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A cookbook by Hiroki Yamamoto

Real Japanese food was never hard. You were just sold the bottle.

Hiroki Yamamoto
The Simple
JAPANESE
KITCHEN
222 real Japanese recipes, the supermarket way

222 recipes, sushi included, from a Japanese chef who has spent thirty years in professional kitchens and still runs his own small restaurant. Each one comes with the single trick that makes it work, made with ingredients you can find anywhere in America.

Get the book · $44.99 $29.99

Instant PDF download · less than two bowls of takeout ramen

  • 573 pages
  • Every ingredient pictured
  • Lifetime access to updates
  • 7-day money-back guarantee

The part nobody tells you

Japanese cooking was made to look complicated, so you’d keep ordering it.

The bottle

Teriyaki and "sushi" sauces: soy, sugar and mirin, thickened with starch and sold back to you for many times what they cost.

The takeout

A bowl of gyudon is thin beef, an onion, rice and a splash of soy. A few dollars of plain things, plus someone’s ten minutes.

The myth

That you need a $300 knife, a rice cooker with twelve buttons or a sushi chef’s training. You don’t. You need a few honest tricks.

If your rice came out gummy or your tempura went soggy, it was never your fault. Nobody showed you the simple way.

Hiroki Yamamoto

Why this book exists

My customers kept asking. So I wrote it down.

For thirty years I have cooked in professional kitchens. For the last of them, in my own small place in Torrance: a few tables, a short counter, a kitchen you can see from your seat.

Almost every week someone at the counter asks the same thing: how do I make this at home? They expect a list of special ingredients. The honest answer is closer than they think: most of it is at the supermarket down the street, and the few Japanese bottles are at any Asian market or online. Everything else is technique: how to wash rice, how hot the pan should be, when to stop stirring.

So I wrote it all down. The dishes my customers ask about most, and the small decisions thirty years taught me. Learn the tricks, and the recipes become yours.

Hiroki

One trick in every recipe

What they sold you, and what actually works.

Six of the 222 tricks inside.

Swipe →

Tempura in a plain pot. No fryer, no box mix.
Tempura in a plain pot. No fryer, no box mix.

They told you

A bottle of teriyaki sauce

Hiroki does

Soy sauce, mirin, sake and a little sugar, spooned over the chicken right in the pan until it turns glossy.

Chicken teriyaki

They told you

Rinse the rice once and use the line on the pot

Hiroki does

Wash until the water is only slightly cloudy, soak thirty minutes, rest ten after cooking.

Perfect Japanese rice

They told you

A deep fryer and a box of tempura mix

Hiroki does

One and a half to two inches of oil in an ordinary heavy pot and ice-cold batter, lumpy, barely stirred.

Tempura

They told you

Instant dashi powder for everything

Hiroki does

Kombu and bonito flakes. Take the kombu out before the boil, never squeeze the flakes.

Awase dashi

They told you

Special rice from a Japanese specialty store

Hiroki does

Japanese short-grain or California medium-grain rice from the ordinary rice aisle. Both cook beautifully.

Perfect Japanese rice

They told you

Slice the omelet straight from the pan

Hiroki does

Roll it tight in a bamboo mat while hot and rest five minutes. That is the difference between clean slices and crumbs.

Tamagoyaki

Built to cook from, not to sit on a shelf

Open to any page and you can cook.

The finished dish first, then the ingredients and the method together on one page, so you never flip back and forth with wet hands. Fixes and storage tips come after.

  1. 1

    The finished dish, first

    You see exactly what you’re making before you start.

  2. 2

    A picture for every ingredient

    No guessing what mirin, kombu or panko looks like on the shelf.

  3. 3

    Short, numbered steps

    With the cues to watch for: the sizzle, the color, the smell.

  4. 4

    Hiroki’s trick

    The one decision that makes the dish, and why it works.

  5. 5

    If it goes wrong

    What you’re seeing, why, and how to save dinner.

  6. 6

    Leftovers

    What tomorrow’s lunch becomes. Nothing wasted.

222recipes in 12 chapters
573pages
224ingredients, each pictured
466"if it goes wrong" fixes
Hiroki rolling tamagoyaki

From the stove

Roll it, then let it rest five minutes. Most of cooking is knowing when to stop touching the food.

Hiroki Yamamoto30 years in professional kitchens · Torrance, California

What you’ll cook

From Tuesday rice bowls to Sunday ramen.

