There could scarcely be a book more designed to delight me than this! There are already four books by Emiko Davies in CookbookCorner, and I’m so glad there’s another one to add. Whether she is focussing on the food of Italy (where she has long lived) or Japan (where her mother’s family is from) her writing is always thoughtful, and her recipes life-enhancingly do-able and delicious. The ones in The Japanese Pantry draw chiefly on soy sauce, miso, seaweed, sake, rice vinegar and sesame – ingredients I call upon often for instant depth, though not necessarily for Japanese dishes, and I’m grateful to have such a delectable stock of suggestions to realise their potential more fully. I will give you (less fully) a shortlist of recipes that are a particular lure: Soy Sauce Pickles; Tuna Tataki with Ponzu Sauce; Miso Pickles; Fried Dumplings with Miso Eggplant; Vegetable Udon Curry; Miso Mackerel; Walnut Miso Cookies; Seaweed Salad; Scallops Cooked in Butter and Sake; Ricotta and Sake Lees Cheesecake; Vinegar-Braised Chicken; Avocado with Sesame Dressing; Stir-Fried Sesame Cabbage; and – I do rather enjoy saying this – Matcha Mochi Crepes. This is an inspirational book, and I am very happy to be sharing with you from it these gorgeous Chicken Meatballs (Tsukune).
The Japanese Pantry by Emiko Davies (Smith Street Books, £30).
