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As part of using the Olympics as a learning experience, we always make food from the host country. This year 2020, happening in 2021, the host country is Japan.

Here are some recipes that we have used so far this year. with pictures of our food!

Food & the Olympics

I started with Japanese Zucchini and Onions. Very good! I served it as a side dish with burgers. Sounds weird, but it worked. lol Everyone liked it!

After starting my Japanese cooking endeavor with a side dish, I moved on to a main dish. Bone in Chicken Curry. There is no coconut milk in this recipe, so it’s different than an Indian curry. So good! And again, everyone like this recipe.

There is no coconut milk in this recipe, so it’s different than an Indian curry. So good! And again, everyone like this recipe. I’m not a fan of dark meat chicken, but really liked it in this dish.

I made a Chicken Stir Fry. I kind of followed my recipe for Left Over Stir Fry, except I diced up chicken breast, cooked it part way, added the frozen stir fry veggies, some soy sauce, a little chicken broth, and thickened it with a little cornstarch. Instead of adding the rice to the pan, I served the stir fry over rice. So, yeah, nothing officially Japanese about this dish. lol But it was yummy! lol

My daughter made these Japanese Savory Pancakes. They are not for breakfast! They are Japanese street food. And very good!

Another night she made Japanese Rice Balls. The whole family was glad she left off the sea weed. lol Of course we didn’t know until she told us. lol But thank you Hannah for not feeding us sea weed! lol She put salmon in these rice balls. Cooked! lol And served it with salmon filets, for those that wanted more salmon. She also served them with the green recipe below.

She made this Green Bean Gomaae recipe. It might look a little messy, but it’s really good!

I think it’s a given that we would have Japanese snacks while watching the Olympics! We went to the local Asian store for ingredients for these recipes, and snacks. Then as if that bin wasn’t enough, my daughter went online and bought a bunch of different snacks, too.

These strawberry covered chocolate biscuit sticks Pocky were our favorite flavor. Yum, yum, yum. lol

Last night, my daughter made the best recipe yet. Japanese Cheesecake. Oh my! It’s sometimes called a Soufflé Cheesecake. I think that if lemon cake and cheesecake had a baby, this would be it! lol It’s such a different texture. Unbelievably good! We polished off this cheesecake in one sitting. lol But there was 6 of us, so it’s not quite as bad as that sounded. lol

We are definitely going to make sure she makes this again! lol She will probably have to make 2 at a time from now on. lol

So it’s been fun trying out new Japanese recipes. And trying new Japanese snacks. We have a few more recipes that we want to try.

Like Cucumber Sunomono. And we have some Nama Chocolate chilling in the fridge.

Whether you are using the Olympics and food as a learning experience, or just looking for new recipes to try. I highly recommend these recipes!

Check out my Olympics Activities for Kids post for some fun, and educational, things for the kids to do.

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