5 Recipes featured in Anime that you should try for yourself

I know I repeat myself a lot but for those of you that haven’t heard the story, the original concept for this blog was for me to try to recreate dishes I saw in anime (or make vegetarian versions) and share the results with you. I’ve always enjoyed cooking and I thought it would be a very fun way to combine a bunch of my hobbies.

I quickly realized that the project was a bit too lofty and time-consuming for my means. I generally only have a few hours a week in which I can actually do any serious cooking and developing recipes involve a lot of trial and error. In all likelihood, I would be able to post maybe once every other month or so and that is if I dedicate all the time I spend on my blog to sourcing ingredients and cooking instead.

So that concept fell by the wayside but I always kept it close to my heart. Maybe someday I will go back to it. Ultimately, I wanted to just take all those screenshots I have of food in anime and try to visually reproduce them as well as create a similar taste.

I don’t know if I will ever do that. But in the meantime, a very kind friend did give me an anime themes cookbook and it has reignited my interest. I figure at the very least, I would share with you 5 simple recipes we often see in anime that I think you should try! What better way to enjoy your favourite show than to share a meal with the characters?

The numbers don’t represent rankings, I tried to arrange them as a meal. There are two appetizers followed by two main courses and a dessert. You’re going to be full!

5 – Chazuke

This is the dish that started it all. It’s what Atsushi eats 15 bowls of it in the first episode of Bungo Stray Dogs and it piqued my curiosity since he made such a big deal about it. I had never heard of the dish and when I read up on it it was described as Tea over rice. And that sounds like the best thing in the world to me

As it turns out, it’s essentially a rice bowl with some protein in tea. I use tofu but you can use whatever meat you want. I think chicken is the most likely to work with this though. My recipe for this is a lot more slapdash but I hope you get the idea.

You need

• Sticky white rice
• Chicken or Tofu (as much as you want to eat but it’s not the main ingredient)
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
• Your favourite green tea (you can even go with Matcha but then it will taste like matcha)
• Your favourite rice toppings (like green onion, strips of seaweed, sesame seeds, furikake…)

First, make yourself a serving of sticky white rice. If you cook a lot of sticky rice, I would warmly recommend a rice cooker.

Second, fry your protein. For tofu, I just take half a block (as much as you want really but it’s not supposed to be the main ingredient) and tear it into bite-sized chunks. If you’re using chicken you can cut it into bit-sized boneless chunks.

Put your tofu or chicken in a bowl, dump the corn starch over it and toss to coat everything.

Fry it up in a neutral oil or if you’re watching your calories, drizzle oil on it and put it in the oven. I use my toaster oven at 375F for about 25 minutes. Basically, you want the outside to get golden brown and all crispy.

Make your tea.

All that’s left is to put it together. Scoop some rice in your bowl, top it with the crunchy tofu or chicken. Sprinkle your toppings on. If you’re extra brave, you can put a pickled plum on top for authenticity. Then pour the tea over it all as if it was a soup.

Yum!

4. Omurice

This is probably the most popular recipe of them all. I see omurice absolutely everywhere. And it always looks delicious.

There are a lot of ways to make Omurice and the real fancy versions with the half-liquid omelette that just spills over the rice can take years to master but the basic is really just an omelette over fried rice. So you can simply use your favourite fried rice recipe, shape it into a log then drape an omelet over it and drizzle some ketchup.

Here’s my fried rice recipe if you’re curious.

I start by cooking a serving of white sticky rice.

In a pan saute a minced onion in vegetable oil. I like onions a lot so I usually use a whole small or medium onion but you may want to use half. When the edges start to get a bit brown I add in a tablespoon of ketchup (I find this works well for Omurice specifically, I rarely use ketchup if I’m just making fried rice), and I add in a splash of vegetable broth (maybe a tablespoon as well) and a splash of soy sauce. Then I put in my white rice and fold everything together until it’s all mixed up and evenly coloured. Put it aside and when it’s cold enough to handle put it on a plate and shape it how you want your omurice to look. I use clingwrap for this. It sticks less. But you can just wet your hands and do it that way.

