Umami Mart

Last month, MOTO made a surprise appearance for our one-year anniversary party. With not one hair out of place, he casually sauntered into our shop and helped us dress into our summer kimnonos. On his last day in California, we had dinner at my house. While preparing for our temaki dinner, Moto showed me how […]

I’ve been really lazy about cooking these past few weeks. I don’t know if it’s because we are (finally) experiencing summer here in Oakland, or if I’m feeling unmotivated in the kitchen. It’s probably a little bit of both. But eating out or buying pre-made food gets really old, fast. And the effects of eating […]

By Steven Sharafian I spend a fair amount of time making tsukemono (pickles). I focus mostly on quick-pickles that only take a couple of minutes to prep and have a short curing period. This seemed to flow into the idea of pairing carrots with carrot shochu. It’s a pretty simple quick-pickle: peel and section the […]

In seven years of Umami Mart, there has not been a single post about dashinomoto! As the editor and founder of this international food blog, I am… ashamed. Dashinomoto (aka fake dashi aka MSG) is the backbone of LAZY Japanese home cooking. Yoko and Harumi Kurihara would not approve. But COME ON, sometimes, I don’t […]

Mame gohan (beans and rice) with English sweet peas, organic radish, negi (green onions) and katsuo bushi (bonito flakes). INGREDIENTS Serves 2 1 cup short grain rice (washed) 1 1/8 cup dashi or water 1 cup shucked and blanched English sweet peas 1/2 cup cut and blanched organic radishes 1/2 cup katsuo bushi 2 tbsp thin […]

I have a confession to make: I am not a fan of potlucks. I’ve always found it to be a lot of pressure and kind of take them too seriously. But bringing a home-cooked dish to a party is not only financially practical for the party host and guests, but also supposed to be FUN, […]

I am a huge fan of spice, and finding a dish that I can make that delivers the spice is always a welcome affair. This renkon (lotus root) kinpira is a recipe I made out of an awesome book that Kayoko got me during her nine-hour layover in Japan. It was luck that I had […]

Spring is here and my local market is starting show signs of different colors of the rainbow after a winter abundance of orange and brown fruits and vegetables. I’ve been most excited about the appearance of more greens — broccoli, asparagus, green onions, etc. The bulk greens sections has also been exploding and the appearance […]

Lightly sautéed green salad with upland cress, sweet english peas, pea tendrils, ginger, purple artichokes, green scallions, baby bell peppers, blood orange and artichoke chips. Perfect for spring! INGREDIENTS Serves 2  1 small bunch upland cress (watercress is a nice alternative) 10 pea tendrils (keep a few raw pea tendrils and raw upland cress for […]

Dried mushrooms are fashionable. They are packed with umami, and don’t contain any artificial crap. By drying them, mushrooms are concentrated with nutrients and all the good stuff. Mark Bittman wrote about the greatness of dried mushrooms. Pre-packed dried shiitake are found easily at Asian grocery stores, but majority of them are made in China. […]