A special edition of 'Itadakimasu!' from Chang Mai, Thailand. From street food to home cooking, the secrets of healthy Thai dishes are uncovered. And we bring you Chef Rika Yukimasa's TOKYO CUISINE, this time fusing Thai ingredients to Japanese menus. Green Papaya and Shrimp Salad [Ingredients] *Serves 5 200g shrimp 1/2 green papaya 1 cucumber 2 tbsp mayonnaise 1 tbsp sugar 1/2 cup mint 1/2 cup Thai basil leaves 2 tbsp nam prik num 1/2 lime [Method] 1. Peel the shrimp and rub with salt. Wash off the salt and boil them for about 10 seconds, then drain. 2. Shred the papaya. The local way of cutting a green papaya is to make some length-wise slits and then slice them into thin strips using a peeler. Partly peel the cucumber and slice it. 3. For the dressing: Mix the mayonnaise, lime juice, sugar and nam prik num, and add the minced mint and Thai basil leaves. 4. Toss the shrimp and vegetables with the dressing. Serve on a plate. Chirashi-sushi with Coriander [Ingredients] *Serves 5 540ml short-grain rice 580ml water 4 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar 3 tsp salt 3 tbsp sugar 2 pieces of lemon grass 4 lime 1 bunch coriander leaves 200g chicken 4 eggs 4 pinches salt 4 sections of pomelo For marinate sauce Nam pla Garlic Coriander roots Sugar Nori seaweed, Soy sauce, Wasabi to serve [Method] 1. Put rice and water in a pan and bring it to a boil. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the rice covered for 30 minutes to settle. 2. Mix the marinade ingredients. Add some sugar, crushed garlic cloves with the skin on and crushed coriander root to the nam pla. Lightly knead the chicken in the marinade and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Heat a frying pan, pour in some oil, spread it around, and cook the chicken skin-side down with a lid for 7 to

Chef Tatsuo Saito, famous for his Japanese cuisine, and our host Yu Hayami leave the studio and head for Washington, D.C., where the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. In April, Chef Saito was a participant in the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival, a cherry blossom festival held in Washington, D.C., where he took the stage at the Food Culture Pavilion and gave a fantastic talk and demonstration to everyone there about the world’s quickest soup stock to make: dashi stock, the lifeblood of Japanese cuisine. We’ll give you a look at this big hit event and the audience's excitement. We’ll also introduce our special menu for the day, designed for our guests drawn in by the cherry blossom trees! We’ll take a look at two authentic Japanese dishes we made with a variety of local ingredients including seafood and vegetables. In spring, cherry blossoms are often to add a seasonal look and feel to dishes. We’ll be using salted cherry leaves and local ingredients from Washington, D.C. with careful Japanese cooking techniques, for a beautifully colorful result. In addition, we'll show you our hosts' report on Japanese food in the Washington, D.C. area, as well as Chef Saito's secret history with Washington D.C. In this special, we go beyond just showing you recipes! You’ll be able to get a feel for the seasonal beauty and warm hospitality at the heart of Japan’s food culture.

Our theme of this episode is handmade soba noodles. Our teacher will be the handmade soba master, Akila Inouye, showing us a fail-safe method for delicious soba noodles that even beginners will have no trouble with! We'll be cooking mori-soba, the best way to enjoy their natural buckwheat flavor. In addition to soba noodles, we'll also show you how to make a dipping sauce, and a delicious bukkake soba recipe with seasonal vegetables and duck! This will be the perfect first steps on your journey to becoming a master yourself!

The third installment in our cooking documentary series where Chef Rika Yukimasa takes a break from her usual introductions of everyday Japanese cooking recipes, to travel throughout Asia and visit local chefs for cooking sessions to help her develop the new Tokyo Cuisine. This time, she’ll be visiting Malaysia’s Penang Island, famous for its incredible food. Penang’s blend of many cultures has made it a treasure trove of fusion cooking. George Town, Penang is even registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its beauty, but what really draws gourmands from around the world is the wide variety of ingredients and techniques employed in the local food. One type of food found here has been of particular note in recent years, as Rika heads to Penang to try Peranakan, or Nyonya, cuisine for herself. After getting a taste of the Nyonya food culture, Rika will work to use Penang ingredients for a new style of Japanese cooking.

