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Japanese & Asian home cooking

Cook your favourite Asian dishes at home, better than takeaway

Orange chicken, beef bowls, katsu curry, ramen and pad thai for a few dollars, the simple dishes Kenji's mother made every morning, and the old Japanese tricks for less salt and lighter evenings. Clear steps, big print, and ingredients from your own supermarket.

Cook at home twice a week instead of ordering in, and you can save well over $1,000 a year.

Get the cookbook for $39 See what's inside
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Kenji, smiling, with salt-and-pepper hair and glasses, wearing a dark indigo apron behind the wooden counter of his Osaka diner
Kenji at the counter of his diner in Osaka

Meet Kenji

I'm not a TV chef. I'm a cook who feeds his neighbours every day.

My name is Kenji Mori, but everyone on my street calls me Uncle Kenji. I'm 50. I learned to cook in my mother's kitchen, and at nineteen I became a ship's cook and spent ten years in the galley, sailing to Busan, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Saigon and Penang. In every port I asked the local cooks to show me one dish.

Twenty years ago I opened a small diner in Osaka with eight seats. Office workers came for onigiri at breakfast. Families came on Sundays for gyoza and fried rice. I never had a printed menu.

When my doctor told me to eat less salt, I learned to cook my favourites lighter, without anyone noticing. In this book I wrote it all down: the recipes, and the small things nobody tells you that make the difference.

"Good food is not difficult. It's a few small habits, done every time."

Does this sound familiar?

  • You spend a fortune on takeout that's never as good as you hoped.
  • You feel heavy or bloated after dinner, and sleep badly.
  • You'd like less salt, but food tastes flat without it.
  • Your rice burns on the bottom, or turns hard in the fridge.
  • Your tofu falls apart and the house smells of fish.

These are not failures. They are small habits nobody taught you. Kenji will.

The cookbook

Uncle Kenji's Kitchen

88 recipes in 245 large-print pages: your favourite takeout made at home, the simple dishes of a Japanese mother's kitchen, and Kenji's old tricks for less salt, lighter evenings and nothing wasted.

  • Better than takeoutOrange chicken, hibachi fried rice, gyudon, katsu curry, ramen, gyoza, mapo tofu, pad thai and Korean fried chicken
  • My mother's kitchenOnigiri, rolled omelette, rice with hot tea, oyakodon, egg sandwiches and five-minute miso soup
  • Light on the stomachLess salt without less flavour, no more heavy or bloated evenings, and gentle Japanese dishes
  • Second lifeYesterday's rice, noodles, omelette and curry turned into something even better
  • Kitchen basicsRice that never burns, strong dashi, and sauces that beat any bottle
$79$39
Get the cookbook

Digital cookbook (PDF), large print, sent to your email straight away.

Look inside

Turn a few pages

Eight real pages from the 245-page book. Tap a page to read it at full size.

What's inside

What Kenji teaches you

Five chapters, 88 recipes, and the habits that make them work.

1

Stop buying takeout

Orange chicken, beef bowls, ramen and katsu curry at home for a few dollars, fresher and lighter than the restaurant's.

2

Less salt, same flavour

Strong dashi, citrus and toasted sesame: how to eat miso soup every day without worrying about salt.

3

No more heavy evenings

Why you feel heavy and bloated after dinner, and the old Japanese 80 percent rule that fixes it.

4

Rice that never fails

Perfect rice in any pot, no burnt bottom, and the freezer trick that keeps leftover rice soft.

5

Two ways for every family

Sweet or spicy, egg mixed in or on top, chicken or pork: every recipe shows you both versions.

6

Nothing goes to waste

Hard rice, leftover noodles, yesterday's curry and omelette become a whole new meal.

A few of the 88 recipes

From Kenji's kitchen

Free sample from the book

Try a recipe tonight

Salmon onigiri

From chapter 3, My Mother's Kitchen. The rice ball Kenji has made every morning for twenty years. It costs about ten cents and beats any shop-bought onigiri.

Makes6 rice balls
Time40 minutes
DifficultyEasy
  • 300 gJapanese short-grain rice
  • 360 mlwater
  • 150 gsalmon fillet
  • 1 tspsalt, plus extra for your hands
  • 1 sheetnori, cut into 6 strips
  • 1 tbsptoasted sesame seeds
  • 1 smallbowl of cold water

  1. Rinse the rice in a bowl of cold water, swirling it gently with your hand, and pour off the cloudy water. Repeat until the water is almost clear, usually four or five times. Cook it in a rice cooker, or in a covered pan with the 360 ml of water as in Perfect rice in a pot.

