While Christmas has no religious significance in Japan, the people have embraced this popular western holiday and given the food an oriental twist.
Here are a few simple recipes that will add a flavour of Japan to your Christmas, though they are delicious all year round.
Roast Teriyaki Chicken
This couldn’t be easier and tastes great. Pierce the skin of your chicken with a fork and season with salt and pepper.
Cover the skin with Teriyaki sauce and leave it for 30 minutes to an hour to soak in.
Roast the chicken at 180 degrees according to the weight of your chicken. It will come out sticky, glazed and gorgeous.
Crunchy Fried Prawns
Take some peeled, raw king prawns and make a couple of small cuts on the underside to straighten them out.
Dip them in seasoned flour, then beaten egg, then cover them completely in Japanese panko breadcrumbs.
Fry lightly in oil in a heavy based frying pan or wok until cooked and golden.
Datemaki- Japanese Egg Roll
This is one of several traditional dishes eaten at New Year – a big festival in Japan. Datemaki symbolises the quest for wisdom or knowledge.
Whisk 4 eggs, 120 ml of dashi soup stock, 3 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp soy sauce, half a tsp salt and 1 tsp of mirin.
Heat some oil in a heavy based frying pan. Pour in a quarter of the mixture and heat until cooked and then roll up using a spatula. Move the roll to the side of the pan and pour in another quarter of the mixture making sure the uncooked mixture fuses with the finished roll.
Make the roll bigger by rolling it into the new mixture as it starts to cook and repeat this process twice more until all the mixture of used and you have one large egg roll.
Allow the roll to cool slightly before slicing it up to serve.
Enjoy!