Customer Reviews

Easy Japanese Cooking: Donburi Mania

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My husband and I are Americans currently living in Japan, and we are tremendous fans of donburi, the quintessential Japanese comfort food (donburi are steaming bowls of rice topped with savory toppings). We saw this in a Kinokuniya bookstore and admired the recipes and beautiful color photos, but decided to order through Amazon (of course, Amazon had the better price!). Our order arrived without incident, and we have tried a number of the recipes in the month that we've had this book (including Tuna Omelet Donburi, Spicy Tofu Donburi, and Egg and Ham Donburi). They have all been delicious and very easy to make! The recipes are for 2 servings, so they are perfect for us. The ingredients are not outrageously hard to find, which makes these recipes great for American and Japanese households alike (it's nice to know that I'll be able to make everything without a problem once we are back in the US). I definitely recommend this and all the other books in this series.

The recipes in this book have a short prep time and is easy to make. The flavor of the dishes I have tried are excellent.

Pictures are provided for each dish, and, surprisingly, mine looked very similar to the pictures. Served them to friends and they apprecaited all the time and effort I had put into dinner! hahaha

A good buy.

One doesn't have to spend years under a Japanese cook to eat authentic Japanese food. "Donburi Mania: Easy Japanese Cooking" is a guide by Kentaro Kobayashi to capturing the true essence of Japanese cooking without being a wizard of the kitchen. With a focus on donburi, a Japanese dish of fish or meat and vegetables, more than seventy types are presented, such as Cha Shao Donburi, Marinated Sashimi Donburi, and even Japanese breakfast donburi. "Donburi Mania" is a fine introduction to meals from the land of the Rising Sun.

If you like to eat in front of the TV with your feet up on the coffee table, then "Donburi Mania" is for you. However, be prepared to spend time in the kitchen first!

Every dish has a full color picture so you can see what it's supposed to look like and can help whet your appetite when you don't know what you want to eat. Some of the ingredients will have to be hunted down in Asian markets or organic food markets. You need to stock some mirin, miso, soy sauce, ginger, sake, and sesame oil in your kitchen. Other items called for include "maitake" mushrooms, "shiso" (japanese beefsteak plant) leaves, "kamaboko" (japanese fish paste cakes) - you might try using your own substitutions.

I especially like the section on "Donburi companions: side dishes" - these can even be used as sides for a plain ol' steak or chicken dinner if you're tired of the usual potatoes. The sides resemble the little dishes you get at Korean BBQ restaurants or Japanese bars.

This book is great for cooking ideas and useful little tips on making Japanese donburi style foods. Kobayashi also encourages using your own imagination so if you like experimenting in the kitchen, then this book makes a great jumping off point.

Great donburi book! Tons of original donburi ideas and recipes. The best thing about this book is that it tells you what substitutes you can use instead of trying to find the impossible-to-find Japanese condiments. Maybe some more traditional Japanese recipes could be added to complete this book, but that's just personal taste.

Donburi is a perfect lunch item, great for a light supper as well! Tastes like my childhood.

Many recipes call for pork or other meats/fish, even the lone vegetarian recipe or the noodle recipes. There is a lotus root recipe which doesn't require meat, but nearly everything else does. If you aren't a vegetarian, this won't disappoint you and you're in luck. There are some neat ideas in here where I can substitute tofu or maybe tempeh/seitan for some of the meat. But I'm wondering how healthy these recipes are since many of them are covered in a creamy sauce and stir fried. Do they even eat loco moco donburi in Japan? It's from Hawaii and is in no way healthy. The one thing I do like in this book is that these recipes serve two, so I don't have to deal with excessive leftovers like other books.