Anime Dinner Recipes: How to Make 5 Meals Yourself

Like most teenagers, mine is into anime and Manga. And like most teenagers, mine spends a lot of time on the Internet. While this can be bad at times, this time he found an exciting prospect, a book by Diana Ault called Cook Anime. Diana researched many foods found in favorite anime series and put together this unique anime cookbook. This will impress your teen. Imagine if he sat down to dinner one night and the meal was one that he recognized from anime dinner recipes? Can you think of a better way to bond with your moody teen than through food?

I have tested 5 anime dinner recipes, and, of course, changed them slightly for convenience of ingredients and ease of cooking. So if you want to bond with your child over dinner and get out of your boring rut of chicken and rice, these anime cooking recipes are for you. My alterations have made these anime food recipes easy, so even if you haven’t cooked Japanese recipes before, you can create these. If you find these recipes further intrigue your desire for Japanese culture, check out the Japanese Gardens in Florida.

Kare: Anime Dinner recipes #1

Referred to in Penguindrum as well as several other anime series, I am starting with this anime dinner recipe because it reminded me of a typical stew with some curry flavors added. I use rotisserie chicken to make it a quick weeknight meal. You can also leave out the chicken, use vegetable broth and add tofu to make it a vegetarian meal.

Diana Ault references Curry Day, a family day each month with the quote, “Curry tastes like happiness when eaten with people you love.”

Curry roux blocks

I changed the amounts of the ingredients for the curry roux blocks. I used only half of the block in this recipe so I could save the rest for a future concoction. The premade curry roux is often used to make meals in anime while camping, since it is easy to transport. Curry is a term that refers to a combination of numerous spices and flavors. So depending on what country your recipe is from, the taste of curry will vary widely. For example, Japanese curry tends to be slightly sweeter than a spicy Thai curry.

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 4 tbsp. curry powder
• 2 tbsp. cumin
• 1tsp. allspice
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 tsp ginger

Melt the butter in a medium pot over medium low heat. When butter is melted stir in the flour until creamy and golden brown. Once the roux is golden brown, mix in the other spices and stir for 30 seconds. After that, remove from the heat, and let cool. Once mixture is cool, wrap it in wax paper, making a block 1/2 inch thick. Then refrigerate until ready to use.

Note: I tried using plastic wrap, but some of the roux stuck to the wrap as I formed it into a block. The wrap kept shredding apart when I went to use it for the anime recipe. I think wax paper would work better. Please let me know if you try it.

Ingredients for Kare anime stew

• 10 oz. cooked rotisserie chicken
• peeled grated apple
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large diced onion
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
• 1 large potato, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1/2 of the curry roux broken into chunks
• 2 tbsp apple juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• cooked rice to serve

How to make Kare anime dinner recipes

1. Mix chicken, apple and honey in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. After that, heat the oil in a large pot over medium and cook the onion ten minutes until tender.
3. Once the onion is soft, add the chicken mixture and cook for 5 more minutes.
4. Add the potatoes, carrots, broth, soy sauce, mirin, plus a cup of water, and bring to a boil. Lower heat, and continue simmering for 15 minutes.
5. Then add the curry roux, stirring until the roux is dissolved and the anime stew is thickened, about 15 minutes.
6. When the stew is thickened, remove from heat and add apple juice along with salt and pepper.
7. Serve with warm rice.

Nikujaga

In Tokyo Ghoul, Yoriko brings a pot of this delicious soup to Touka to help her friend get better from an illness, not realizing that she is actually a ghoul. This meal is a comfort food in Japan, an equivalent to “mom’s chicken soup” in America. This traditional soup came about in the 1800s inspired by British stews.

Ingredients

I find fresh green beans to require a lot of work, snipping the ends. They also tend to go bad fast. So I cheat when I use them in a stew and use canned beans instead of fresh. I also try to get my family to eat extra vegetables so I increased the peas to 1/2 cup.

• 1 potato
• 4 oz. soba noodles or ramen
• 1 cup beef stock
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp sake
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 1 onion diced
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1/2 lb. thinly sliced beef sirloin
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 can green beans
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

How to make anime dinner recipes for stew

1. In a bowl, combine beef broth, soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar with a whisk until sugar dissolves. Set it aside until needed. Figure 1.
2. Cook onion in oil in a soup pot until tender. Then add the beef.
3. When the beef is browned, add the carrot, potatoes, and broth mixture. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low. Cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Finally, add the peas, green beans, and noodles. Return to a boil, and cook for about 5 minutes or until noodles are done. You can additional water or broth if needed to cook the noodles.

