SUNOMONO (Cucumber Salad) Serves 4

1 large cucumber (or two small)

Salt

Marinade:

3 T. cider vinegar (or rice vinegar)

3 T. sugar

1 T. sesame seeds �?toasted lightly

Slice cucumber very thinly. Place in colander in layers, sprinkling each layer with salt. Let sit for 10 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with cold water. Put into a bowl, add vinegar and sugar. Mix well. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Just before serving, garnish top with sesame seeds.

SUKIYAKI (Prounounced SKI �?yaki) Serves 4

1 lb. Tender steak

8 �?10 white mushrooms

1 stalk celery

1 lb. Spinach

1 large onion

4 scallions or green onions

Peanut, sesame, or vegetable oil

Sauce:

1/3 c. sherry or white wine

½ cup soy sauce

3 T. sugar

Freeze meat for ½ hour until it is firm enough to slice very thinly. Ideally, slices will be about 3" long, 2" wide and almost translucently thin.

Trim mushroom stems and slice mushrooms. Diagonally slice celery quite thinly. Wash spinach and tear off the stems. Shake off excess water. Slice onion thinly. Slice root end off scallions as well as some of the green part. Cut pieces about 4" long, then halve or quarter lengthwise, depending on thickness.

Mix sauce ingredients together in a measuring cup.

Arrange the meat and veggies attractively on separate platters.

(Can be cooked in two batches using half of everything.) Heat 2-3 T. oil in a large skillet (electric okay). Brown the meat from first platter. Sprinkle the meat with the sauce. Add the veggies and stir to mix well. Lower heat to simmer, cover the pan, and let it all cook about 5 minutes until all veggies are wilted. Serve immediately over hot, cooked rice.

GREEN BEANS WITH SESAME DRESSING

1 pkg. of frozen green beans, cooked, or

1 lb. green beans, cut in 1 ½" pieces and cooked

salt for cooking

DRESSING:

2 T. sesame seeds

2 T. soy sauce

2 T. sugar

Cook green beans and rinse in cold water. Toast sesame seeds in dry frying pan until they jump. Be careful not to burn them. Add the soy sauce and sugar and mix. Toss the beans in the dressing. Garnish with extra sesame seeds.

OYAKU DOMBURI (Domburi is a large soup bowl with a lid. A soup bowl will work just fine!)

4 c. hot, cooked rice

1 whole chicken breast (or two halves as they are sold in most stores.)

4 mushrooms

3 scallions

4 eggs

Domburi ni Shiru (sauce):

Shred the raw chicken meat. Slice the mushrooms thinly. Trim scallions and slice thinly into tiny rounds. Save a few teaspoons of the green part for garnish. Beat the eggs.

Mix the sauce. Toss the chicken, mushrooms, and scallions in the sauce. In a heavy pan (non-stick is best for this) and heat the chicken mixture to a boil. Stir for a minute or two until the chicken becomes opaque, lower the heat to simmer and stir in the beaten eggs. Stir quickly until the eggs are just barely set.

Put a cup of rice into each of four soup bowls. Ladle one-fourth of the mixture over each of the mounds of rice. Garnish with the extra scallions.

TEMPURA (Oh, sooooo good!)

Use whatever is fresh and available, according to the season, your wallet, and your appetite.

Fish: White fish fillets, shrimp, scallops, salmon

Veggies: sweet potato, string beans, snow peas, carrots, asparagus, turnips,

Scallions, parsley

Batter:

1 cup flour (can be whole wheat)

¼ t. salt

1 t. cornstarch

1 ¼ c. water

Peanut or vegetable oil for frying

Soy sauce

Lemon wedges (optional)

Cut the fish into bite-sized pieces. Devein shrimp. If large scallops, cut in half. Snap ends from beans and/or snowpeas and remove any strings. Trim asparagus to remove tough ends and use either just tips, or cut into 2 to 4" pieces. Scrub turnips and slice thinly. Cut scallions into 4" pieces. Separate parsley into large sprigs or small bunches.

Mix the batter, adding water gradually to make a smooth mixture.

Heat the oil in a heavy pan, at least 2" deep to 370 degrees. If you are using a wok or round-bottomed pan, you will need less oil. Dip the tempura ingredients, one item at a time, into the batter and fry a few pieces at a time until golden and crisp. Drain well and serve with hot rice and dip into soy sauce. Squeeze lemon over, if desired. Serve a few pieces at a time, as soon as they are cooked. Eating in the kitchen, close to the stove so you can enjoy your family or friends nearby as you cook.

YAKITORI (Great for a meal or as an appetizer.)

Before you start, soak the skewers in water so they won’t burn while cooking.

1 whole (two halves) skinned, boned chicken breast

½ lb. mushrooms (fresh)

4 scallions

Sauce:

½ c. soy sauce

2 T. light brown sugar

2 T. sherry or white wine

Cut chicken breast into 1" cubes. Cut mushrooms into pieces similar to chicken. Cut scallions into 1" pieces. Mix the sauce and place into a shallow dish (I use a 9x13 glass pan.)

Alternate chicken, mushrooms, and scallion pieces on bamboo skewers. Place the skewers into the sauce and allow to marinate while broiler or barbeque or hibachi is heating up �?at least 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes or so. Serve on the skewers atop of hot rice.