Miso Hungry Podcast

Over the last few weeks, Rachael has developed a recipe for black sesame pudding that we’re such big fans of, we recorded a bonus mini episode all about it. Go visit her blog for the post and the recipe… then make the pudding, and come back and let us know how you like it!

Tonkatsu (豚カツ, とんかつ, or トンカツ) is a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet that is very popular in Japan. It is traditionally served with shredded cabbage, or miso soup, or both. Ton means pork in Japanese. Katsu is short for katsuretto (aka “cutlet”). Keep in mind that we’re talking about tonKAtsu, not tonKOtsu – make sure you […]

It’s almost one of our favorite times of the year… cherry blossom season! Which means it’s also time for Hanami festivals! These festivals have been happening for centuries. Hanami literally means flower viewings, or seeing the flowers. These days, that specifically refers to sakura – cherry blossoms. In popular places, it’s common to reserve a […]

It’s been a year since the 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan, on March 11, 2011. But did you know that the region hit was the 2nd largest food production region in Japan? Tohoku is one of Japan’s major seafood producing regions with a number of fishing ports being home to deepwater and tuna fishing fleets. […]

This week, we’re all celebrating Hinamatsuri! Come join our Hinamatsuri party! (Which actually has nothing to do with wearing stuffed octopuses on your heads like hats. But, you know, that’s how we roll here at the Miso Hungry Podcast. We’re silly like that.) So what is Hinamatsuri? Hinamatsuri (雛祭り) is Girl’s Day, or the Japanese […]

Today it’s tako time! (And we’re having a giveaway, so make sure to read the whole post!) But… don’t get that confused with tacos. There are no tortillas to be seen around here. When we say tako, we mean octopus. Yum. Tako is almost always cooked before eating; unlike many fish that are offered raw, […]

This week, Rachael and Allison have learned that… they just can’t get away from those purple sweet potato mountain mushroom candies. Addicted? Yes, we are. Hey look, it’s the purple sweet potato mountain mushrooms again! (Yeah, we’re kind of obsessed.) But really, this week we’re talking about chocolate! Or, as they say in Japan, chokorēto […]

Today, we’re talking about uni (うに)! So… er… what is uni? When you’re eating uni, you’re eating the insides of a sea urchin… more specifically, you’re eating the reproductive organs of a sea urchin (but most people call it roe, since it sounds a little better). You’ll probably never actually know whether you’re eating a […]

The Super Bowl is coming up this weekend! Wait, who’s playing? (Obviously, we’re just here for the food.) But how does this relate to Japanese food? Well, over there, they’re baseball fanatics… so we wanted to know what they eat when they’re watching sports! At the games, they eat all sorts of delicious things: hot […]

Onigiri! Japanese comfort food to the max. It can be anything from a ball of rice sprinkled with salt to rice surrounding tuna or salmon, wrapped with nori. But it's not sushi. Nope. No rice vinegar involved, thus... not sushi! They make excellent lunches. Bring them to school or to work - they'll stay fresh unrefrigerated for up to six hours, thanks to the wonderful, magical (okay, not so magical) preservation qualities of salt! And if you fill your onigiri with an umebosi - a very salty, sour pickled plum - it'll stay fresh for up to eight hours. You can fill them with anything that goes well with rice - common onigiri fillings include flaked salmon, gingery chicken, spicy fish roe, bonito flakes moistened with soy sauce, and tiny clams cooked in a sweet soy glaze. But the possibilities are endless. (Rachael put an olive in her olive-loving older daughter's onigiri; Allison's contemplating how she can get bacon into one.) Onigiri have been around for a really long time... more than 1000 years.

Japanese candy will ruin you. It’s ruined both of us… it’s so good, we can’t help but be addicted. Rice candy has always been Allison’s favorite. It has a yummy, light, citrusy taste, there’s a really cool edible rice paper wrapper that melts in your mouth, plus you get a sticker in every box. And […]

Happy New Year! In this episode, we talk all about the Japanese New Year. It’s a big deal. You’ll find out why it’s a good idea to plan way ahead if you want to order food for your Japanese New Year celebrations, and why it’s a very, very bad idea to go shopping at an […]

Who are we? Why are we doing this podcast? We are Miso Hungry! (We hope we make YOU so hungry, too!) Allison Writes the blog Sushi Day Is half Japanese, third generation Japanese-American (her grandmother came over to the US at age three) Never even tried sashimi until she was an adult Is now trying […]