Shirasu-don

"Don" is literally a oversized bowl, but also means a rice bowl dish consisting meat, fish and and vegetables served on cooked rice.

For example, Gyu-don consists of sliced beaf simmerd with onion, soy sauce and sugar on rice and Tekka-don is a rice bowl topped with thin-sliced raw tuna. We have various don dishes and ingredients are rich in variety as one in the Japanese traditional style and another in the Japanese-Chinese hybrid.

This is today's dinner, Shirasu-don. Shirasu means whitebait in Japanese. The term applies to juveniles of engraulis japonica and sardines. It is called "Shirasu" in the Kanto region including Tokyo and "Chirimenjako" in the Kansai region, the southern-central area of Japanese main island. There are 3 type of Shirasu, one is fresh which is only eaten along the fishery coast, another is boiled which is called "Kamaage" and the other is boiled and sun dried. Today I put Kamaage Shirasu, some pieces of laver, curing salmon roes, finely chopped leeks and grated fresh ginger root on rice.