Cooking class #4

I recently attended my 4th Japanese cooking class with our base spouses club.   This was one of the 1st things I did after we arrived in Japan and it's one of the things I will most appreciate when we leave Japan.  I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn to cook some of the food I love to eat.

This time, we made nikujaga which is essentially beef stew with a Japanese flavor sauce instead of beef broth.  I will be making this with chicken very soon.  It's the perfect fall meal.  We also made tuna rice which tasted just like tuna salad without all the mayo, a fried spearfish and something I can't remember the name of but essentially we stuffed cucumber into a steamed fish flavored cake.

getting ready to start chopping veggies for the nikujaga

Adding the sukiyaki sauce that gives this stew a Japanese flavor.  We used store bought sauce but it can be easily made at home with ingredients you most likely have in your kitchen if you cook Asian food regularly: soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar and water.

Annette slicing tofu for our miso soup

a close up of the tuna rice

Michiko working hard 

Could Miyo be any more adorable?!?

Such a yummy snack!  I might try my own version of these, adding some cheese and a drizzle of teriyaki sauce!

Making miso soup, my favorite!

Frying the spearfish.

Time for plating

Everything was so delicious and easy enough to make that I would feel comfortable recreating this meal on my own.

The wonderful red team:

Annette, I cannot remember her name and I feel awful, Toshiko, Nachiko

Me, Eriko, Meggan, Chieko

{Did you notice that all the Japanese names end in -ko?  It's a traditional ending for a girls name in Japan}

Thank you, Kasumi, for sending me the large group photo!

I love these ladies and I will cherish these memories as long as I live!  I would do this every day if it were an option.