Fine strips of agar-agar are "cooked" by soaking in boiling water until they are just tender and are then flavoured appropriately. They are usually served after they have cooled down.
Freshly drawn tea, generally green tea. Guillaume Tucker kindly points out that this is a construct of 'agari' + 'hana' (flower) making 'agaribana'.
The word "age" on a menu indicates agemono dishes, i.e. fried dishes. Is also the name of a dish of fried tofu braised in fish stock.
Deep-fried tofu made into hollow pouches, or inari, stuffed with sushi rice and flavourings and braised in dashi, sugar, soy sauce and sake. The pouches are sold dried, ready for stuffing. On a menu the word "age" indicates an agemono, or deep-fried dish.
Deep-fried food. Agedashi-dõfu refers to tofu, deep-fried and served with soy sauce seasoned with grated ginger and daikon, or mooli radish. Could also apply to aubergine (US: eggplant) or whitefish.
Deep-fried tofu in a fish-stock soup served with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and mirin with grated ginger and daikon or mooli radish. The tofu is pressed until it is almost dry and dipped in wheat flour and sprinkled with shavings of bonito tuna before being deep-fried.
Tofu, thick-sliced and deep-fried. It is then put into soups and the lightly simmered stews called nimono.
A kind of deep-fried fish paste loaf or kamaboko served in slices. Known as satsuma-age in the Tokyo area.
Deep-fried dishes made in a pan called an agemono-nabe, similar to a wok. This involves cooking ingredients in vegetable oil which has been heated to a temperature of 160-180ºC. Tempura is perhaps the most representative example of agemono dishes. Originally a foreign dish, it soon became totally Japanised. Deep-frying first appeared in Japan in the Edo period (early 17th century) and is thus a relative newcomer to the repertoire of Japanese cooking methods. The word "age" on a menu indicates agemono dishes, i.e. fried dishes. Other types of agemono are kara-age and furai.
