Japanese Cooking w/ Aiko Immersion Workshop #3

Aiko embraces omotenashi--a deeply caring and attentive sense of hospitality--that you will immediately experience through the peaceful beauty of her home, warm personality, and enticing cooking. Aiko will welcome you with refreshing cold-brewed green and barley teas, as well as an assortment of Japanese snacks, which could include onigiri (sticky rice triangles with assorted fillings) and seaweed salads. 

You will then learn the secret to making umami-rich dashi, and how it is used as the base of many Japanese dishes. Aiko will share with you the simplicity and balance that underlies Japanese cooking and teach you the respect for ingredients and attention to detail that she learned from her mother and grandmother as a young girl.

Throughout the afternoon, you will have the opportunity to help prepare and taste the unique ingredients and seasonings that form the foundation of Japanese cuisine and learn from Aiko where to buy them and how to select the highest-quality items. 

You will go home with recipes for the dishes you learned and a shopping guide to Aiko’s favorite Japanese markets, leaving you well-prepared to recreate a satisfying, authentic, and home cooked Japanese meal. 

In Workshop #3, the menu will be:

Maki-Zushi
A rainbow assortment of sushi rolls, including classic salmon and tuna and uramaki-style (inside-out) “California” rolls.

Monjayaki
A famous Tokyo dish, cooked table-side, chock full of seasonal vegetables, mixed seafood, tarako (seasoned cod roe), rice cakes, noodles, and cheese, and bound by a thin Japanese Worcestershire sauce-flavored batter.

Kinpira
Shaved strips of earthy burdock root softened in a soy sauce, mirin, and homemade dashi braising liquid, and garnished with sesame seeds. 

Gomaae
Blanched seasonal greens lightly dressed with a paste of freshly toasted ground sesame seeds, toasted sesame oil, mirin, soy sauce, and kombu powder. 

Isobeyaki
Japanese taro root cooked and mashed with sake and cornstarch, then formed into small patties and pan-fried until golden. A syrupy sauce of  sugar, mirin, soy sauce, and homemade dashi is poured over the patties at the end. Served wrapped in a small rectangle of nori.

Ukishima
Known as “islands in the sea, ” this special steamed sponge cake, made from sweetened red bean paste, is topped with sugared red, green, and yellow beans that are said to resemble islands.

Food Allergies: This menu includes dairy, eggs, fish, shellfish and soy.

All immersion workshops include a light lunch and beverage, 3.5 hours of hands-on cooking instruction, a full dinner, and a booklet of recipes and in-depth culinary info.