side dish; vegetable dish
Refers to a dish served alongside the main staple (rice, bread, etc.), often a vegetable or small prepared item. Common in compounds like おかず (お菜) and 総菜.
Today's side dish is spinach dressed with soy sauce.
This set meal comes with rice, miso soup, and two side dishes.
napa cabbage; Chinese cabbage
edible wild plants; mountain vegetables
vegetable garden
vegetable diet; vegetarian diet
appetizer; starter; hors d'oeuvre
root vegetable
zha cai; Sichuan pickled mustard stem
long chopsticks (for cooking, serving)
bok choy; pak choi
simple one-soup-one-dish meal; frugal meal
vegetable · marijuana; cannabis
side dish
main dish; principal dish
dried vegetables
the five vegetables · meal of five dishes
bok choy; pak choi
cold vegetable hors d'oeuvres (Chinese cuisine)
side dish
tatsoi; rosette bok choy
fruits and vegetables
Standard kanji spelling for this meaning.
The kanji 菜 originally referred to vegetables or greens. In Japanese, さい came to mean a dish that accompanies the staple food, often vegetable-based.