Pasta Bolognese: western influence on anime dinner recipes

This is found in Hunter X Hunter, however, there they eat this traditional Italian meat sauce on top of spaghetti. I prefer using spiral pasta because the sauce sticks in to nooks and crannies better.

Ingredients

I typically use ketchup instead of tomato paste. Every time I buy a can of tomato paste it goes bad before I use the whole thing. I have tried the tubes of paste, but they get crusty and dry out. I always have ketchup on hand, and it serves the same purpose. My family also likes traditional red sauce, so instead of chopping a large tomato, I just use two cans of plain tomato sauce to stretch this meal further.

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion diced
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1/4 lb. ground beef
• 1 peeled and shredded carrot
• 5 large chopped mushrooms
• 2 14 oz. cans tomato sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 8 oz. pasta noodles
• grated parmesan cheese for serving

Directions

My kids don’t like mushrooms so I used my food processor to finely chop the mushrooms with the carrots so they aren’t noticeable. I also don’t like the quality of ground beef in the store, so I buy sirloin steaks and finely chop chunks in my food processor. This way I avoid the nasty pieces of grizzle.

1. Cook the onion in oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat until translucent.
2. Add the beef and garlic, cooking until no longer pink.
3. When the meat is browned, add the carrots, mushrooms, tomato sauce, sugar, and blend thoroughly.
4. While that is heating, mix together wine, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir into pan. Once it bubbles, turn heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. When the sauce is done, cook the pasta according to directions on the package. Once the pasta is cooked and drained, serve it topped with the sauce and parmesan cheese.

Omurice, anime dinner recipes using eggs

This food was found in the Garden of Words, when two characters come in out of the rain and one cooks this dish for the other. Japanese food is an art form. The words are usually written at the table by the server in Japanese restaurants.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup fried rice
• ketchup in a squeeze bottle

I like to save leftover rice from Chinese takeout to use in fried rice. Just add a little oil to a pan to reheat the rice. I like to add some green onions and peas, along with a hint of soy sauce or sesame oil for flavor. You can add bits of leftover pork or chicken if you have that too.

Directions

1. Spread oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Whisk the eggs in a bowl with the soy sauce. Pour the scrambled eggs into the pan. Cook until set and top is cooked, but moist.
2. Form a rice log with the fried rice using your hands. Then place it in the center of the eggs. Roll it up like a burrito and gently slide it onto a plate. This takes some practice.
3. Use the ketchup to write a note on top.

Hambagu

This is like a Japanese hamburger minus the bun. When the sauce is added it becomes almost like a Salisbury steak, which was popularized in the U.S. by the Germans. This was then brought to Japan by immigrants. It is served in several anime shows such as Flying Witch, Bunny Drop, and Future Diary to name a few. The Japanese sometimes serve it with an egg on top or with vegetables. However, I made side of soba noodles instead.

Ingredients for anime dinner recipe Hambagu

I don’t know what it is, but people in my house like to put back bags of chips and crackers with just a few broken pieces and crumbs, instead of throwing out the bag. Lucky for me. I actually started dumping the crumbs in a jar and then crush them up for bread crumbs. They have much more flavor. I just leave out the salt from the recipe when I do this.

• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 diced onion
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup beef broth

Sauce

• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup beef broth
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp brown sugar

How to make Hambagu, Anime dinner recipes

I like to chop my own beef in my food processor from sirloin steak so I know it is solid meat.

1. Cook the onion in the oil with a pinch of salt until translucent.
2. Meanwhile, mix the ground beef, egg, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Then add the bread crumbs and onions, mixing well.
3. Then form 4 or 5 balls with the meat. Flatten them and place on a plate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before cooking.
4. Once they are chilled, place the patties in a hot pan over medium heat, and cook for 3-5 minutes until crisp on the bottoms.
5. Flip the patties, and reduce the heat to low. Then pour in the beef broth, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.
6. After that, uncover and continue cooking on medium until most of the broth evaporates.
7. Once beef has an internal temperature of 145F remove the patties to a plate.
8. Then stir sauce ingredients into the pan and cook until hot.
9. Serve patties with sauce poured on top.

