Main Course

Sweet sour chicken

The irrepressible appeal of sweet sour sauce meets lightly crisp chicken thigh fillets cooked Japanese karaage style. The pork version has always been my comfort food, but sweet and sour chicken is just as good. Make the sauce even tastier with the addition of grated garlic and ginger, and a little hoisin sauce.

Cook time: 15

Servings: 4 people

Oden

A Samurai Gourmet-inspired dish, our version of oden is a fusion of Japanese and Korean. It's not a soup and it's not a stew. It's oden. This recipe has the classic Japanese broth but adds Korean-style fish cake.

Cook time: 30

Servings: 4 people

Chashu (Japanese braised pork belly for ramen)

To cook melt-in-the-mouth chashu, roll and tie a slab of pork belly, sear in hot oil then slow cook in a mixture of soy sauce, sake and mirin. Cool and chill overnight to make slicing easier.

Cook time: 5 15

Servings: 6 people

Shrimp and fish ball ramen

A quick and easy lunch or dinner. Egg noodles topped with frozen fish balls, shrimps, bok choy and scallions are served in dashi. A marriage of Chinese and Japanese cuisines.

Cook time: 10

Servings: 4 people

Pork and chicken adobo with sweet peanut butter sauce

Cook your pork and chicken adobo as usual, and pour in diluted sweetened peanut butter during the last few minutes of cooking. The result is a rich and subtly sweet stew with all the sour-salty-garlicky-peppery goodness of traditional Filipino adobo.

Cook time: 1 20

Servings: 4 people