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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Formerly a hairdresser, Fumi Sai had no formal training in cooking when she opened her first restaurant in Tokyo at age 25.

“Although I did not train under a chef, the guests were my teachers,” she says.

Recalling those early days, there was one occasion when the cooked rice turned out too soft. But a customer told the flustered Sai, “Don’t worry, it’s better for the digestion.” Even after finishing his meal, another patron stayed on and kept reading the newspaper and only left after a new guest walked in, saying, “Guess you’re OK now!”

The restaurant was filled with such a friendly atmosphere that when someone asked, “You don’t serve fried rice?” she would reply, “Why not?” New dishes such as “‘natto’ (fermented soybeans) fried rice” and “wonton with green onion” were born out of the requests of customers. “I was young then, and must have been ready to absorb everything,” she says.

Intellectuals and celebrities also began frequenting the eatery, and Fumin became a popular joint where people queued for a seat.

Yet, there was a time when she was troubled by the thought that her cooking had caught on even though she “lacked ability.” In her 30s, a renowned chef of Chinese cuisine who came to help at the restaurant taught her the “proper procedures.” It was also a regular who cheered Sai up when she was feeling down.

“The recipe of the person who made it first is authentic,” she quoted the regular as saying.

When she was 40, she moved the restaurant to Tokyo’s Minami-Aoyama. The new premises were about five times the size of the previous location, which had a floor space of about seven “tsubo” (23 square meters).

Hoping to “comfort people through food” using finer ingredients, Sai continued to work in the kitchen even on holidays to make preparations or try new dishes.

“Everything, about 120 percent of my life, was about Fumin. I think I worked quite hard,” says Sai. When the weight of the wok began to bother her, Sai turned over the restaurant to her nephew at the age of 70.

The “tofu with ‘tarako’ (salted cod roe)” is a dish she came up with soon after opening the restaurant for a regular who came for dinner as well as lunch. The idea was to make “something different from the regular menu.” The ground meat used to make meat stock can be mixed with 1 tablespoon of miso while it is still warm. This way, the meat will stay moist and can be used in other dishes such as “niku miso,” literally miso mixed with meat. The remaining meat stock can be used to make soup and other dishes.

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Fumi Sai: Born in Tokyo in 1946, Sai is the owner chef of a Chinese-style home cooking restaurant. She opened Chukafu Kateiryori Fumin (Chinese-style home cooking Fumin) in Tokyo when she was 25. Sai decided to retire when she turned 70. In 2021, at the age of 74, she opened a restaurant called Sai in Kawasaki.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

Main ingredients (Serve 2)

100 grams each of ground chicken thigh and ground pork, 1/2 salted cod roe, 1/2 block soft (kinugoshi) tofu, finely chopped garlic, 1/2 tsp oil, Seasoning A (1/2 tsp sake, bit of salt), 1 tsp katakuriko starch, sesame oil, chopped green onion (thin aonegi type)

1. To make meat stock, place ground chicken and ground pork in bowl. Pour in just enough water at 60 degrees to cover them and loosen with chopsticks.

2. Bring 1.2 liters of water to a boil in pot on high heat, pour in (1) and mix swiftly with chopsticks.

3. Just before pot comes to a boil again, reduce to medium heat and carefully skim off foam. Remove ground meat, simmer remaining meat stock on low heat for about 5 minutes.

4. Slice open thin skin of cod roe, remove roe by scraping with back of knife. Cut tofu into pieces that are 3 to 4 cm on a side and 1-cm thick.

5. After placing oil, garlic and cod roe in frying pan, turn on heat and stir-fry on low heat. When cod roe turns white and thickens, turn off heat.

6. To (5), add 200 ml meat stock from (3) a little at a time and mix with cod roe. Place on medium heat again, add Seasoning A to adjust flavor.

7. Add tofu, lower heat and simmer until tofu is warm. Add katakuriko starch mixed with 1 tsp water. As a finishing touch, add sesame oil by pouring along the side of pan. Serve and garnish with green onion.

About 105 kcal and 1.5 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