MacGourmet News

Looking for the latest import food diva? Look no further than Harumi Kurihara, whose new book Harumi's Japanese Cooking is all the rage according to the New York Times piece entitled "Empress of Domesticity Drops In":

Ms. Kurihara's television cooking shows, housewares stores, cookbooks and food magazines have propelled her to rock-star status in Japan, and her first book in English, "Harumi's Japanese Cooking," has just been published in the United States

Using common Japanese ingredients Ms. Kurihara whips up dishes that are simple and traditional:

The ingredients Ms. Kurihara uses most often, though, are longtime standards of the Japanese kitchen: soy, sesame, ginger, rice and its derivatives (sake, vinegar) and especially the members of the huge green-onion family. While American cooks use either slim scallions or fat leeks, their Japanese counterparts use every size in between.

In addition "there is no Japanese cooking without myoga," Ms. Kurihara said, picking up a graceful shallotlike bulb that is related to ginger. Its streaks of green, pink and white were reflected in the blossoming tulip trees outside. "It's so refreshing to taste the first cabbages, the spring onions, new garlic and artichokes," she added, speaking the international language of cooks.

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