  2. While the rice cooks, sprinkle the salmon on both sides with the salt and leave it for 10 minutes. The salt draws out a little water and seasons the fish all the way through.

  3. Pat the salmon dry and cook it in a frying pan over a medium heat, skin side down first, for about 4 minutes on each side. It's ready when the flesh has turned from glassy orange to pale pink and flakes apart easily when you press it with a fork.

  4. Let the salmon cool on a plate, then break it into small flakes with a fork. Feel through it with your fingers and pick out any small bones and the skin. (The crispy skin is the cook's reward. Eat it.)

  5. When the rice is cooked, let it rest with the lid on for 10 minutes. It needs to be warm, but cool enough to hold in your hands without wincing. Hot rice holds together best, but don't burn yourself.

  6. Set out a small bowl of cold water and a little dish of salt. Wet your hands well, then rub a small pinch of salt over your palms. The water stops the rice sticking; the salt seasons the outside of the onigiri.

  7. Take a handful of rice, about the size of a tennis ball, and flatten it slightly in your palm. Press a hollow in the middle with your thumb and put in a good teaspoon of salmon.

  8. Bring the rice up and over to cover the filling, adding a little more rice if needed. Now cup your hands into a roof shape and press gently. Turn the rice ball a third of a turn and press again. Three presses, three turns. Firm enough to hold together, soft enough to feel the grains.

  9. Wrap a strip of nori around the bottom, like a little jacket, and sprinkle the top with sesame seeds. Wet and salt your hands again before each new onigiri.

Kenji saysWrap the nori just before eating if you like it crisp. For a lunch box, wrap it right away. The nori turns soft, and that is how most of my regulars liked it.

From home cooks

What readers say

Placeholder reviews. Replace these with real reviews from your first readers before launch.

Sample review
"For years my rice was a sticky mess. The first chapter fixed it in one evening. Now my husband asks for onigiri in his lunch box."

Reader nameAge, town · date

Sample review
"The print is big enough to read without my glasses on the counter. The pad thai tastes better than our local takeaway."

Reader nameAge, town · date

Sample review
"I'd never made sushi. Kenji explains it like a patient uncle. My grandchildren and I made rolls together on Sunday."

Reader nameAge, town · date

Sample review
"The sauce chapter alone was worth it. Teriyaki in a jar means a proper dinner in 20 minutes."

Reader nameAge, town · date

Kenji in his diner in Osaka

A note from Kenji

Cook one dish tonight

I didn't write this book for chefs. I wrote it for people who want good, honest food on the table without fuss. Start with one recipe. The onigiri, maybe, or the teriyaki. Cook it slowly, taste as you go, and make one extra portion. Someone will come.

Kenji

  • Yours straight awaySent to your email the moment you order.
  • Easy on the eyesLarge print and clear, numbered steps.
  • In your kitchenRead it on a tablet or print any recipe for the counter.

Questions

Frequently asked

Do I need a wok or special equipment?

No. Every recipe works with a large frying pan, a saucepan and a sharp knife. A rice cooker is handy but not required; Kenji shows the pan method too.

Can I find the ingredients near me?

Most ingredients are in a normal supermarket. For the few Asian ones, such as miso, mirin or nori, Kenji gives a simple substitute or tells you where to find them.

I'm not an experienced cook. Is this for me?

Yes. Each recipe is marked "Easy" or "Takes practice" and starts with the basics. 82 of the 88 recipes are marked Easy, and most take 40 minutes or less.

How do I receive the book?

Right after your order you get an email with a link to download the book as a PDF file. You can read them on a tablet, computer or phone.

Is the text easy to read?

The book uses large print and plenty of space between lines. You can also print the pages at home and put them on the counter while you cook.

I'm trying to eat less salt. Is this book for me?

Yes. A whole chapter explains how to eat with less salt without losing flavour, with a table of where the salt hides. Every recipe has a "Lighter & less salt" box, and everything works with low-salt soy sauce and stock.

I often feel heavy or bloated after dinner. Can the book help?

Kenji shares the old Japanese habits that help many people feel lighter: the 80 percent rule, smaller bowls, warm drinks, less salt and a light supper. They're kitchen habits, not medical advice, so if bloating doesn't go away, see your doctor.

What is "Two ways" in every recipe?

Many recipes end with a question, like "Sweet or spicy?" or "Chicken or pork?" Kenji shows you both versions, so you can cook it the way your family likes.

Launch offer

Start cooking with Kenji tonight

88 recipes and a lifetime of kitchen habits in one book, for about the price of two takeaway dinners.

Uncle Kenji's Kitchen (PDF)$79
88 recipes, large printIncluded
Read on any device, or printIncluded
Today, you save $40$39