A colorful alternative to potato salad. This version is very crunchy and the taste of Summer kabocha is incredibly fruity and sweet.
The base is kabocha pumpkin, steamed and mashed.
With a sour seasoning.
Cucumber and nagaimo (raw yam) as garnish. I cut cubes and added to the mix. Let half a day in the fridge.
Serve chilled. It can be stored 2 or 3 days in the fridge, so you get the carotene loaded side dish for a few meals or as a lunch box item.
Nama choco. That’s a ganache, a melty creamed chocolate. Today, a vegan version…
Mosaic….
It’s today the 7th…
Another old local tradition, on the 7th day of the New Year, you prepare an okayu (rice porridge) that you garnish with 7 wild herbs that favor good health. That’s the Japanese style post-holiday detox if you want. So I’ve bought my set of 7 herbs for tomorrow.
I took the image from the Japanese blog “kyo mo egao de” and I roughly translate the explanation for each plant :
Clockwise (starting from upper right)
1.●すずなsuzuna : helps digestion, good for frostbites and freckles
2.●すずしろ suzushiro : stop the cough, good for health of stomach and mental diseases
3. ●なずなnazuna : good for eyesight and for the 5 big organs
4. ●ほとけのざ hotoke no za : alleviates toothache
5. ●はこべらhakobera : good for urination and for the gums
6. ●せり seri : helps digestion, cures jaundice
7. ●ごきょうgogyou : effective for nausea, phlegm, fever.Suzuna is another name for turnip, and suzushiro for daikon radish. Seri is still a common veggie/salad now in Japan. The others are wild herbs not eaten often now, and even in old times, they were probably medicinal plants and everyday food.
The nanagusa (7 herbs)
(click to get wiki articles) is a very old tradition, that was already mentioned in the Manyoshu, a poem anthology written in 8th Century.
Japan used the lunar calendar until the end of 19th Century, so this food was a little later, after what is now Chinese New Year… Now look at what I got in my basket :
Do you see the 7 ? Only 5, it seems… Ok, maybe 6. One is missing.
SCANDAL !!!!
Usually you pay people to clean your garden from such weeds. Those were sold a crazy price. No, I didn’t need a credit, but I mean per kilo, the price is close to that of caviar. And I don’t want to take chances with my health, if one herb is missing… what happens ?
Let’s check again :
The package mentioned the 7 herbs… you can see the photo of the farmer and his son. That means it’s organic and not cheap, so I should be able to call Mr Kitazaki in Oita prefecture to protest.
So let’s count :
suzuna, I would have eaten the leaves too, well, that’s OK.
suzushiro, idem, I could have had the leaves.
gogyo
hakobera
hotoke no za
seri... and it’s a good exercise for eyesight, you can see under the it, the tip of the roots of a small nazuna.
So I consider I’m safe with my 7 herbs.
The okayu and its recipe :
nanakusa okayu
Hop ! We’ve stepped into December, the darkest month. But we often have bright days in Osaka… in the cold.
Okayu, congee, rice porridge is a good way to fight the cold. With sweet potato, yellow like the leaves of icho (gincko).
Brown rice and cubed sweet potato (with its skin), rinsed, cooked overnight in the rice-cooker.
Simple toppings :
sea salt
poppy seed slightly roasted under the broiler
goji berries and all their vitamins and commercial promises (let’s believe, 10 a day and you’re eternal…) and they are red like the leaves of momiji (Japanese maple)
Sencha green tea as many bushes stay green through Japanese Winter (I’m not sure it’s a bush of camelia… could be).
A little kaki (persimmon) like other fiery leaves.
That seems very simple, but the combination of tastes of that okayu was perfect, sweet, earthy, nutty…
Cal 263.5 F2.2g C65.5g P5.4g
Végétale in Osaka 