You can use a different pan but I just wipe mine down and make a plain omelette with two or three eggs depending on how hungry I am. I just scramble the eggs in a bowl and I like to add some cashew milk to make them a bit more creamy. You can also add a bit of broth, melted butter and/or cheese. Whatever you like. Traditionally the omelettes are plain but hey, this is your omurice, put ham and mushrooms in it if you want!

When the omelette is almost set, put the rice log you made in the center of the pan then fold your omelette around it and flip it so that it is seal-side down and everything is contained in your little omelette envelope.

Put it on your plate and make a little ketchup drawing. It’s not traditional but kewpie mayo is not bad at all either.

You can sprinkle green onion or parsley on top for some colour. Or jalapenos – it’s YOUR omurice!

3. Kare (Japanese curry)

Curry is extremely popular in Japan and I am sure you have seen it eaten and made many times in anime. It’s a common communal dish to make during training camp for instance and there’s a general expectation that most people will know how to at least make curry. Japanese curry is quite different from Indian curry and I have to admit, I’m not sure what it’s supposed to taste like. You see, aside from the versions I have made myself, I have never tasted real Kare.  I do know that they sell instant Kare cubes so maybe I’ll try that next time. And you can as well if you want to make it easier.

Kare is usually made with some sort of protein, it can be anything from chicken, lamb, pork, beef, tofu or even simply vegetarian, onions, potatoes, carrots and the secret ingredient: apples! I do think that recipes vary from one person to the next and not all of them use apples but I have always seen it as an ingredient and I think it really gives it a fresh taste.

Here’s my recipe for two people.

• ¼ lbs of meat of your choice or one block of tofu. You can also omit the protein altogether if you want to.
• ½ sweet variety of apple. I like pink ladies but I guess fuji might be more appropriate.
• 1 tablespoon of sweet apple sauce or jam
• a drop of honey or two teaspoons of sugar
• a splash of any neutral oil (canola is what I use)
• a small onion
• 1 potato
• 1 large carrot
• 1 cup of broth (it can be any broth, but you might want to match your protein here, so chicken, beef, vegetable. You could even do it with onion but it’s going to transform the taste of your Kare. Not in a bad way in my opinion)
• A tablespoon of soy sauce
• A teaspoon of mirin
• ½ cup of butter
• ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons of curry powder
• 1 tablespoon of allspice
• A pinch of garlic salt
• A pinch of onion powder
• A pinch of ginger
• Enough rice for two people
• Salt and pepper

Don’t worry guys, it’s not all that complicated.

First, you peel and cut up all your veggies to bite size. Cut your protein to the same size as well. Grate or cut your apple into smaller pieces.

Sauté the onion in a little bit of oil until it becomes translucent and soft on medium-high. I suggest you use a large pan with high sides because we’re going to add a lot to it. 5 to 10 minutes depending on your stove. If you’re using a protein, add it in now and brown it with the onion. Make sure you get all the sides. About 5 minutes.

At this point, you can add your potatoes, carrot and apple as well as your 1 cup of broth, an extra half cup of water, the apple sauce, the honey (or sugar), the soy sauce and the mirin.

Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium and let it simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes. You should have liquid left if it all evaporates add some water or broth.

While the curry is simmering, in a small pan melt the butter on medium-low. Add in the flour and stir together until you have a roux (basically a paste) add in all the spices and stir to incorporate. Heat for another 30 seconds or so. Put it aside and allow it to cool.

At the end of your 15 to 20 minutes, add the roux you made in the small pan to your simmering curry and stir it in until it’s completely dissolved the cook for at least 10 more minutes until you get to the desired consistency.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the curry with a side of white rice and tada! It’s sweet and full of spices. I like to add a bit of sriracha or tabasco because I enjoy a kick to my food but you can eat it as is.

2- Okonomiyaki

So this is here because Okonomiyaki is one of my favourite foods and I rarely make it. If there was a restaurant serving okonomiyaki in my area, or better yet one of those places where you can make it yourself on a hotplate, I would live there.

