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| Osechi tier 1: Sweet delicacies |
Center: Pirikara tatsukuri spicy dried young anchovies with ginger and garlic, kuromame black soy beans caramelized in soy sauce
The first tier is my favourite to make. All those lovely colours and our perennial favourites Koh Kentetsu's spicy dried young anchovies with ginger and garlic, caramelized black soy beans and sweet potato and chestnuts with green tea.
New this year were the two jellies, which are made with kanten, a gelling agent made from seaweed. It was my first time to use it, but I was really pleased with the results. Also debuting this year was kumquats in syrup. I followed a recipe found on the Net for this, but maybe cooked them a little too long, as more than a few collapsed.With a touch of vinegar to cut the sweetness, the flavour was superb, so I will persevere and try to perfect it next time!
1. Ringo-kan apply jelly
Symbolizes plum blossoms, the flower of the season (and perhaps more that I've not been able to discover ; ))
Time/Effort: ** Cost: ** Flavour: ***
Although the recipe was a bit fussy, this went down a real treat. It uses stick kanten. One stick weighs around 8-10 g, but if using powdered kanten, use 6 g per stick (there is an adaptation using powdered kanten here (JPN)) . The original recipe called for 2 cups of sugar, but I think 1.5 cups would be enough. The jelly set outside the fridge (in our fairly cool apartment), a boon when fridge space was at a premium!
I used a plum-blossom-shaped vegetable cutter to cut the jelly. I found this nice winter/spring set of cutters at Loft.
Makes around 1 l. Keeps for 5 days in the fridge.
2 sticks kanten
3 kogyoku apples or other medium-sized red apples (the redder the skin, the redder the jelly will be)
1.5 cups sugar
4 tbsp lemon juice, or to taste
1 l water
1 Break up the kanten sticks roughly and soak in plenty of water for at least 1 hour.
2 Meanwhile, wash the apples, quarter and remove the cores (there's no need to peel). Place the apples, sugar and 3 tbsp of the lemon juice in a pan and cook on a medium heat until very soft. Use a stick or standing blender to liquidize until very smooth.
3 Squeeze all the water out of the kanten and place in a pot with the water. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to medium to dissolve the kanten. Scooping off the scum that rises, continue to boil until the liquid has reduced by about half. Remove from the heat.
4 Add to the apple mixture and stir gently with a rubber spatula until well blended. Try to avoid creating bubbles. Add the remaining lemon juice, mix again and pour gently into a lidded container (I used two 500 ml containers). Burst any bubbles in the surface and leave to set in a cool place. Refrigerate. Cut the required amout with a plum-blossom-shaped vegetable cutter.
(Adapted from a recipe in Fujin Gaho, January 2012 edition)
2. Kinkan no kanro-ni kumquats in syrup
Symbolizes wealth (the word for kumquat, kinkan, is homophonous with the word for "gold crown"
Time/Effort: ** Cost: * Flavour: ***
These looked so nice on the Japanese language recipe site Cookpad. However, I made 300 g, not the 1 kg in the recipe, and I think I should have reduced the cooking time, as some of the kumquats collapsed. Next time I would cover the pot with a glass lid to keep an eye on proceedings. Here is the recipe as published.
Keeps for several months in a cool, dark place. Needs to be started at least a day in advance.
1 kg kumquats
1 cup vinegar
500-700 g sugar
1 Soak kumquats in water overnight.
2 Remove the stalk ends and pierce with a fork 5-6 times.
3 Place kumquats in a pot in which they can fit snugly in one layer. Add the sugar and vinegar.
4 Cover the pot tightly with aluminium foil and place on a medium-low heat. When the kumquats come to a boil and the foil cover billows, reduce the heat to low and cook for exactly 23 minutes. Remove from the heat.
5 Without removing the foil, leave to cool overnight. Place in a container covered with the syrup.
(Adapted from this recipe.)
