Category: All About Newton

I signed up with my friend Nathalie for the Japanese Style Salmon Dinner at The Sweet Kitchen in Newton. It’s a three and a half hour cooking class in which we made the following Japanese homestyle meal:

Nathalie is Vietnamese and we both cook a lot of rice at home but Ayako showed us how to make it on the stove top using a Dutch oven. It was the best rice we had ever eaten. It’s not just the cooking method though. she took a special rice cooking class in Japan and used techniques that Japanese sushi chefs employ. It involves spring water, soaking and cooking at three different temperatures at a precise schedule. It’s worth it though! The rice was light and extremely fluffy with an almost sweet flavor.

We wondered how to get the minced shrimp not to fall out of the Shitake mushroom caps! She uses cornstarch and even when pan fried upside down, the filling stays put!

We did a Japanese quick pickle that involved smashing cucumbers. She demonstrates the technique in the video below.

The Sweet Kitchen cooking classes make great gifts! We took the class with a young couple, Mary and Allen.  It was her birthday gift to him because he is Japanese American and grew up on Japanese home cooking.

At the end of the class, we all got to eat the product of our work. It was delicious!

The Sweet Kitchen  teaches cooking classes from many different countries including Japan and Europe. If you want to learn something in particular, you can also request. Her class schedule is here. I’ll be back. I want to learn to make Japanese cheesecake!