Los Angeles Japanese Restaurants

Brassica (pronounced /ˈbræsɨkə/ brás-si-ca) is a genus of plants in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus may be collectively known either as cabbages, or as mustards. Crops from this genus are sometimes called cole crops, which is derived from the Latin caulis, meaning stem or cabbage.

This genus is remarkable for containing more important agricultural and horticultural crops than any other genus. It also includes a number of weeds, both wild taxa and escapees from cultivation.

The genus is native in the wild in Western Europe, the Mediterranean and temperate regions of Asia. In addition to the cultivated species, which are grown worldwide, many of the wild species grow as weeds, especially in North America, South America, and Australia.

Almost all parts of some species or other have been developed for food, including the root (swedes, turnips), stems (kohlrabi), leaves (cabbage, brussels sprouts), flowers (cauliflower, broccoli), and seeds (many, including mustard seed, oilseed rape). Some forms with white or purple foliage or flowerheads, are also sometimes grown for ornament.

Brassica vegetables are highly regarded for their nutritional value. They provide high amounts of vitamin C and soluble fiber and contain multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties: 3,3′-Diindolylmethane, sulforaphane and selenium.

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have recently discovered that 3,3′-Diindolylmethane in Brassica vegetables is a potent modulator of the innate immune response system with potent anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer activity.

You can find authentic Japanese Brassica Vegetables on many Japanese Restaurants in Los Angeles.

Brassica oleracea, or Wild Cabbage, is a species of Brassica native to coastal southern and western Europe, where its tolerance of salt and lime and its intolerance of competition from other plants typically restrict its natural occurrence to limestone sea cliffs, like the chalk cliffs on both sides of the English Channel.

Wild Brassica oleracea is a tall biennial plant, forming a stout rosette of large leaves in the first year, the leaves being fleshier and thicker than those of other species of Brassica, adaptations to store water and nutrients in its difficult growing environment. In its second year, the stored nutrients are used to produce a flower spike 1 to 2 metres (3–7 ft) tall bearing numerous yellow flowers.

Although B. oleracea is believed to have been cultivated for several thousand years, its history as a domesticated plant is not clear before Greek and Roman times, when it is known to have been a well-established garden vegetable

It has become established as an important human food crop plant. According to the Triangle of U theory, B. oleracea is very closely related to five other species of the genus Brassica.

The plant is used because of its large food reserves, which are stored over the winter in its leaves. It is rich in essential nutrients including vitamin C.

You can find authentic Japanese Brassica Oleracea on many Japanese Restaurants in Los Angeles.

The cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne (Capitata Group) of the Family Brassicaceae (or Cruciferae), and is used as a leafy green vegetable. It is a herbaceous, biennial, dicotyledonous flowering plant distinguished by a short stem upon which is crowded a mass of leaves, usually green but in some varieties red or purplish, which while immature form a characteristic compact, globular cluster (cabbagehead).

The cultivated cabbage is derived from a leafy plant called the wild mustard plant, native to the Mediterranean region, where it is common along the seacoast.

The only part of the plant that is normally eaten is the leafy head; more precisely, the spherical cluster of immature leaves, excluding the partially unfolded outer leaves. Cabbage is used in a variety of dishes for its naturally spicy flavor.

Cabbage is often added to soups or stews. Cabbage soup is popular in Central and eastern Europe, and cabbage is an ingredient in some kinds of borscht. Garbure (from Provençal garburo) is a thick soup of cabbage or other vegetables with. Cabbage may be an ingredient in kugel, a baked pudding served as a side dish or dessert. Cabbage is also used in many popular dishes in India.

Cabbage is an excellent source of vitamin C. It also contains significant amounts of glutamine, an amino acid which has anti-inflammatory properties. Cabbage can also be included in dieting programs, as it is a low calorie food.

It is a source of indole-3-carbinol, or I3C, a compound used as an adjuvant therapy for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, a disease of the head and neck caused by human papillomavirus (usually types 6 and 11) that causes growths in the airway that can lead to death. Fresh cabbage juice has been shown to promote rapid healing of peptic ulcers.

