9 Japanese Things at Medi-ya (Singapore)
I shop at Medi-ya almost every other day. I'm there so often that on somedays, I'd get a text message from my friends that start with "Are you at Medi-ya?" :)
I know the layout of the shop pretty much like the back of my hand. And I often spot new items on the shelf pretty quickly. A lot of my Singaporean friends talk about how fun it is to shop at Medi-ya but they don't often know what the things are for (despite having English labels in teeny tiny font!).
So I thought of doing a post on 9 Japanese Things at Medi-ya. These are very Japanese things that I think most non-Japanese would just gloss over without knowing thinking twice. But some are pretty much staple so I'll introduce them here (described in the order of 1-9, begining with top left).
1. Diet Bar with Collagen - busy mums, OLs (office workers) and diet-watchers's best friend. You may have heard of Calorie Mate but this ups the ante by giving you 1000mg of Collagen in 1 bar. It is only 170kcal and has vitamins ad minerals in it too. This one here is in Pumpkin Tart flavour.
2. Colourful Furikake - for decorating food in your bento or for your kids' meals. Furikake seems to be a popular thing among Singaporean friends but honestly, I don't like it. Maybe because I've eaten too much of it as a child. This packet here has 2 x 4 sets of coloured Furikake (Pink- Tarako, Orange- Salmon, Yellow- Egg and Green- Spinach).
3. Ohagi set- I love eating Ohagi, which is basically a sweet which we tend to eat in Autumn. I remember packing these to eat by the River and just hanging out. You can make this totally out of this kit- using the sticky rice and azuki paste. This is so very Japanese! If you make this for a Japanese husband, he will likely reminisce when his own mother made it for him. (at least for the Japanese men that I know).
4. Daigaku Imo Sauce - This is another "very Japanese snack" and its name comes from it being popular with penny-pinching University students (daigaku = university). This is the sauce that you drench/ coat with Sweet Potato sticks. I don't think I've seen this ever in any "stall" in Japanese food fairs. But again, this is quite common in Japan and you can make it at home as a snack.
5. Shio-koji - your quintessential UMAMI maker. This was a fad some years back and has become quite a popular item in Japanese kitchens. Basically, you can use this fermented koji (rice + enzymes) to season, marinate and tendorise your meats. Try smearing a table spoon over chicken fillets, leave to "rest" and frying it. The difference is amazing.
6. Okara - diet food. I have never seen any non-Japanese pick this up at the Tofu aisle in Medi-ya. There's only a few packets of these at any given time of the day. Okara is what is left over from soybeans when it has been made into Tofu and Soy Milk. It can be used in savoury to sweets recipes. Okara is also known as a super diet food and is very popular with ladies watching their weight (aka me #postpregnancypounds).
7. Shabu-shabu Mochi - My mother used to buy this and we would add these thin slices of Rice Cakes (mochi) into our shabu shabu. I was quite pleasantly surprised to find it here. But not so pleasantly-surprised at the price! Hotpot (or nabe as we call it ) culture in Singapore is really thriving- even though it is SUMMER all the time. You can try this at your next hotpot.
8. GOHAN DESUYO - Seaweed Paste. The name literally translates to "It's Rice". Everything about this screams childhood. I think this was also my mother's secret weapon to make me eat more rice. This is eaten with rice. Like Furikake, except this is wet and moist.
9. Amazake - dehydrated Sweet Sake. If you've been to Japan in Winter, chances are, at some touristy site in Kyoto or Kamakura or other tourist attractions near shrines, you may have seen this. Now, you can make your own because the air-conditioning is so cold in Singapore- like Winter in ... Shizuoka.
I hope you've enjoyed this post de-mystifying some of the lesser known items at Medi-ya.
I need help with some Singaporean supermarket items too. Can anyone help me?
#japanesefood #japanesesupermarket #japanesegroceries #shiokoji #ohagi #furikake #gohandesuyo #liangcourt #mediya #mediyasingapore