Chapter 5: ramen at home, from a pot you already own.
Chapter 5: ramen at home, from a pot you already own.
  1. 1

    Dashi, sauces and basics

    Dashi four ways, mentsuyu, teriyaki sauce, ponzu, sesame sauce

    13 recipes
  2. 2

    Rice and rice bowls

    Perfect rice, onigiri, gyudon, oyakodon, katsudon, curry rice

    26 recipes
  3. 3

    Sushi

    Sushi rice, hosomaki, temaki, futomaki, nigiri, pressed sushi, chirashi, tekkadon

    16 recipes
  4. 4

    Soups and hot pots

    Miso soup, tonjiru, sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, oden

    18 recipes
  5. 5

    Noodles

    Shoyu, shio and miso ramen, udon, cold soba, yakisoba

    22 recipes
  6. 6

    Fish and seafood

    Salmon teriyaki, saba miso, simmered fish, ebi fry

    23 recipes
  7. 7

    Chicken

    Karaage, chicken nanban, tsukune, yakitori, teriyaki

    17 recipes
  8. 8

    Pork and beef

    Tonkatsu, ginger pork, kakuni, nikujaga, gyoza

    17 recipes
  9. 9

    Eggs and tofu

    Tamagoyaki, chawanmushi, omurice, agedashi tofu

    16 recipes
  10. 10

    Vegetables, salads and pickles

    Kinpira, sesame green beans, potato salad, quick pickles

    27 recipes
  11. 11

    Fried, grilled and street food

    Tempura, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, korokke

    13 recipes
  12. 12

    Sweets and drinks

    Red bean paste, dorayaki, daifuku, castella, matcha

    14 recipes
You pay today$44.99 $29.99
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Look inside

Real pages from the book.

This is exactly what you download.

The 12-bottle pantry
Ehomaki
...its recipe page
Salmon ikura don
...its recipe page
Tonkatsu
...its recipe page
Miso ramen
...its recipe page
Karaage
...its recipe page
Okonomiyaki
...its recipe page
Strawberry daifuku
...its recipe page
Where to shop

Swipe →

This book is for you if…

  • You’ve paid $18 for a bowl of ramen and thought, "I could make this."
  • Your teriyaki still tastes of the bottle.
  • You want dinners that are cheap, real and on the table in 30 minutes.
  • You like knowing why something works, so it works every time.
  • You want to cook with what you can actually buy in America, not hunt for rare imports.

It’s probably not for you if…

  • You want restaurant plating and tasting menus, not dinner.
  • You never plan to turn on the stove.
Hiroki Yamamoto
The Simple
JAPANESE
KITCHEN
222 real Japanese recipes, the supermarket way

The Simple Japanese Kitchen

Everything you need to cook it tonight.

  • The 573-page ebook, instant PDF download
  • 222 recipes in 12 chapters, each with Hiroki’s trick
  • 224 ingredients pictured, so shopping is easy
  • 466 fixes for when something goes wrong, right after every recipe
  • Hiroki’s pantry: the 12 bottles worth keeping at home
  • US cups and spoons, grams for the key ingredients, °F and °C
  • Lifetime access: every future update to the book, free
  • Free bonus: the printable Japanese shopping list, one page for your fridge
$29.99
less than two bowls of takeout ramenplus lifetime access to every update
Get the book now · $44.99 $29.99
7days

Cook from it for 7 days. If it doesn’t change how you cook, write to me and you get every cent back. No questions.

Questions

Before you cook.

Is there sushi?
Yes, a whole chapter: sushi rice, thin and big rolls, hand rolls, nigiri, pressed sushi, chirashi and sushi bowls. Raw-fish recipes tell you exactly what fish to buy, and each one has a cooked swap.
What exactly do I get?
A 573-page PDF cookbook: 222 recipes in 12 chapters, a whole chapter of sushi, a picture of every ingredient, a fix for when something goes wrong, and every future update for free.
Is this a printed book?
No. It is a PDF you download the moment you pay and open on your phone, tablet or computer. Print any page you like and keep it by the stove.
I’m not a confident cook. Is this for me?
Yes. Every step tells you what to look for, the sound, the color, the smell, and every recipe ends with what to do if it goes wrong. Start with the rice chapter. Everything else follows.
Can I find the ingredients?
Yes. Most of it is at any American supermarket. The few Japanese pantry items are marked ◆ in the book: they are not in every Walmart, but any Asian market or Amazon has them. Every recipe also gives you an honest swap.
Cups or grams?
US cups and spoons, with grams for the ingredients where weight matters, and every temperature in °F and °C.
What about food safety?
Every meat recipe and every cooked fish recipe gives the safe temperature in °F and °C. The sushi chapter uses raw fish only when it is labeled sashimi-grade or sushi-grade, bought at a Japanese market or a fish counter you trust and eaten within 24 hours, and every raw-fish recipe gives you a cooked swap. Pregnant women, young children, older adults and anyone with a weakened immune system should choose the cooked fillings. The sukiyaki egg dip and mazesoba tell you to use pasteurized eggs or leave the raw egg out.
What if I don’t like it?
Write to me within 7 days and you get every cent back. No questions.

Start with the rice. Everything follows.

Tonight could be the first rice you’re proud of.

Hiroki wrote down every trick. All you have to do is cook.

Get the book · $44.99 $29.99

Instant download · lifetime access · 7-day money-back guarantee

Hiroki Yamamoto
The Simple Japanese Kitchen222 recipes
Get it · $44.99 $29.99