Japanese Food You can Buy in Finland - Level ★★★

Japanese cooking uses a variety of ingredients. What ingredients are easy to find in Finland and what are not?

I’ ve compiled a list of Japanese ingredients that can be bought in Finland, according to the level of difficulty in getting them. Some are surprisingly easy to find, while others are quite difficult to find. If you have any information on what you have seen in Finland, please let me know.

Click here for Difficulty ★ and ★★.

Japanese Food You can Buy in Finland - Level ★☆☆

What kind of Japanese food can you buy in Finland? Here is a list divided by the degree of difficulty in obtaining them.

Japanese Food You can Buy in Finland - Level ★★☆

What kind of Japanese food can you buy in Finland? Here is a list divided by the degree of difficulty in obtaining them.

Difficulty Level ★★★

This is a list of foods that you can only buy in Asian markets if you go to a store that sells Chinese or Japanese food.

Cake Flour

[Japanese] Hakuriki-ko
All the flour sold in Finnish markets is bread flour, contains lots of protain.

In contrast, the flour most commonly used in Japan is cake flour, less protain one, Hakurikiko in Japanese. Whenever you see the word “flour” in a Japanese recipe, it almost always refers to cake flour.
So, if you really need cake flour, you will have to go to an Asian market that sells Japanese ingredients.
However, even in situations where you really need light flour, you can get by with some ingenuity. Even tempura and udon noodles, which are said to absolutely require light flour, can be made with commercial flour in Finland.

Crispy Tempura with All Types of Flour

You can make crispy tempura with any types of flour! Just add potato starch, and the tempura become crispy. Easy and no-fail tempura recipe!

No-Knead Udon, How to Make Udon WITHOUT Foot

Even if you only have strong flour, high percentage of protain in flour, you can make udon without kneading or stepping. Just wait and enjoy udon.

Miso

[Japanese] Miso
Miso has recently been seen in large markets. I hope it will continue to take root and become less difficult to find.

Bonito Flakes

[Japanese] Katsuobushi, Katsubushi
You can buy a bag of thin sliced bonito flake for about 1,000 yen. Yes, it’s so expensive for Japanese people. A friend of mine sends me these from time to time, and they are quite helpful. The problem is that I’m too grateful to use it very often. Now I have good amout of stock.

Konbu Seaweed

[Japanese] Konbu
It is too high-grade to use, so I can only use it for New Year’s stews. Like katsuobushi, it is also difficult to use.

Dashi Powdr

[Japanese] Dashi no moto
Ajinomoto is easy to buy, but dashi stock is more difficult to find. The most common one in Finland is from Shimaya, but it is a surprisingly expensive product.
I have a large bag of dashi stock sent to me from Japan, and use it. It lasts quite a long time. Making dashi is quite expensive, so I am grateful for the dashi base.

What Is Dashi Powder? How to Use? Not Ajinomoto?

Is dashi powder same as ajinomoto? NO! Dashi powder is an instant soup stock, while ajinomoto is a type of salt or sugar. What does that mean?

Amazon.co.jp

Mentsuyu

[Japanese] Mentsuyu
In large supermarkets that sell Japanese ingredients, you can sometimes find small amounts of mentsuyu. Basically, only in Asian markets.
Since it is too expensive to buy it, I make it myself. However, the ingredient dashi powder is also very difficult to find. Buying in bulk is a good idea.

Japanese Noodle Soup Mentsuyu, Tempura Dip Tentsuyu without Mirin, Sake

This is a recipe for Mentsuyu and Tentsuyu, Soba, Udon and Tempura dipping soup without mirin or sake. You can use dashi soup and powder.

Amazon.co.jp

Curry Roux

Japanese curry is one of the most popular foods in Japan. However, curry roux is a very expensive item. We are still working on a prototype to see if we can make a curry that is easy to thicken.

Thick Japanese Curry with Curry Powder, without Roux

The key for thick Japanese curry without curry roux or flour is to cook potato till falling apart. Less fat and more healthy Japanese curry.

Azuki Beans

If you want to eat Anko, you have to boil it from azuki beans. However, azuki beans are also hard to find.
So, if you give up and make white anko, matcha anko, or uguisu anko, you can use water-boiled beans, which makes it much less difficult.

How to Cook Anko, Japanese Sweet Bean Paste

Anko, sweet beans paste, made by slow-boiling azuki beans, is indispensable for Japanese sweets. It goes well with both bread and pie.

White Anko and Matcha Anko with Butter Beans

I made white anko with butter beans, and it turned out to be delicious. A little tip, add matcha green tea to make matcha anko.

White, Green and Matcha Anko with Canned Navy Beans and Peas

The easiest recipe for anko using canned beans. You can use navy beans for white and matcha anko, and green peas for green anko, uguisu an.

Enjoy Anko Overseas

This is the story of me and Anko. In order to make Anko overseas, I tried azuki beans and many other beans. Let's enjoy Anko together!

Black Soy Beans

[Japanese] Kuromame
What we call black beans in Japan are black soybeans. They are a different kind from the black beans we often see. It is an essential ingredient for New Year’s Day.

Japanese Beans and Beans in Finland

Japanese eat beans a lot like anko. Here is a list of the Japanese beans names and how to read them, and their names in English and Finnish.

Soybeans

[Japanese] Daizu
At one time you could buy soybeans at large supermarkets. But they stopped selling them, probably because they were not popular. And the difficulty level skyrocketed.

Kinako

Kinako, an essential ingredient in Japanese sweets, is also only available at stores that carry Japanese ingredients. However, this one is easy to make by hand as long as you can get soybeans.

How to Make Homemade Kinako, Soybean Powder

Kinako is roasted soybeans ground into powder. It is often used in Japanese sweets. If you have soybeans, you can easily make it yourself.

You CANNOT Buy in Finland

If you are very lucky and have a good routine, you may be lucky enough to find some of these items. If you find any, please let me know.

Hon Mirin

The 14% alcohol content can only be bought in Finland at the liquor store alko. And I’ve never seen it before.

Shio Kombu

It’s delicious when dressed with boiled broccoli.

Hijiki

Hijiki, soybeans, fried tofu…Hijiki stew is a luxury item.

Kiriboshi Daikon

It’s getting tough to write.

Kanten-agar

I just want to make yokan.

Koya-Tofu

I love it.

You CAN Buy Many!

What do you think? If this were in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, or any other country, I’m sure it would be much easier to get many things. Still, my impression is that many things are surprisingly available.

I live in Tampere, the third largest city in Finland. If I lived in Helsinki, I would be able to get more things, and if I went to the countryside, I would be limited in what I could get.

However, I have heard that Japanese food products have become surprisingly abundant compared to 10 years ago. Of course, it is hard and sad to not be able to get what you want to eat, and I don’t know how many times I have cried.
But I think it is a good opportunity to know what is enough, and I am taking it positively.
Let’s use what we can get wisely and have a delicious meal.

Japanese Food You can Buy in Finland – Level ★★★