Did you know it's pancake day tomorrow? It's not a holiday that the Japanese celebrate, but they certainly do love pancakes! There are two main types of pancakes that the Japanese love; traditional French-style crepes filled with anything from strawberries and nutella to tuna mayo, and Dorayaki, which are fluffy, 'American-style' pancakes filled with either chocolate or red bean paste.
Although we say 'american style', dorayaki were not brought to Japan from abroad - Dorayaki can be dated back to 1914! The story surrounding them says they were invented by a farmer - 'dora' means gong in Japanese, and apparently a visiting samurai left his gong at the farmer's house, the farmer then used the gong as a frying pan to cook pancakes, leading to their gong-like shape!
So if you're fed up of pancakes with lemon and sugar this pancake day, try out dorayaki instead.
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Dashi refers to a family of soup stocks used as the base for miso soup and other popular Japanese dishes. This incredibly simple, yet tasty, broth contains extracted umami components, such as amino acids and flavors from kelp and other ingredients to create a tasty balance of flavors.