Parsley soba (via Gourmande in Osaka)

No Japanese Summer without cold soba noodles. Zaru soba Grated daikon radish, squeezed from excess water. Chopped parsley. Aromatic tsuyu : Chinese spicy broth, soy sauce, mirin, more dry chili and fragrant sesame oil. Mix daikon and parsley in the cup. Dip the noodles and schhhhhhlllluuuuppp ! After you've eaten the noodles, fill the cup with the boiling broth from the noodle (cold or hot) and you have a little soup. With salad and natto, that m … 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

Namasu, Japanese vinegar pickles

These carrots are really as red as tomatoes. They are also longer and more slender. I have red they were brought from China in Edo Era. They are now one of the Kyoto vegetables used for kaiseki ryori, and of course, they are ideal for Osechi Ryori…
There name is kintoki ninjin 金時人参.

Daikon radishes.

Kohaku namasu

紅白なます, kohaku namasu is a standard of Osechi Ryori, simply because it is red (ko) and white (haku). The red and white association of color is considered auspicious for New Year in many Asian countries. Add to that they are the color of Japan, like in the flag with the red sun on a white surrounding.

Recipe :

It’s easy. Of course, you can use an ordinary carrot. Grate carrot and daikon (more daikon than carrot). Sprinkle a little seasalt, toss well. Let 30 minutes. With you hands squeeze well the water out of the veggies, discard it.
Add a seasoning of rice vinegar plus sugar (1 ts of sugar per cup of vinegar). The normal recipe is white vinegar and white sugar. I don’t have that in stock. So I used black rice vinegar and yellow cane sugar.
No so nice.. but it’s good.
Let the seasoned veggies one day in the fridge before serving. You can keep them about 3 days. Seal well the container as the smell is strong.

I squeezed it again and placed it on a sheet of baking paper inside the box.

On main blog :

Osechi ryori compilation