3. Yuzu-kan citron jelly
Symbolizes wealth (I made that up, but the grated citron zest looks just like gold dust)
Time/Effort: ** Cost: * Flavour: ***
This jelly is made in much the same way as the apple jelly above. The citron zest sinks to the bottom as the jelly sets, so when you turn your cut out plum blossoms over, they look like they are sprinkled with gold dust! When I read about this recipe here, I just knew I had to have this yuzu recipe for Miso and Yuzu (g). The original recipe was not citrussy enough for me, so I will be adding more juice next time. Lemon would work just as well, if citrons are not available.
Makes around 700 ml. Keeps for 5 days in the fridge.
2 sticks kanten
2-3 large yuzu citrons (4 tbsp juice, or to taste)
1.5 cups sugar
1 l water
1 Break up the kanten sticks roughly and soak in plenty of water for at least 1 hour.
2 Meanwhile, finely grate the zest of one of the citrons, then juice them all.
3 Squeeze all the water out of the kanten and place in a pot with 1 l of water. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to medium to dissolve the kanten. Scooping off the scum that rises, continue to boil until the liquid has reduced by about half. Remove from the heat.
4 Add the sugar and stir gently until the sugar dissolves. Strain in the citron juice and add the grated citron zest. Stir gently with a rubber spatula until well blended. Try to avoid creating bubbles. Pour gently into a lidded container (I used 500 ml and 200 ml containers). Burst any bubbles in the surface and leave to set in a cool place. Refrigerate. Cut the required amout with a plum-blossom-shaped vegetable cutter.
(Adapted from a recipe in Fujin Gaho, January 2012 edition)
4. Matcha-iri kurikinton sweet potato and chestnuts with green tea
Symbolizes wealth
Time/Effort: *** Cost: *** Flavour: ***
This has been a favourite of ours for a few years now, and the Young Man would not have me messing about with his best-loved Osechi dish. I suspect I could get away with using just half a tsp of matcha powder, which would probably give a more vibrant green and reduce the cost of the dish a bit, but I've not been game to try it ; ) I think this is sweet enough without the glucose syrup, so in Step 2 I keep adding water until I obtain the consistency I like.
Makes enough to fill a 1.2 l container. Keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge. Needs to be started at least a day in advance.
500 g sweet potato (peeled weight)
1/2 tsp yaki-myoban (burnt alum) or 1 tsp baking powder
100 g sugar
150 g sugar
pinch salt
1/2 cup syrup reserved from jar of chestnuts in syrup
2 tbsp mizuame (glucose syrup)
15-20 sweetened chestnuts from the jar, halved or quartered
1 tbsp matcha green tea powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp boiling water
1 Peel and cut sweet potatoes into 2 cm-thick rounds. Soak in water for around 10 min. Change water and mix in yaki-myoban or baking powder. Leave to soak overnight to remove tackiness. Drain, rinse and place in a large pot. Pour in the sugar and just enough water to cover. Bring to the boil on a medium heat.
2 Boil until the sweet potatoes soft, about 12-15 min, then drain. Mash and allow to cool. Add the chestnut syrup and use a stick blender to make a smooth paste. You may need to add more syrup or a little extra water.
3 Return sweet potatoes to the pot and add the sugar and salt. Heat over a medium flame, stirring with a wooden spoon, until thickened. Once you can draw a line with the wooden spoon and see the bottom of the pot, add the mizuame (glucose syrup). Cook a further 1-2 min until glossy. Remove one third of mixture to a separate bowl.
4 Parboil the halved or quartered chestnuts in a small pot, then drain and stir into the sweet potatoes in the pot.
5 In a small bowl, mix the matcha, sugar and boiling water to a paste. Stir gently into the the remaining third of the sweet potatoes. Stir the sweet potato-matcha mixture into the chestnut sweet potatoes, creating a marbled effect.
