Cooking class: Everything coming up cherry blossoms

When checking out the offerings of Japanese cookbooks after the New Year holiday, I came across one with a recipe for yuzu-flavoured scallop date-maki which, as a big fan of yuzu and scallops, really got my heart racing. A how-to of plating techniques that just happened to have recipes, the book was right up my alley, and came home with me the very same day. Written by the daughter half of a mother-daughter cooking school and table coordination combi, it pointed me in the direction of their lovely blogs (mother and daughter), the photos on which had my tummy rumbling on many a long homeward commute since I can tell you!



I was particularly struck by the mouthwatering blog photos of the sakura-themed cooking class, and reading that there were a small number of places still available, arranged to go on the last session offered, which happened to be the day before I was having guests.



Welcome drink: Sakura-yu cherry blossom "tea"

 It was rather a hike out to Nakamura-sensei's home in the picturesque woods of Chiba, a good two hours from Yokohama. The long journey was soon forgotten, however, when I met sensei. A more charming, knowledgeable and kind teacher you could not hope to have. The earliest arrivals sipped sakura-yu, a fragrant "tea" of preserved cherry blossoms, while we waited for the last two students to turn up. All assembled and aproned up, the five of us put together the the amazing spread above over the next 3 hours, but it never felt rushed or like hard work. 

On the day's menu:



A meal of spring delights

In the bowl:

Eel and prawn-filled lotus root balls in thickened yuzukosho (yuzu and green chilli) dashi soup

In the cocktail glass:
Firefly squid jelly topped with onsen tamago (eggs with cooked yolks and loose whites) and dashi gelee

On the dinner plate from top left:

Yuzukosho sauce for dipping the bamboo shoot coquettes

Bite-sized steaks with wild spring vegetables and sesame dressing

Kombu-jime sushi wrapped in sakura leaf

Bamboo shoot coquettes with yuzukosho sauce

On the side plate:

Yuba rolls with chicken fillet, rape blossoms and wasabina leaf mustard, again with dashi gelee

Sakura pound cake


There was a great deal to learn, both in the cooking and the plating and table decoration fronts. Sensei gave me special instructions on 3-hour dashi and how to make gari sushi shop-style pickled ginger, as well as explaining the method of preserving sashimi by sandwiching it between sheets of vinegared kombu kelp. I also learned a delicious way to prepare seasonal Japanese veggies udo (aralia cordata), kogomi (ostrich fern) and tara no me (buds of the angelica tree) that I had long passed over in the veggie shop for lack of knowing how to prepare them. I particularly liked the crunchy udo. Must have a look for some more recipes for that : )



Main dish set to the correct orientation



On the plating front, we learned the correct way to serve a main dish (wrongly oriented in the photo above), how the tiniest sprinkling of matcha can transform a white plate, and how to make decorative "cherry blossom petals" from the odd end of a daikon!

I also got the recipe for perhaps the loveliest cake you can ever bake in under an hour! The secret to making a pound cake lovely and moist, I learned, is to cover it with wrap while it cools. For a non-baker like me, that was a total revelation!



A feast of sakura: Sakura leaves, sakura bean paste and blossoms baked to perfection

Sitting down to eat at the gorgeous table, I found I had few words as I took each mouthful of truly amazing flavours and textures, savouring every moment.



If not for the distance, I would love to become a regular at Y's Kitchen. As it is, I think I may have to take a day or two off work this year to go on a weekday.



 And that sakura pound cake? Truly as amazing as I thought it would be, it appeared on my Persian New Year spread the very next day!

Cherry blossom dainties II: Kansai-style sakuramochi

Kansai-style sakuramochi

The arrival of spring is awaited in Japan with much longing from the very first day of the New Year, which tradition, if not the weather, claims as the "first of spring".

Closer to the true arrival of warmer days, the Bureau of Meteorology starts to chart the (forecast) arrival of the much beloved cherry blossoms (sakura) on a 7-stage scale, from budding, to first blossoms, to full-bloom, to blossoms-and-leaves on a "sakura front". As of late February, the front was predicting full-bloom in Tokyo/Yokohama on March 25, rather earlier than usual. However, a burst of very warm weather in mid March had the Bureau calling "full-bloom" on March 23, the second-earliest such call on record! Luckily, the weather turned cool again immediately after, and we had a long two weeks to enjoy the fleeting pleasures (and cherry blossom viewing parties under the boughs) of the sakura season.

Sakuramochi are the Japanese sweet of the cherry blossom viewing season. There are two basic types:  (1) Kanto-style (Tokyo and surrounding areas) sakuramochi, which consist of a ball of koshi-an (smooth adzuki bean paste) wrapped in a pink-tinted pancake made from rice flower, topped with a preserved cherry blossom (like the ones I made last year), and (2) these Kansai-style (Osaka and surrounding areas) sakuramochi, in which the balls of an are covered with pink-tinged glutinous rice and wrapped in an edible preserved sakura (cherry tree) leaf. Both are delicious, but the Kansai style might be a little bit trickier to make (if my maiden effort is anything to go by). But only in as far as the sticky rice layer is, well, sticky ; )

It's hard to describe the scent of sakura leaves; it is something like the the scent of flowers and incense remembered in a dream. They have a lovely floral flavour, too, heightened by the slight saltiness that remains even after soaking them to remove the salt they are preserved in. I bought a pack of 45 from Tomizawaya, where you can also get the an powder (or prepared an) and domyoji-ko (dried pre-steamed sticky rice) rice needed to make these lovelies. The good news is that any leftover leaves can be frozen for later use.

