Five nostalgic recipes

A preview of my upcoming book, "Gohan"

Gohan means 'rice' in Japanese – to be very specific, a small bowl of perfectly cooked rice. But it also, tellingly, is the word for 'meal'. I can still hear my obaachan, my Japanese grandmother, or my aunt, Hideko, announcing to the family that dinner is ready in a sing-song voice, “Gohan da yo!”

A bowl of steamed rice is what any home-cooked Japanese m…