(Adapted from recipe in Kihon no osechi to shogatsu no omotenashi (Basic Osechi and dishes for New Year's entertaining), Gakken Hit Mook, 2008)
5. Koh Kentetsu's Pirikara Tatsukuri spicy dried young anchovies with ginger and garlic
Symbolizes an abundant harvest
Time/Effort: * Cost: * Flavour: ***
There are all kinds of recipes out there for tatsukuri (also pronounced tazukuri), but this one is the one we come back to. In all honesty, these Korean-inspired "fish sticks", as the Young Man calls them, are the star attraction of my Osechi. With spicy gojujang Korean miso, garlic and ginger, they fairly pop in the mouth. They are much too good to be kept only for New Year!
Dried young anchovies (niboshi/gomame) and kochujan/gojujang are available at Japanese and Korean grocers, respectively. Choose the smallest niboshi you can find.
Keeps for around 1 week.
30 g niboshi/gomame (dried young anchovies)
1/4 cup sake
1 tbsp kochujan (gojujang spicy Korean miso)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp honey (or to taste)
1/2 clove garlic, crushed
piece of ginger half the size of your thumb, pulped on a Japanese grater
1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds
1 Mix the sake, kochujan, sugar, honey, garlic and ginger in a small bowl to make the dressing.
2 Toast the niboshi in a dry frying pan over medium-low heat, stirring gently, for 2 min or until crispy and fragrant. Add the blended dressing and continue to cook, stirring gently, until thickened. Remove from the heat and cool.
(Adapted from a recipe in http://www.orangepage.net/book/orp/new/090102_orp.html (no longer available for purchase))
6. Kuromame black soy beans caremelized in soy sauce
Symbolizes good health and hard work
Time/Effort: *** Cost: ** Flavour: ***
Kuromame, along with Tatsukuri and Kazunoko (herring roe, which doesn't really appeal to me) are the three staple iwai-zakana (celebratory appetizers) of Osechi in the Kanto region (which includes Tokyo and Yokohama).
I have made the beans in the pressure cooker, in a Thermos Shuttle Chef thermal cooker, and now, the traditional simmer-for-eight-hours route. The trick is to cook the beans so they are plump and shiny, without any wrinkles. I wouldn't say I've cracked it yet, but I think I'm leaning more toward the pressure cooker method (again), both to speed things up and to save energy.
Nearly all recipes for kuromame call for rusty nails (of the carpentry an not the cocktail kind (g)). The nails are supposed to give the beans a deep lacquer-like black colour. Lacking antique nails, I've had to do without these few years, but the next chance I have, I'll be off to the hardware store to get some nails, which I'll leave out the back until next New Year. Alternatively, the rusting process can be speeded up, apparently, by soaking new nails in salty water, drying and repeating the process until rust forms. The recipe author's rusty nails have been used by his family for more than 50 years!
Needs to be started 2 days in advance. Keeps for 1 month in the fridge.
300 g black soy beans
2 l water (plus more to help remove the bean scum)
250 g sugar
50 ml Japanese soy sauce
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarb/baking soda
10 rusty nails
1 Wash beans and drain. Wash the rusty nails (if using) and place in a muslin bag or similar. Bring the water to the boil in a large, heavy pot that has a lid. Add the sugar, soy sauce, salt and bicarb/baking soda. Bring back to the boil to dissolve the sugar, then remove from the heat. Add the black soy beans and rusty nails, cover and set aside overnight.
2 The following day, Bring to the boil over a high heat and remove the scum that rises to the surface. When you have removed the scum, add a further half cup of water and bring to the boil and remove the scum again. Repeat 2-3 times to completely remove all the scum.
3 Make a cartouche inner lid with a small hole in the middle from greaseproof/oven paper and place on the beans. Cover with the lid and simmer over the lowest heat for 8 hours. When the liquid only just covers the beans, remove from the heat and set aside overnight to absorb the flavour.
(Adapted from a recipe in Fujin Gaho, January 2012 edition)
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