Editor’s note: In the Taste of Life series, cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.

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Fumin, a restaurant that offers Chinese-style home cooking in the Minami-Aoyama district of Tokyo's Minato Ward, is known for such dishes as “natto fried rice” and “pork belly simmered with pickled plums.”

It was opened by Fumi Sai, a Tokyo-born restaurateur. She created delectable dishes by incorporating Japanese ingredients into home cooking recipes she learned from her parents, who hailed from Taiwan.

But Sai used to be a hairdresser.

After graduating from high school, she studied at an institution in Tokyo, now known as the Hollywood Beauty College, to learn a trade.

But Sai’s height of 140 centimeters gave her a hard time when she tried to perm or shampoo a clients’ hair. Even after getting a job at a beauty parlor, some clients who saw her getting up on a stool joked, “Now, on to the stage.”

She asked herself, what do I really want to do?

Sai became uncertain about her job and spent her early 20s brooding.

One day, she cooked for friends who were visiting and they raved about her dishes, saying, “It’s such a waste if we are the only ones who get to enjoy your fantastic food.”

Looking back, Sai realized that, as the eldest child among four sisters and a brother, she had been cooking meals and packing lunches since she was in junior high school, as both her parents were working.

She thought, “Hmm. It seems like my cooking is pretty tasty. I know! I’ll open a restaurant.”

“In retrospect, it was a reckless move. I hadn’t even read a cookbook before,” Sai says today.

At 25, she rented a space of about 7 “tsubo” (23 square meters) in the basement of an apartment in the Jingumae district in Shibuya Ward and opened her restaurant. She began by offering about 10 dishes, including eggplant stir-fried with garlic.

Soon after, it became a popular place frequented by intellectuals and celebrities as well.

The late illustrator Makoto Wada, who was a frequent guest, often ordered “negi soba,” or green onion noodles. It is a dish of Chinese noodles without soup topped with green onions that is crisp and tangy.

“Why not offer this with wonton,” the illustrator asked.

Wada’s words became a reality with “wonton with green onions” introduced to the menu this week.

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Fumi Sai: Born in Tokyo in 1946, Sai is the owner-chef of a Chinese-style home cooking restaurant. Her parents are from Taiwan. She opened Chukafu Kateiryori Fumin (Chinese-style home cooking Fumin) in Tokyo when she was 25. In 1986, the restaurant moved to its current location in the Minami-Aoyama district in Tokyo's Minato Ward. Sai decided to retire when she turned 70. In 2021, when she was 74, she opened Sai, a restaurant serving one group of guests a day, at her home in Kawasaki. A documentary film following Sai’s path will be released next year.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

Main ingredients (Serves 2)

1 bag (30 wrappers) wonton wrappers, 100 grams ground pork, 1 dried shiitake, 20 grams green onion, 10 grams boiled bamboo shoot, 1 tsp sesame oil, Seasoning A (2 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sake, bit of pepper), 1 myoga, 2 slices ginger, 2 green shiso leaves, 3 Tbsp oil

1. Finely chop reconstituted dried shiitake, 10 grams green onion and boiled bamboo shoot. After chopping green onion, mix with sesame oil to prevent water from draining.

2. Cut 10 grams green onion and myoga in half lengthwise and finely slice at an angle. Finely slice ginger and shiso. Immerse all in water to remove tang. Drain.

3. To make meat mixture, add pork, Seasoning A and shiitake from (1) in bowl and mix thoroughly. When it becomes sticky, add green onion and bamboo shoot from (1) and mix lightly. Place a little less than 1 tsp meat mixture in the middle of wonton wrapper and wrap.

4. Bring water to a boil in large pot, add half of wonton at a time and boil for about 1 minute on medium heat.

5. Drain and serve on plate. Top with herb vegetables from (2) and sprinkle a bit of pepper. Pour 1 Tbsp of “awase-joyu” (combined soy sauce) made by mixing the same amount of “dashi-joyu” (soy sauce blended with dashi stock) and regular soy sauce.

6. In another pot, heat oil over high heat and when smoke rises, pour on (5) in circular motion.

About 500 kcal and 1.9 grams salt per portion
(Nutrient calculation by the Nutrition Clinic of Kagawa Nutrition University)

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From The Asahi Shimbun’s Jinsei Reshipi (Life Recipe) column