Make delicious dishes just by pouring hot water! Featuring freeze-dried foods available at Amano Freeze-Dried Station

Hello, this is Payke writer LINA!
I know this is sudden, but what kinds of freeze-dried food do you know of? Instant ramen is famous, but did you know that there are many more delicious, freeze-dried foods in Japan? This time, I’ll introduce you to delicious, easy-to-make freeze-dried foods that can be enjoyed by simply pouring hot water.

Amano Freeze-Dried Station

There is a freeze-dried food specialty store by Amano Foods, called Amano Freeze-Dried Station, located on the 1st basement floor of the commercial facility “KITTE,” which is a 1-minute walk from Tokyo Station.

Amano Foods is one of Japan’s leading freeze-dried food manufacturers and is extremely popular because foods like the classic miso soup, rice soup, pasta, and even curry, can be made just by mixing hot water.
Now, let’s pour hot water to some popular products and try them out!

A side-dish soup with lots of ingredients

First, I’ll pour some hot water.

This miso soup contains lots of ingredients, including salmon and 4 other ingredients.

You can smell the rich scent of the soup stock and miso, and the hidden burnt-butter added depth to the flavor. As expected, it was very delicious! It was very filling, and since these kinds of luxurious miso soup is difficult to make at home, I’d like to buy it again♪

Hatake no Curry

You can even make curry by pouring hot water.

Simply pour the hot water, mix for 60 seconds, and you’re done. Not only does it contain curry roux, but it has lots of vegetables and chicken inside as well. With the curry roux’s richness and the vegetables’ natural sweetness, I thought that it was comparable to a restaurant style curry.

Grilled Eggplant and Tomato Cream Pasta

Similar to the previous one, you would pour hot water, mix for 60 seconds, and it’s done! The tomato cream pasta goes well with the short pasta. Because it contains heavy cream and cheese, the tomato sauce is very rich. It’s small for it to be a main dish, so it may be nice to eat it with bread or a salad♪

Cod Roe Rice Soup

With a moderate saltiness and a gentle taste, it has a calming, at-home-feeling kind of deliciousness. It might be good for breakfast or for those days when you’re not that hungry.

Chicken and Egg Bowl

The chicken and egg bowl (oyakodon) is a standard Japanese dish that’s composed of a mixture of chicken and eggs (oyako = parent and child) served on top of a bowl of rice. Within the fluffy eggs, there is lots of chicken inside. With a strong taste of soup stock, it’s hard to think that this deliciousness can come from simply mixing hot water!

Sweet Red-Bean Soup

This sweet red-bean soup is a seasonal product that I found when I went to the store in January. It’s a dish where you add sticky rice cakes (mochi) inside sweetly boiled red-bean soup, and the Japanese eat this mostly in the beginning of the new year. The sticky rice cake in the photo is separate from the freeze-dried product. Because it takes time to make sweet red-bean soup at home, many enjoy the fact that this can be made by pouring hot water, which is also why it is so popular.

The secret to its popularity is its convenience and deliciousness!

After tasting the 6 dishes I introduced this time, I think that the secret to their popularity is their convenience and deliciousness- it really doesn’t feel like you’re eating freeze-dried products. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are repeat buyers who are amazed by the deliciousness. There are many more popular products besides the ones I introduced today. For those who would like to eat delicious food conveniently, why not buy these as a souvenir?