A Japanese style cooking class in Ningyocho: Nepalese students satisfied!

A Japanese style cooking class in Ningyocho: Nepalese students satisfied!

Three of the participants were Nepalese students studying accommodation business at a vocational school and four were Japanese who were staying at “Ito Ryokan,” the venue of att.Kitchen.

The menu this time was atsuyaki tamago (thick omelet) and makizushi (rolled sushi) requested by the Nepalese students. They usually cook Nepalese food at home but they like Japanese food, especially atsuyaki tamago and makizushi, and often eat these outside. That’s why they made a request to learn how to make their favorite Japanese food.

Mr. Sano, the chef of a Japanese restaurant in Ningyocho, taught us how to make these dishes. Most Japanese people are familiar with atsuyaki tamago but the Japanese participants were also very excited to learn from a professional cook, which was a special opportunity.

First, Mr. Sano made a sample of atsuyaki tamago. The participants shouted “Cool!” all at once when he shook the frying pan while holding chopsticks against the egg to wrap it.

The participants tried making one with passion, wanting to cook like Mr. Sano. The teacher helped each person standing next to them to make a dish that they could be satisfied with.

Next, we cut the atsuyaki tamago we just made into long thin strips and prepared it as an ingredient for makizushi.

There are seven kinds of standard ingredients for makizushi, namely cucumber, shrimp, Japanese parsley, simmered gourd strip, pickles and sakura denbu, in addition to atsuyaki tamago.

Everyone lined up as much of the ingredients as they liked and in the order they liked on top of the rice, and following the teacher’s advice to “Roll it all at once while pressing down on the ingredients,” everyone rolled it without failing.

We cut the sushi rolls into bite-sized pieces and served them. The profile of the makizuhi was so appealing that the Nepalese students cheered.

Even Japanese people don’t have the custom to make sushi rolls at home these days, and an increasing number of people look for commercial products. Some of the Japanese participants said that this class with att.Kitchen was the second time they had made makizushi in their lives.

Eating time! Everyone exchanged the dishes they had made and enjoyed eating them.

Finally, as a dessert after the meal, we made cherry blossom nerikiri (traditional rice cake kneaded) as an extended version of att.Kitchen. “Otokuya Nagahisa,” a long-established Japanese confectionery shop in Mie Prefecture, gave us a homemade kit that we could easily make them with so we made them while watching a sample video.

The shape was not as beautiful as the ones on sale, but the ingredients were definitely from a long-established store. They tasted very good.

We gave out the atsuyaki tamago and the sushi mat we used to make makizushi to all the participants! The Nepalese students were very pleased and said, “Now I can cook my favorite Japanese food at home!”

We are pleased to support your efforts to learn how to prepare Japanese food at home.

The next event will be held on Saturday, August 24! We look forward to your participation.

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