In the simplest terms, Okonomiyaki is a cabbage pancake. And it is delicious. Once again this has a ton of variations and if you enjoy it you might want to look into Hiroshima okonomiyaki which includes a layer of fried noodles.

Here I’m going to give you the most basic recipe and you can add whatever you like to it.

You’re going to need

• Two cups of shredded cabbage (that’s about half a head)
• Okonomiyaki sauce (if you can’t find it you can make a decent simile with ketchup, oyster sauce and Worcestershire)
• 1 egg
• ½ flour (preferably something without much gluten like cake flour)
• Pinch of baking powder
• Kewpie mayo

It’s pretty simple. If you didn’t find shredded cabbage, then shred your cabbage and lay out the shredded cabbage on paper towels. You want to make it as dry as possible.

In a bowl scramble your egg with a quarter cup of water. Sift in the flour whisking as you go, add in your baking powder, a pinch of salt and (optionally you can also add a tablespoon or two of graded yam or grated daikon or one clove of minced garlic. The garlic is definitely not traditional, but I like garlic…). Whisk everything until you get a smooth batter. You can add other things to your batter as well like green or white onion, tempura bits or panko. Add them last minute so they don’t get too soggy.

Fold the shredded cabbage into your batter then fry them in oil making ½ thick pancakes. Fry on one side for 3 to 5 minutes – put the id on to make sure the top firm up, then flip and fry on the other side uncovered.

One popular alternative is to put some bacon down in the pan before spooning in the cabbage and batter mix so that one side has embedded strips of bacon. I never tried it but if you like bacon, why not.

Once it’s cooked on both sides, side onto a plate and brush one whole side with Okonomiyaki sauce. If you can’t find the sauce, mix one part ketchup, to one and a half part oyster sauce and two parts Worcestershire. Zig Zag Kewpie mayonnaise over the sauce and garnish with what you like such as green onions, bonito flakes, nori bits or whatever strikes your fancy. You can put crushed-up candy cane if that’s what floats your boat. It is a pancake after all!

1. Coffee Jelly

After all that, you might want a bit of dessert. I can only think of one anime that features coffee jelly (Saiki. K) but it’s featured so prominently that I actually went out of my way to make this recipe after watching the show.

At the end of the day, it’s exactly what it sounds like, coffee-flavoured gelatine. So if you have ever made any sort of gelatine, this is the same thing. But it’s an easy dessert that can be surprisingly satisfying and low in calories if you don’t go crazy with the whipped cream.

You need:

• Ground coffee
• 2 cups of water, Either powdered gelatine or powder Agar agar if you can find it
• sugar

Basically, you need to start by making two cups of cold-brew coffee. You do this by putting the grounds in cold water overnight and straining it. Cold-brew coffee is less astringent. It doesn’t have that strong bitterness of regular coffee and that’s why I like to use it. But if you like your coffee with more of a bite, you can simply brew a couple of cups of regular coffee and stick them in the fridge to cool down.

Once your coffee is at room temperature or colder, put it in a pot, and we’re going to heat it up again. You should still start with cold (room temperature) coffee to make sure your gelatine doesn’t clump. To your two cups of coffee in your pot, add 2 tablespoons of gelatine or agar agar.

Agar agar is a vegetable-based gelatine and I find that it’s much cleaner. As in it doesn’t have any smell or taste at all which makes it my preferred choice for desserts. But it also tends to not get as firm as regular gelatine so it’s up to you. Add in 3 tablespoons of sugar as well at this point.

Turn your heat to medium and whisk regularly until your mixture starts to boil. Once boiling, remove from the heat and let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes. After that, pour it into your service glasses or moulds and put it in the fridge to set up overnight. They should be completely solidified by the next day and you can serve.

If you want you can decorate your coffee jelly with whipped cream and if you can get your hands on them, chocolate-covered coffee beans.

Well, how’s that folks? A 5-course deluxe anime meal for you guys. Not bad, eh!

Did you enjoy the recipe content? This was a long post so I don’t blame you if you skimmed through it. However, if any of you decided to make one of these recipes, let me know. It would make me very happy.