Our food and gardening columnist Chris Gordon chats with acclaimed chef and author Nancy Singleton Hachisu about her stunning new cookbook, Japan: The Cookbook.

First, congratulations on the success of your beautiful new cookbook. What a treat it is. Did it really take you three years to write and research? Was that because you wanted to include every possible part of Japanese cuisine?

Yes, it did take about three years from planning to editing: planning from Nov 2014 to Feb 2015; researching, visiting, photographing from March 2015 to Dec 2016; writing from July 2016 to April 2017; testing from May 2017 to Sept 2017; editing from July 2017 to Nov 2017. After that, I spent about three solid months planning the initial book tour and another month planning subsequent tours. And all told I will spend about eight weeks in the U.S. and Australia doing collaboration book events this year (2018). Big project!

There are so many varieties of rice used in Japanese cuisine. Is there a variety that you believe is overlooked in countries outside Japan?

The daily rice in Japan is japonica and the most common varieties are koshihikari and hitomebore, so most Japanese are using these two varieties. That said, sasanishiki is a gentle variety with good rice flavor that has gained some cult popularity recently. We also use mochigome (glutinous rice) for making mochi or some traditional sweets. Brown rice is only a blip on the horizon when it comes to mainstream food culture. Red rice and black rice can be added to white rice for texture and color, but again, this practice is fairly unusual.

I guess this question also applies to noodles. One of my bloke’s favourite movies is Tampopo – have you seen it? What do you think of its accuracy in the quest for the perfect noodle?

As for noodles: soba, udon, somen, and ramen are the most common noodles in Japan. Typically soba, udon, and ramen are eaten out in shops, although farm families in our area (including my husband’s family) used to make udon noodles every day for dinner.

Ramen is one of Japan’s most loved dishes and, although its root are in China, ramen is now completely Japanese. I have seen Tompopo, though it has been a few decades, so I only have a vague memory of the exact story. I do remember the tenor of the film and the feel of the people and venture to say that this kind of feel has passed by Japan except perhaps in local areas or local neighborhoods. Most ramen noodles are not made in house in Japan, so rather than the perfect noodle, the quest is for the perfect broth and for the perfect combination of ingredients for the signature ramen at each shop.

Ramen is very personal. I love kimchee ramen or other spicy ramens, but my sons love tonkatsu ramen. Actually, these days, I prefer mini ramen and mini gyoza because a large bowl of ramen is beyond my stomach capacity.

Everyone I know loves Japanese food, but not everyone cooks it. Why do you think that is and how can your book help?

People are intimidated by Japanese food because this is the hype they have been fed. Certainly specialised foods such as soba, sushi, kaiseki, tempura, ramen etc. require many years of study to operate a restaurant, but home cooking is completely approachable and doable. My biggest advice is to get the best Japanese seasonings that you can (soy sauce, miso, rice vinegar, mirin, sesame seeds and oil) and the most pristine, good tasting locally available vegetables, fish, and meat. Do not bother shopping at Japanese grocery stores. Find a farmer or fisherman!

The message in my books is: You can do it! This is my credo – good ingredients can get novices through some flub ups, so push on with confidence and start with more simple treatments such as vegetables, rice dishes, or miso soup.

It’s Tuesday evening and you are cooking for your family. What do you cook?

I just spent three and a half years writing and doing cooking events for Japan: The Cookbook (and continue to do so) so I am most likely going to be cooking easy Western foods such as gratins, stews, herbed or curried hamburgers, sandwiches… salads.

By the way, my sons are in their twenties and two of them live away from home. My middle son and my husband are perfectly capable of cooking so I am not necessarily ‘cooking for the family’ these days – actually of the three of us, I work the longest hours so dinner can be casual leftovers or one of us will take the reins.

I also cook a hot lunch six days a week at my little immersion English school, so by the time dinner rolls around, I am less excited about cooking (or eating) again. At the school, no matter what I am preparing, putting together a simple miso soup to feed the kids before the meal is a genius way to fill their tummies a little to bridge the gap when I am running late on serving lunch (which is often). I make the broth (dashi) from hongare shaved katsuobushi (smoked, 6-month-fermented and -sun-dried skip jack tuna) and I use local miso and vegetables. The kids always clamour for seconds.

It’s your best friend’s birthday on Saturday night. What do you prepare for entertaining 8 people?

Sukiyaki. No question. Get beautiful vegetables and best tofu (Japanese-made tofu is creamy and lovely – to die for!) and marbled paper-thin wide-band slices of sirloin. Do not skip the beaten raw egg as it enrobes the mirin- and soy sauce–flavoured ingredients with a silky lusciousness.

Where’s your favourite eating place in Japan? Why?

Soba Ra (Honjo-shi, Saitama-ken): Located in the next town over from us, the chef is a close friend and his passion and connection to the dishes he makes is palpable.

Yuyado Sakamoto (Suzu-shi, Ishikawa-ken): Spare, thoughtful, locally sourced elegant food in a small, very special Japanese inn on the Noto Peninsula.

La Bonne Table (Nihonbashi, Tokyo): Well-sourced Japanese ingredients sensitively put together with a French flair.

Cainoya (Kagoshima-shi, Kagoshima-ken): Modern Japanese-Italian dishes using ingredients from the restaurants fields.

Japan: The Cookbook is available to buy in-store and online.