradish. The taste is simply amazing! If you have hard time finding wasabi root to grate, you can often find them at Japanese specialty stores where they are sold frozen in small packets like the one shown above. Just thaw when ready to use!
Sancho Powder
Sancho Powder is a Japanese seasoning powder made from the ground berries of the prickly ash tree. It is known for its citrusy flavour while having a bit of spicy kick that traditional freshly ground peppercorn would have on dishes. Similar to Shichimi (below), it is often used to season noodles, soup, and seafood dishes as an example. We sprinkle a little bit of this in our miso soup and it tastes amazing!
Shichimi Togarashi
Shichimi tōgarashi is a Japanese spice blend that literally translates to “seven spices”. It consists of a blend of red chili pepper, orange peel, sesame seeds, Japanese pepper, ginger and seaweed. It is often used to flavour soup, sauces, grilled meats, seafood, and noodles. If you ever go to any Japanese restaurant, you’re almost guaranteed to see this as one of the condiments offered at the table!
Furikake
If you love extra flavour (umami) and texture in your rice, you need furikake! This condiment is often sprinkled on top of rice to give it extra flavour often made with a mix of sesame seeds, seaweed flakes, salt, and sugar. However, there are different varieties out there so pick one that suits your palette. Just be careful as some of these are very high in sodium so be sure to check the nutritional label first before you go heavy handed with this!
What are our must have Japanese pantry essentials? Let us know in the comments below!
Are we missing some key must have Japanese pantry essentials on this list? While this is not a comprehensive list, we’d love to hear what else you have stocked in your pantry at all times. Let us know in the comments below!
