Inside a Japanese Cooking Classroom

Grace joined our 'Japanese Cuisine' online course, taught by Chef Koj, from her home in Hong Kong.

Students join the class from all over the world, and can interact with each other, share their cooking experiences and receive personal feedback from Chef Koj on their dishes.

We caught up with Grace to find out which Japanese dishes she cooked in the class.

Grace said:

Home cooking has been my hobby for a long time. I love cooking Asian food and therefore I wanted to learn more about Asian food other than Chinese dishes.....Mr. Kojima’s Bio is so impressive and his philosophy of teaching us different authentic dishes from east to west of Japan made me decided to learn this online cooking class.

Lesson 1: Tonkatsu

Grace created a stunning meal set which included Tonkatsu with tonkatsu sauce, shredded cabbage salad, Japanese rice, miso soup with wagame and radish paste and Japanese pickles on the side.

Chef Koj replied with:

I'm glad you have all the right crockery to help the presentation. The rice looks perfectly cooked, and the tonkatsu is nicely browned - hopefully the perfect thickness to be cooked just right inside. I like the addition of some tomato - I've seen that too in Japan and also the grated radish, which I haven;t seen, but I think is a good addition for to help the digestion of any fried food. If I may offer some criticism, it would be to slice the cabbage even more finely. You can do this by hand, or it's easier with a mandoline. Just remember to refresh it in cold water, because when it's thinner it goes limp more quickly.

Lesson 2: Ramen

We loved the presentation of Grace's second dish - ramen, served with tea.

There was a lot of new challenges for Grace in this classic Japanese noodle dish:

Today is the first time I have learnt from Teacher Kojima to cook Tokyo chicken ramen. I have infact learnt so much about how to prepare for the broth as well as how to marinate Japanese eggs.

Lesson 3: Gyoza

Gyoza is many Japanese cookery student's favourite dish, it can be a challenge to get the wrap just right, but once you master the art, you'll be cooking gyoza at every opportunity!

Each dish taught by Mr. Kojima has a detailed video along with recipe. It was so challenging for me to cook each dish and looking so much forward to learn another one from him.

Lesson 4: Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is often described as like Japanese pizza - it's brilliant for using up whatever you have in the kitchen and creating a delicious comforting dish.

Lesson 5: Yakitori

The final culinary challenge of the course is Yakitori - Japanese grilled skewers. The secret to making the perfect yakitori is in the teriyaki sauce which you serve with the meat.

As Grace said:

...thank you so much Teacher Kojima for teaching me all these Japanese dishes. I have been enjoying cooking each dish as well as learnt so much from him. Will continue to learn more different cuisines from “Learning with experts” as well as other courses. Thank you very much indeed.

You can see what else Grace has been making on her instagram: @grace121daydaycook

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