Cooking with Yuki Gomi and Yutaka and a copy of Yuki's cook book to giveaway

I have known Yuki Gomi for a couple of years now. She is a lovely and very talented Japanese chef and cookbook writer and now also a mother to a lovely little girl. Yuki works with Yutaka ingredients, authentic Japanese ingredients since 1995 allowing home cooks to re-create fresh and delicious Japanese food as found in homes and restaurants all over Japan.  Yutaka means 'good harvest' allowing specialist products to be available.  They are here in the UK in most major supermarkets for anyone who likes Japanese cooking to buy.

We were invited to cook four recipes with Yuki that were quick and simple and incredibly delicious and after a quick introduction by Mr Ken Furukawa, Managing Director of the Tazaki Foods Ltd of which Yutaka is part we were shown by Yuki how to get started producing our 4 dishes.

Working in small groups we chopped, measured, sautéed our way through the recipes to make our meal for the evening.  I worked in a group with friend and fellow blogger Manjiri and Lebinh.

Getting messy is always good fun!

The soup was so full of flavour and really easy to make plus it was filling and comforting.

The side dish of green beans had so much flavour and really, really easy to prepare.  The flavours just seemed to pop in your mouth as you chewed.

We had the best quality salmon to work with and made a really simple and effective ceviche.  The longer you leave the salmon in the marinade the more 'cooked' it becomes and you control the temperature by deciding to use the chilli seeds or not.

The finished sweet potato croquettes and an amazing dipping sauce.  The dipping sauce was made with ingredients readily available in most adventurous kitchens and I thought with the addition of crunchy peanut butter would make the best BBQ sauce I could imagine.  I will be using this sauce a lot this summer and may even add chopped pineapple!

The table was laid and places set for us to enjoy the dishes we had prepared.  There was so much food that we were provided with take-away containers to have some for lunch the following day!

Yutaka products give you all the help you need to re-create these and other authentic Japanese dishes at home giving you the confidence to step out of your comfort zone. Close your eyes and you could be eating in a Tokyo restaurant!

If you would like to win a copy of Yuki's book 'Sushi at Home' then follow the rafflecopter instructions below and fingers crossed.  This giveaway is open to residents of the UK only.

I was a guest of Yutaka and Yumi Gomi and was not paid or required to write a positive review - all photos and opinions are my own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway