Let’s do it! Infuse your party with Japanese hospitality

Here are some holiday-inspired party drinks and dishes. Infuse your party with Japanese taste, and we guarantee your guests will love it!

Interviews and article by: Misa Murohashi, Harmony Kelly, Maiko Kobayashi, Reika Nemoto, Noriko Huntsinger

Avocado & Shrimp Carpaccio Cup Sushi

Do you want to try treating your guests to sushi, but not sure about roll or nigiri? This cup sushi recipe is easy to cook and the colorful presentation will surely uplift the party.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• Mizkan Sushi Seasoning….. 2 tbsp
• Cooked warm Rice……….. 320 grams
• Avocado……………………………………….. 1/2
• Mini tomatoes………………………………… 2
• Sweet shrimp (amaebi)………………… 8
• Scallops for sashimi………………………. 2
• Lemon Juice …………………………….. 1 tsp
• Chervil (to taste)

<Sauce>

• Olive oil…………………………………. 4 tsp
• Soy sauce……………………………… 2 tsp
• Aonori seaweed………………….. 2 tsp
• Lemon juice…………………………. 2 tsp
• Salt…………………………….. two pinches

Instructions

1. Mix sushi vinegar into the warm rice. Let it cool, then place in glasses.
2. Dice the avocado, add lemon juice. Cut the mini tomatoes into quarters.
3. Peel the sweet shrimp. Cut the scallops in half.
4. Mix together the sauce ingredients to make the sauce.
5. In the glass with sushi rice, place the scallops and sweet shrimp. Pour in the sauce. Place the mini tomatoes and chevril on top.

Try cup sushi with a variety of toppings
It’s easy to serve and looks great. Recommended toppings include sashimi tuna, cucumbers, egg, smoked or sashimi salmon, green onions, chicken soboro, and crab sticks.

Wasabi Mary

Try this craft cocktail using sake and wasabi. This is the fun mixture of American Holiday color – red and green – with Japanese ingredients.

Ingredients (Serves 1)

• Gekkeikan Traditional Junmai sake.. Suitable amount
• Tomato juice………………………………………………. Suitable amount
• Worcestershire sauce……………………. 1 dash
• Tabasco………………………………………… 2 dashes
• Wasabi…………………………………………….. a pinch
• Lemon juice………………………………. 1/4 wedge
• Salt, pepper………………………………………. a little
• Celery stalk……………………. suitable amount

Instructions

1. Prepare 2 parts sake for 3 parts tomato juice.
2. Shake all the ingredients except celery with ice.
3. Pour the liquid and ice in step 2 into a tall cocktail glass.
4. Place the celery stalk in the glass, and your cocktail is ready.

High-end sake makes a wonderful holiday gift for that special someone
Gekkeikan Horin Junmai Daiginjo (720 ml)
A combination of fresh spring water, Yamada Nishiki rice (known as the “king of sake rice”), Gohyakumangoku rice milled to 50%, and the skill of the sake master, Yukio Takagaki, result in this remodeled Junmai Daiginjo. Pursuing the aroma or flavor, Takagi brews the sake with the calm Umami and a lingering finish.

Tofu Oden Nabe

Nabe is a traditional Japanese social dish. Sharing one big hot pot with friends and family brings comfort in the cold winter. A tofu nabe with store-bought oden is easy to prepare and full of healthy isoflavone, protein and other nutrients from the soybeans.

Ingredients (Serves 4-6)

• Kibun Oden Package……… 1 pack
• Lettuce……………….. suitable amount
• Soy Milk, Unsweetened…. 2.5 cups
• Water……………………………………2.5 cups

Instructions

1. Cut the oden pieces into appropriate sizes (mochi in tofu pouch should not be cut).
2. Put the soup that comes with the oden package and the water in the nabe, add soy milk and cook on medium heat.
3. Add the oden pieces ① to the nabe ② . Without bringing to a boil, cook slowly on low heat. When you’ve finished cooking, add lettuce.

*Add as desired mushrooms, vegetables, thinly sliced pork.

After a warm nabe, how about a fruity dessert?
Kibun Tropical Daifuku Pineapple, Mango, Kiwi, Guava, Macadamia (2.82oz)
Four types of daifuku with white bean paste and authentic fruit puree, and one red-bean-paste-filled mochi with macadamia nuts are availabe. You can enjoy at room temperature or chill them, which gives them an ice-cream-like texture. It’s a nice treat even for people who don’t usually enjoy sweetened beans.