2026.07.14（Tue）

Kura Cooking in 2026.6

Many guests came to Kura Cooking and they learned a lot about cooking.

On top of that, it was a busy month filled with our annual activities: pickling rakkyo, Ume preparation (umeboshi, ume juice, and ume jam), making apricot jam, making loquat compote, making garlic pickles (with soy sauce and vinegar), and making ginger ale syrup. We put a lot of love into making each of these, so we’ll be incorporating them little by little into our Kura Cooking lessons.

The welcome drink for June was homemade ginger ale. The guests really enjoyed it.

The first guests in June were a trio of music lovers from Taiwan. They requested ｈana-sushi, so they made the basic version. The main dish was karaage which young people love. They were also very pleased with the miso soup made with Kura Cooking’s original miso, and they took miso with them to Taiwan. And to my delight, I received a message from Taiwan, “We’re running low on miso—could you please send some?” so I sent it via EMS. It seems they’re cooking Japanese food quite often. I’m grateful that the number of fans of Kura Cooking’s miso is growing in Taiwan as well.

The guest from the U.S. requested ramen and gyoza.

Miso ramen and gyoza were delicious. She ate a lot while we chatted.

In the class with a student who caught and brought 70 baby ayu, we made plenty of baby ayu tempura and served it with four different dipping sauces- salted cucumber and roselle, plum jam and vinegar, spices and shikuwasa juice (shikuwasa is a kind of citrus), and salt which has a lot of mineral from Okinawa—All of the sauces were delicious.

In another class, the guests who preferred a light meal, steamed seasonal vegetables and fish together and served them with plum sauce. The meal was arranged to look like a hydrangea.

For guests who requested a Chinese style meal, the main dish was sweet and sour pork in summer. They also made rice crackers using leftover rice flour and potato starch.

In our regular class, the guests enjoyed Nepali cuisine featuring spices and a spiced afternoon tea. In both classes, we made Panipuni and matcha milk pudding with mote corn from Peru. It was everyone’s first time trying both Panipuni and mote corn, they were very intrigued. In the Nepali cuisine cooking class, we made a vegetable biriyani. Additionally, the momos—made from scratch—turned out beautifully and were very good. All the dishes were delicious, and it seems everyone enjoyed them. In the afternoon tea class, we baked spiced scones and plum jam cinnamon bread.

I believe that by learning how to use spices easily in this way, our medicinal cuisine skills will expand.