Our theme of this episode is sushi. We'll be introducing sushi, that most famous of Japanese foods. We'll invite Chef Yasuda, who has dedicated himself to sushi for thirty years, including running New York's top sushi shop. He'll show us how to make Edo-style sushi with the finest ingredients, sharing the secrets of how to cook the rice, prepare the fish, put the sushi together, and even the best way to eat it. He'll also teach us about nori-wrapped negitoro rolls.

We'll be visiting the far northern prefecture of Akita and learning about Akita's local cooking over two episodes. In the first episode, we'll learn about Kiritampo-nabe, a hotpot dish once cooked by the Matagi, hunters who lived in the mountains. This hotpot contains local Hinai chicken, seri, maitake mushrooms, burdock root, and kiritampo, the item that gives the dish its name. Made by mashing rice, then spreading it on a stick and grilling it, kiritampo are perfect for soaking up the rich flavor of the Hinai chicken soup. We'll also learn about Akita's unique food culture, full of the flavors of nature.

We're visiting the far northern prefecture of Akita and learning about Akita's cooking over two episodes. In this second episode, we'll learn about koji, used to make indispensable Japanese ingredients like miso, soy sauce, sake, or mirin. The town of Yokote, Akita is famous nationwide for its rice, and the town's food culture features many fermented items based on the use of this exceptional rice has been used to make koji since long ago. By mixing koji and salt, we can make the all-purpose condiment shio-koji that has been sweeping Japan in the past few years. We'll learn a simple recipe to make shio-koji, and see ways to use it to make Japanese dishes even more delicious. This week, we hope to introduce the world to the mysterious and wonderful powers of koji!

Washoku, or Japanese cuisine, has been registered a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO for its combination of visual beauty, healthiness, and delicious flavors, which have come to be loved around the world. Rika Yukimasa is the host of the program Dining with the Chef, and she’s visiting Los Angeles on the west coast of the US, a city that has long helped to share the joys of washoku with the world. Over 130 years ago, people left Japan to start new lives in the United States, and Los Angeles was a place where Japanese people could depend on one another in their new home. Beginning with the construction of a single Japanese restaurant, first-generation Japanese immigrants began to move into the area that soon came to be known as Little Tokyo. Sushi owes its worldwide popularity to the invention of the California Roll in Los Angeles, and the city is second only to Japan itself for the most up-to-date ramen, sushi, and washoku scenes. Today, all sorts of Japanese cuisine is well known around the world, and Los Angeles is the perfect place to experience the freshest and newest in Japanese cuisine for yourself. Our host Rika Yukimasa will be visiting Los Angeles to rediscover the front lines of Japanese cuisine, where it has been influenced by L.A.’s top chefs and the latest trends, and has influenced culinary traditions from all over the world.

Rika’s destination this time is Bhutan, famous for the country’s efforts to lead the world in Gross National Happiness. Bhutan’s unique culture draws visitors worldwide to this small nation located within the Himalaya Mountains. Bhutanese cuisine is similarly distinct, with a focus on chili peppers and rice. Rika is a fan of spicy foods, so she set out to find the world’s spiciest food culture — one that treats hot chili peppers as vegetables, rather than spices — and got a taste of Bhutan’s culture and spirituality as well. Through all of this, Rika developed her own new Washoku recipes combining Japanese cooking with organic ingredients grown naturally in Bhutan.

Our destination this time is Paris, France, the "City of Lights." This center of arts and culture is also known for its residents' exceptional interest in food — and of late, this interest has turned to the authentic washoku made by Japanese chefs in Paris. Thirty years ago, Chef Saito started his own career as a chef in Paris, as well; we'll be joining him for his return trip, as he explores the ways that modern washoku has evolved as a deeply beloved cuisine in this gourmet capital. In addition, our host Yu Hayami will be joining the upcoming young chef Taku Sekine to visit a farm in Normandy that began growing Kyoto's traditional vegetables in 2016, to introduce casual dishes that combine freshly picked vegetables with French ingredients.

In this episode, we’ll be visiting Indonesia! Indonesia consists of more islands than any other country in the world, covering a large area stretching from east to west. This year, Japan and Indonesia celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations. We’ll be following Chef Rika Yukimasa as she visits Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia — her guide around the city is the young and popular Chef Yuda Bustara. Join them as they explore washoku, or Japanese cuisine, in Jakarta, and don’t miss Chef Rika’s sushi rolls, made with plenty of local Indonesian ingredients!