Japanese coriander. Yellow sweet clover, bird's foot trefoil, also known as honeywort and wild chervil. This delicate herb is high in carotene and vitamin C. In order to preserve its fragrance, it should never be more than briefly parboiled. Commonly used in salads, custard dishes and clear soups to add aroma, trefoil also is used as a garnish for nabe (a variety of communal one-pot meals) dishes.

Japanese coriander. Yellow sweet clover, bird's foot trefoil, also known as honeywort and wild chervil. This delicate herb is high in carotene and vitamin C. In order to preserve its fragrance, it should never be more than briefly parboiled. Commonly used in salads, custard dishes and clear soups to add aroma, trefoil also is used as a garnish for nabe (a variety of communal one-pot meals) dishes.

Small, sticky rice-cakes usually sold individually.

Very glutinous short-grain rice used for making sticky red rice, sekihan, and sticky rice-cakes, mochi.

"Cotton tofu." Firm-textured bean curd which is strained through a cloth and then pressed, which gives it an irregular pattern.

Straining tofu through cotton produces the firm momen-dofu or "cotton tofu" which is the most widely available and commonly used.