8 Japanese Meals Loaded with Savory Goodness

Japanese cuisine excels in protein-packed stews, hot pots and noodle bowls. In particular, ramen's hearty ingredients and versatile nature make it one of the country's most famous dishes. Jammy eggs, sliced meats, pickled vegetables and dried mushrooms are just a few of the toppings that adorn homemade noodles with each restaurant offering its own take on the classic meal.

Some love ramen so much that they can eat it for every meal. But if you've worn out your favorite ramen recipes, these dishes offer new uses for the meat and fresh vegetables residing in your fridge. Grab your favorite stock base, then chow down on a new array of tastes and textures.

1. Sukiyaki

Mushrooms, beef, soy sauce, raw eggs: sukiyaki indulges your umami cravings with a simmering pot of savory goodies. This hot pot dish stars thinly sliced beef marbled with fat. Diners traditionally dip the beef in raw eggs to lower the temperature before eating, then devour the tofu, carrots, noodles, bamboo shoots and other ingredients swimming in the broth.

2. Oden

Oden's origins trace all the way back to the 18th century, highlighting the simple, nutritious design. Deep-fried tofu, hard-boiled eggs, fish cakes, vegetables and edible kelp simmer in generous helpings of dashi. Sit-down restaurants and convenience stores alike sell oden to warm your insides when the winter chill hits.

3. Shabu-shabu

Shabu-shabu, a communal hot pot meal, takes its name from the "swish swish" sound you make when dipping meat into the broth. At restaurants, your server brings a pot of dashi. When the dashi reaches simmering temperatures, you cook tofu, vegetables and thinly sliced meat by swishing them in the broth, then dip each piece individually in your favorite sauces.

4. Champon

Nagasaki chefs specialize in Champon, a hearty dish with roots in Chinese cuisine. Noodles simmer in a savory stock made from pork, chicken and milk. After stir-frying the toppings, the cook heaps your Champon with snow peas, pork belly, squid, shrimp, fish cakes, bean sprouts, green cabbage and wood ear mushrooms.

5. Kamameshi

Break out your cast-iron pot or rice cooker for kamameshi, a rice dish with sauce and spices and a flavorful crust at the bottom. Recipes vary, but chefs cook the rice with sugar, soy sauce, sake or mirin. King crab, snow crab, spring onions, mitsuba leaves, shiitake mushrooms, sliced chicken, walnuts and chestnuts in syrup round out the meal.

6. Tsukemen

When you order tsukemen in a restaurant, you'll receive a kind of deconstructed ramen with noodles, broth and toppings in separate dishes. Instead of a thin stock, the broth is a thick, hearty soup loaded with ingredients that cling to the noodles when you dip them in the bowl. "Dipping ramen" toppings include jammy eggs, sliced pork, edible seaweed and boiled shrimp.

7. Ozoni

Celebrate the New Year with vegetables and mochi floating in a savory broth. Ozoni recipes vary across locations, but every bowl features mochi toasted like a marshmallow. Dashi, fish broth or miso soup accentuate the mochi served with chicken, fish cakes, daikon radishes, mustard spinach and carrots sliced into flower shapes.

8. Toshikoshi soba

Before you devour a bowl of ozoni, prepare for the new year with steaming toshikoshi soba. Traditionally, this New Year's Eve dish offers a minimalist palate of soba noodles, scallions and dashi broth, but you can embellish your meal with fish cakes, seaweed, dried mushrooms and soft-boiled eggs.

Did this article make you feel like taking a trip to the global food market? Which of these Japanese dishes would warm you up on a cold winter afternoon? Share your thoughts in the comments.