🍳 Spanish & Latin Recipes

Gyoza are the popular Japanese dumplings of Chinese origin: a thin dough made from flour and hot water, filled with ground pork mixed with Chinese cabbage, ginger, garlic, and sesame oil. They are first pan‑fried to brown the bottom, then steamed with a splash of water so the wrapper stays tender. A dipping sauce of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and a few drops of chili oil is inseparable from them.

Shio ramen is the most delicate of all ramen styles: a long-simmered chicken broth seasoned with sea salt alone, without the opacity of miso or the richness of tonkotsu. The carcass cooks for hours with leek and ginger until the stock turns translucent and fragrant, ready to receive the noodles, chashu pork, marinated egg, and nori. Time-consuming, but deeply satisfying.

Miso ramen is the most umami-rich and robust variant of Japanese ramen: a long-cooked pork broth into which red miso paste is stirred at the very end to preserve its complexity, served with wheat noodles, chashu — pork belly braised in soy sauce — and a soft-boiled egg marinated until the yolk is jammy and savoury. Each component is prepared separately and assembled to order, making homemade ramen a cooking project well worth planning a day ahead.

Vegetable sushi maki is a plant‑based version of the Japanese maki: seasoned sushi rice, nori seaweed and fillings of avocado, cucumber and carrot rolled with a bamboo mat. The technique requires practice — spreading the rice in a thin layer without crushing it, moistening the nori before cutting — but the result is fresh, colorful and free of any animal‑derived ingredients.

Japanese cotton cheesecake is a water-bath baked cheese cake unlike any other: stiffly beaten egg whites are folded into a cream cheese, flour, and yolk batter, giving an airy, jiggly texture halfway between a soufflé and a sponge cake. It bakes slowly in a pan surrounded by hot water and is eaten at room temperature or slightly chilled. Delicate, barely sweet, and extraordinarily light.

Sushi rolls filled with crab or imitation crab, creamy avocado, and fresh cucumber, rolled in seasoned sushi rice. The perfect California roll for getting started with homemade sushi using simple inside-out maki technique.

Shoyu ramen is the most classic style of Japanese ramen: a clear dashi broth seasoned with soy sauce and mirin, served with springy ramen noodles, sliced chashu pork belly, a soft-boiled soy-cured egg, nori, spring onion and bamboo shoots. It takes time to make from scratch, but the depth of flavour is worlds away from the instant version.

Homemade sushi has made one of the world's most photographed dishes accessible to everyone. California rolls are the perfect entry point for beginners, while nigiri requires more practice but is more authentic.

Miso soup is the daily breakfast and side dish for millions of Japanese households. It is made with dashi — a broth of kombu kelp and katsuobushi — into which miso paste (white for a mild flavor, red for a richer note) is dissolved, and silky tofu and rehydrated wakame seaweed are added. It comes together in ten minutes and should never be boiled after the miso is added to preserve its beneficial bacteria.

Salmon teriyaki with homemade glaze made from soy sauce, mirin, and sake that caramelizes in the pan. The easiest Japanese dish to prepare at home with a brilliant, sweet, and deeply flavorful result.