Okayu for the Woman New Year (via Gourmande in Osaka)

Once upon a time in Japan, there was 正月 Shogatsu (new year) and 小正月 Koshogatsu (little new year). If you click, you arrive on the Japanese wikipedia page, which is exact (as far as I know), but if you pass on English version, it is about something unrelated. In those time, the Moon ruled the world. The little New Year was at full moon… now we say that would be January 15th. Some say 14th. Well now… The little new year was also called 女正月 Onna … Read More

via Gourmande in Osaka

Modern mochi, the moffle way (via Gourmande in Osaka)

No Japanese new year without mochi (blocks of pounded cooked sticky rice)… There are classics way to serve them, yaki-mochi (grilled chewy), boiled in soup, okaki (grilled crispy). This is the lazy way mochi… To have the authentic ones, certified by the Moffle Academy, you absolutely need to buy a moffle maker of the authentic moffle brand : As you see, it's a robot piglet from Star Trek. It's not cheap, but if it comes from another era, plan … Read More

via Gourmande in Osaka

Nanakusa Okayu (via Gourmande in Osaka)

Let's use the 7 herbs (nanakusa) I showed you yesterday. Okayu is the Japanese for rice porridge. It's often served as a breakfast in Asia. Preparation : Rinse rice (here genmai brown rice, koshihikari) and cook it slowly with lots of water (I add 8 times the volume of rice and more later). I used the overnight program of the rice-cooker. When you get the porridge as you like it, chop the herbs : Add them, cook 5 more minutes. You can use the tim … Read More

via Gourmande in Osaka

Nanakusa season

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

The midnight kiss of the soba noodle… First 2011 meal

Smooch ! Akemashite omedeto ! Happy Noodle Year ! Happy 2011 !

年切り蕎麦 toshikiri soba
is soba that cut the year. It has many other names in different areas of Japan, but I think the custom is the same. The idea is to start eating this a few minutes before midnight in December 31st and pass into the new year with the noodles in your mouth… as a symbol of continued good life and health…

Omisoka ?

Yes, o-miso ! it’s a bad pun. N-Year Eve is called omisoka (大晦日) but it reads like o-miso (the miso) and ka (question mark).
So I had mines with a bowl of hot rustic white miso soup with mizuna leaves. It’s juwari soba (100% buckwheat noodle) and it’s still white because it’s a special quality of buckwheat, superior, luxurious… Hey you need that for a celebration !

Best wishes for all of you dear readers and your dear ones !