You can find authentic Japanese Cabbage on many Japanese Restaurants in Los Angeles.

Wasabi, Wasabia japonica, Cochlearia wasabi, or Eutrema japonica) is a member of the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbages, horseradish and mustard. Known as “Japanese horseradish”, its root is used as a spice and has an extremely strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard rather than the capsaicin in a chili pepper, producing vapors that stimulate the nasal passages more than the tongue. The plant grows naturally along stream beds in mountain river valleys in Japan.

Wasabi is generally sold either in the form of a root which must be very finely grated before use, or as a ready-to-use paste (either real wasabi or a mixture of horseradish, mustard and food coloring), usually in tubes approximately the size and shape of travel toothpaste tubes. The paste form is usually just horseradish, since fresh wasabi is extremely perishable and more expensive than horseradish. Once the paste is prepared it should remain covered until served to protect the flavor from evaporation. For this reason, sushi chefs usually put the wasabi between the fish and the rice.

Fresh leaves of wasabi can also be eaten and have some of the hot flavor of wasabi roots.

The burning sensations it can induce are short-lived compared to the effects of chili peppers, especially when water is used to remove the spicy flavor.

Wasabi is often served with sushi or sashimi, usually accompanied with soy sauce. The two are sometimes mixed to form a single dipping sauce known as Wasabi-joyu. Legumes (peanuts, soybeans or peas) may be roasted or fried, then coated with a wasabi-like mixture; that can be eaten as a snack.

You can find authentic Japanese Wasabi on many Japanese Restaurants in Los Angeles.

Soy sauce (US and Commonwealth), soya sauce or shoyu is produced by fermenting soybeans with the molds Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus soyae along with roasted grain, water, and salt. Soy sauce was invented in China, where it has been used as a condiment for close to 2,500 years. In its various forms, it is widely used in East and Southeast Asian cuisines and increasingly appears in Western cuisine and prepared foods.

Authentic soy sauces are made by mixing the grain and/or soybeans with yeast, Aspergillus oryzae or other related microorganisms. Traditionally soy sauces were fermented under natural conditions, such as in giant urns and under the sun, which was believed to contribute to additional flavours. Soy sauce has a distinct basic taste called umami, in Japanese. Umami was first identified as a basic taste in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University. The free glutamates which naturally occur in soy sauce are what give it this taste quality.

Soy sauce has been integrated into the traditional cuisines of many East Asian and Southeast Asian cultures. Soy sauce is widely used as a particularly important flavoring in Japanese, Thai, Korean, and Chinese cuisine. Despite their rather similar appearance, soy sauces produced in different cultures and regions are very different in taste, consistency, fragrance and saltiness. Soy sauce retains its quality longer when kept away from direct sunlight.

You can find authentic Japanese Soy Sauce on many Japanese Restaurants in Los Angeles.

Yakitori, grilled chicken, is a Japanese type of skewered chicken.

It is made from several bite-sized pieces of chicken meat, or chicken offal, skewered on a bamboo skewer and barbecued, usually over charcoal.

Diners ordering yakitori usually have a choice of having it served with salt (and sometimes lemon juice) or with tare sauce, which is generally made up of mirin, sake, soy sauce and sugar. If tare sauce is specified, the skewers are repeatedly dipped into a tall pot containing the sauce (usually twice, but occasionally three times) during the grilling process.

Yakitori is usually skewered like a kabob. Yakitori is a great appetizer which goes with beer and sake. A common vegetable to grill with chicken is negi. Yakitori skewered with negi is called negima and is a popular kind of yakitori in Japan. Also, there are mainly two kinds of flavors: tare and shio. Tare indicates basting sauce, such as teriyaki sauce. Shio means salt in Japanese.

Skewers of succulent chicken dipped in barbecue sauce, grilled to perfection over hot charcoals, then washed down with cold beer — it’s easy to see the appeal of yakitori after a hard day’s work.

You can find authentic Japanese Yakitori on many Japanese Restaurants in Los Angeles.

Sakana or shukō is a Japanese term referring to food eaten as an accompaniment to alcohol.

