Matsutake Gohan with Ginkgo Nuts

We're focusing on Asian cooking this week, and rounding up a few favorite recipes in the process. Yesterday we shared 15 Korean dishes, and today we're turning to Japanese food. Want to make your own spicy tuna, braise pork belly, or cook Matsutake Dobin Mushi (a nourishing mushroom soup)? If Japanese cooking is something you've always wanted to try, these 15 recipes will give you a good head start.

• 1 Autumn Udon with Vegetables: chewy noodles and vegetables in a hot broth.
• 2 Nabemono: a popular Japanese hot pot dish filled with vegetables, seafood, and meat.
• 3 Spicy Tuna Bowl: add your own toppings!
• 4 Hiyayakko (Japanese Cold Tofu): a small block of tofu sprinkled with soy sauce, chopped herbs, ginger or other toppings.
• 5 Sukiyaki: a savory hotpot with meat, vegetables, and noodles cooked in a shallow dish.

MIDDLE ROW
• 6 Vegetarian Furikake Rice Seasoning: Furikake is a Japanese condiment commonly mixed with rice.
• 7 Okonomiyaki: a savory Japanese pancake-like dish. Makes a great "clean the fridge" meal!
• 8 Matsutake Dobin Mushi: a nourishing mushroom soup made with chicken, shrimp, and ginkgo nuts.
• 9 Oden: a hearty, savory Japanese stew made with yam, taro, fish cake, hard boiled eggs, and mushrooms.
• 10 Buta no Kakuni (Japanese Braised Pork Belly): pork belly simmered in a broth of sake, mirin, soy sauce, and other ingredients until it's tender and fatty.

BOTTOM ROW
• 11 Easy Japanese Pickled Cucumber: a great way to use up cucumbers!
• 12 Matsutake Gohan with Ginkgo Nuts: rice cooked with matsutake mushrooms and ginkgo nuts.
• 13 How To Make Dashi Soup Stock: made from dried kelp and bonito, this is the basic soup stock called for in many Japanese dishes.
• 14 How To Make Umeshu (Japanese Plum Liqueur): a sweet cordial made from ume plums.
• 15 How To Make Japanese Rice on the Stove: a step-by-step guide to making perfectly glossy, tender, non-sticky Japanese rice.

Related: A Roundup of Japanese Citrus Fruit

(Images: as linked)