Everyday Harumi - Simple Japanese Food for Family and Friends

Everyday Harumi - Simple Japanese Food for Family and Friends By Harumi Kurihara

Harumi Kurihara is a star in Japan, famous for cooking programmes, books and lifestyle products. She's been called the 'Martha Stewart of Japan', although she says in Everyday Harumi that she considers herself an 'ordinary housewife', rather than a lifestyle guru.

Everyday Harumi is the type of cooking that can be made at home without a lot of planning or effort. Unless you're already cooking a lot of Japanese food though, you'll need to expand the number of ingredients in your pantry if you want to use this book: most of us have soy sauce, rice wine, ginger and garlic somewhere on our shelves but probably not katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), potato starch and seaweed such as kombu and nori.

The dishes Kurihara presents aren't hard - few call for more than 10 ingredients. Although I haven't had this book for long, I've already earmarked several easy recipes I plan on making: deep-fried chicken with leek sauce; crispy salad with grated carrot and ponzu dressing; three toppings rice; ginger pork; Japanese tsukune with teriyaki sauce; and sirloin steak in miso marinade.