Spiral Platter

My husband and I like to create elaborate appetizer platters to eat while watching travel shows. We generally try to create dishes from whatever country we are visiting that evening on Rick Steves Monday Night Travels. However, after reading Uzumaki by Junji Ito, I just had to make this platter. The book is about these crazy spirals that take over a Japanese town and influence people driving them mad. After reading the book, I was aware of spirals everywhere, so I came up with the idea of a dinner platter containing nothing but spiral foods.

I used a spiralizer to make the cucumber salad, tossing it with a ginger dressing. For the soba noodles, I just added about a tablespoon of hoisin sauce for flavoring and garnished with some chopped green onions.

I have included these sponsored links in case you don’t already have a spiralizer or food processor. I also included the pasta maker I use in case you want to try making your own noodles.

Ingredients for Tamagoyaki ( egg spirals)

While this food typically is used as part of a bento box and not a dinner, I immediately thought of spirals so I had to make it.

• cooking oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce

How to make Tamagoyaki

1. Spread a tablespoon of cooking oil evenly in a small frying pan and heat over medium low.
2. Meanwhile mix remaining ingredients in a bowl.
3. When the pan is hot, pour enough egg mixture to lightly cover the bottom of the pan.
4. Once the egg is set but slightly uncooked on top, start rolling the egg up, leaving at least 2 inches unrolled.
5. Then slide the egg to the side of the pan with the unrolled portion extending towards the center of the pan.
6. After that, pour more egg mixture in the pan, slightly covering the unrolled portion of cooked egg. This will attach the new egg to the already cooked egg.
7. Subsequently, continue rolling the omelet once the new egg is mostly cooked. Repeat steps until no egg mixture remains. For the last batch, roll up completely.
8. Once the omelet has cooled, slice into spirals to serve.

How to make sushi rolls

I thought that instead of forming a rice log in the middle, I could spread it out across the nori. Then it would turn into a spiral once rolled.

1. Cook 1/3 cup sushi rice according to package directions, mix in 1 tsp rice vinegar, and let it cool.
2. Once it is cooled, place a sheet of nori, (seaweed wrapper) on a flat surface. Then spread the rice in a thin layer covering the entire surface.
3. I placed a green onion across the rice at 2 different places and placed a cucumber spiral across. Then carefully starting at the end closest to you, roll the sushi into a log. After that, wrap the log in plastic wrap to chill.
4. When you are ready to serve, remove plastic wrap. With a sharp serrated knife quickly slice the sushi into 3/4 inch slices. Quickly cutting the slices keeps the sushi from falling apart. You may have to use your fingers to push the slices back together a bit.
5. Serve with soy sauce and wasabi.

I used green onions and cucumber, but you could use tiny shredded bits of salmon, grated carrot, or grated ginger. Mainly, it is important to make sure whatever you add isn’t too bulky, or it will be difficult to roll.

How to make Narutomaki

This Japanese fish cake is named for the whirlpools in the Naruto Strait, making this the perfect spiral food. Mine didn’t turn out as well as I planned. I didn’t have red food coloring, so I used yellow. That wouldn’t have been bad, but I think I added too much. In my efforts to make the color dark enough to make it stand out from the white portion, the excess food coloring bled into the rest of the fish paste. This caused the spirals to blend together a bit. It still tasted delicious.

• 12 oz. white fish such as halibut, skinned and deboned, and cut into chunks
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp mirin
• food coloring

Directions

1. Process all ingredients, except food coloring, in a food processor until a thick paste is formed.
2. Spread half of the paste on a sheet of plastic wrap in a rectangle shape.
3. Mix food coloring with the remaining paste and spread that on top of the rectangle.
4. After that, slowly roll the rectangle lengthwise into a log. Wrap in plastic wrap. Wrap a second layer of plastic wrap tightly around that one.
5. Heat water in a steamer to boiling. Once the water boils place the log in the steamer basket, cover, and cook for 15 minutes or until log is firm.
6. Let it cool. Then unwrap and slice.

Tips: My steamer is small so I cut the log in half, prior to wrapping it in plastic wrap the second time. Then I wrapped each half individually to fit them in my steamer. I also put too much water in my steamer. So I ended up placing a small glass custard bowl in the steamer. Then I placed the fish logs on top of that so they weren’t sitting in the water. I also used a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the fish. It took an extra 5 minutes of cooking to get it to 145F. This may be because the logs weren’t directly in the bottom of the steamer basket.

I am including these sponsored links for items that may be helpful in making these meals.

Let me know if you try any of these and have suggestions on how to improve them. I would love to hear from you.