The dishes may be similar in size to Spanish tapas and or they may be something a lot more substantial.

Sakana may also be referred to as otsumami; this term usually applies to smaller dishes.

Because fish, especially dried fish, was a popular choice for these dishes, over the years the term sakana also became the pronunciation for the kanji for fish

In Japan, whenever alcohol is consumed, it is customary that the drinks are always accompanied with some sort of foodstuff. The term sakana traditionally refer to food served to accompany sake. These are usually quite salty and served in relatively small portions. However, since the 19th Century, Japanese beer has overtaken sake as the nation’s most popular alcoholic beverage, and at the same time various foods designed to accompany beer have become popular. These dishes, served in restaurant-pubs known as izakaya, are usually more substantial than tapas although they are not considered a meal as such as they do not contain the all-important rice. Traditionally, the Japanese regarded sake, which is made from rice, as a substitute for white rice served in a standard Japanese meal, and as a result many Japanese do not eat rice and drink alcohol simultaneously.

You can find authentic Japanese Sakana on many Japanese Restaurants in Los Angeles.

Tsukemono are Japanese pickles. They are served with rice as okazu (side dish), and sometimes with drinks as an otsumami (snacks).

The most common kinds are pickled in salt or brine. This means that according to EU and USA trade code definitions for duty tax purposes Japanese ‘pickles’ are in fact ‘preserved vegetables’ and not ‘pickles’ as they are not primarily preserved in acetic acid or distilled vinegar. Soy sauce, miso, vinegar, rice bran (nuka), and sake lees (sake kasu) are also useful for pickling.

Traditionally, the Japanese prepared tsukemono themselves with a tsukemonoki. Pickling was one of the fundamental ways to preserve food. Nowadays, tsukemono can be readily bought in a supermarket, but despite this many Japanese still make their own. Typically, all that’s needed to make pickles is a container, salt, and something to apply pressure on top of the pickles.

You can find authentic Japanese Tsukemono on many Japanese Restaurants in Los Angeles.

Umeboshi are pickled ume fruits common in Japan. Ume is a species of fruit-bearing tree in the genus Prunus, which is often called a plum but is actually more closely related to the apricot. Umeboshi, which are a popular kind of tsukemono (pickles) and are extremely sour and salty, are usually served as side dishes for rice or stuffed inside of rice balls (sometimes without removing their seeds inside) for breakfast and lunch, and are occasionally served boiled or seasoned for dinner.

Umeboshi are traditionally made by harvesting ume fruit when they ripen around June and packing them in barrels with salt. A weight is placed on top and the fruit gradually exude juices, which accumulate at the bottom of the barrel. This salty, sour liquid is marketed as umezu, although it is not a true vinegar.

Most modern umeboshi are made by using less salt and by pickling the ume in a seasoned liquid or vinegar. They are typically dyed red using purple perilla herbs (called akajiso), or flavoured with katsuobushi, kombu or even sweetened with honey. Because modern methods of preservation use less salt, they usually contain an artificial preservative to extend shelf life.

You can find authentic Japanese Umeboshi on many Japanese Restaurants in Los Angeles.

Chazuke is a simple Japanese dish made by pouring green tea, dashi, or hot water over cooked rice roughly in the same proportion as milk over cereal, usually with savoury toppings.

Common toppings include tsukemono, umeboshi (both types of pickles), nori (seaweed), furikake, sesame seeds, tarako and mentaiko (salted and marinated Alaska pollock roe), salted salmon, shiokara (pickled seafood) and wasabi.

The dish is easy to make and provides a way to use leftover rice as a quick snack. It is also known as cha-cha gohan.

This dish first became popular in the Heian period, when water was most commonly poured over rice, but beginning in the Edo period, tea was often used instead.

In Kyoto, ochazuke is known as bubuzuke. When a Kyoto native asks if a guest wants to eat bubuzuke, it really means that the person has overstayed and is being politely asked to leave.

Since the 1970s packaged “instant ochazuke”, consisting of freeze-dried toppings and seasonings, have become popular.

You can find authentic Japanese Chazuke on many Japanese Restaurants in Los Angeles.