Since I don't make sweets much, never mind Japanese sweets, I chose the powdered an last year. There was plenty left over for making these this year, and a sakura pound cake I made last weekend. This, along with a longer use-by date (don't you hate being under pressure to "use up" special ingredients?...), makes the powder the right choice for me. It does add the extra step of reconstituting the an. That only takes a couple of minutes, though, so no biggie.

This recipe is from a leaflet I picked up at Tomizawaya. It is for 15 sakuramochi, and that's what I made, but it's such a tricky number. I'd advise making 16 instead. They will be plenty big enough.

Since the much-loved whitish variety of sakura had finished blooming by the time I made these, I made the rice layer a darker pink, similar to the later-blooming varieties. Typically, Kansai-style sakuramochi are a more subtle pink. The choice is yours.

Kansai-style sakuramochi

Makes 15-16

For the an

72 g Tomoe koshi-an powder
216 ml water
160 g white sugar
or 300 g prepared koshi-an

150 g domyoji-ko
70 g white sugar
280 ml water
pinch natural red food coloring
15 preserved sakura (cherry tree) leaves

1 Soak sakura leaves in water for 30 min to remove the salt. Dry well with kitchen paper.

2 To make the an if using the powder, bring the water and koshi-an powder to the boil, reduce the heat to medium, add sugar and stir until thickened, taking care not to allow the an to burn. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

3 Mix the sugar and water in a small pot and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Add red food colouring a little at a time to achieve the desired colour.

4 Add the domyoji-ko and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, over a medium heat for 7-8 min. Remove from the heat. Make a cartouche (covering) from kitchen wrap and place on the surface of the domyoji-ko mixture and leave to steam for 40 minutes.

5 Divide the an into 15 or 16 equal-sized pieces and roll into balls.  Divide the steamed daimyoji-ko mixture into 15 or 16 equal-sized portions. With slightly wettened hands, cover each an ball with a piece of the daimyoji-ko mixture and wrap in a sakura leaf, with the vein side on the outside.

Meshi-agare!

More negishio: Chicken & sugar snap peas with Japanese leek and salt dressing

Chicken & sugar snap peas with Japanese leek and salt dressing

My earlier post on negishio has been the most popular here at Miso and Yuzu since I posted it. There was even a spike of interest in it a couple of weeks ago after a debate about scallions broke out on eGullet!

In this take, the chicken is stir-fried with the peas and the dressing stirred in right at the end. You don't get crispy chicken skin, but it is a deliciously moreish mouthful anyway.

We had this with a tuna and pea rice dish, and it was a wonderful spring meal to coincide with the earlier-than-usual arrival of the cherry blossoms!

Chicken & sugar snap peas with Japanese leek and salt dressing

Serves 4

For the dressing
4 tbsp finely chopped Japanese leeks (negi)
2/3 tsp salt
4 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

2 boneless chicken thighs
4 tsp katakuriko potato starch
200 g sugar snap peas, topped and tailed
2 tbsp vegetable oil, separated

1 Mix the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl. Slice the sugar snap peas in half on the diagonal.

2 Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with salt, katakuriko and 1 tbsp of the oil, tossing to mix after each addition.

3 Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the sugar snap peas and stir-fry for about 1 min. Add the chicken and continue stir-frying, breaking up the meat as you go.

4 Once the meat changes colour but is not quite cooked through, add the dressing and turn up the heat. Stir-fry for 1-2 min longer until cooked through. Transfer to a serving dish.

Enjoy!

Recipe source: Orange Page April 17, 2010 edition (no longer available for sale)

Heaven in an oven dish: Scallop and Camembert bread quiche



Scallop and Camembert bread quiche

Imagine it: thick cubes of bread steeped in a custard redolent with the luscious, heady scent of scallops, topped with wedges of Camembert and baked until it all oozes with succulence. It's an early call, but I am thinking this is a sure contender for Recipe of the Year!

The original recipe was in an ad for Megmilk Snow brand dairy products in the pre-Christmas December 17, 2011 issue of Orange Page. It is lovely and celebratory, but also ticks the thrifty boxes required for the Kechi (miserly) Cooking Month kick I am on after the Christmas-New year blowout. A few scallops will go a long way baked into a quiche like this : ).

I used scallops with the roe attached, although the recipe calls for the white muscle meat only.

In Japan, the local Camembert sold in supermarkets comes in 100 g wheels, which can be cut into nice little triangles to top the quiche with.

Scallop and Camembert bread quiche

Serves 4-5

200 g Camembert cheese (2 wheels of Japanese Camembert)
2 slices of thick-cut bread
12 scallops
7 eggs
190 ml milk
4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely sliced
1 bunch (around 200 g) spinach
4 tbsp white wine

1 Heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Cut each wheel of cheese into 12 triangles. Quarter the scallops. Cut the bread into 9 cubes per slice. Wash the spinach, drain and cut into 4 cm lengths.

2 Line the bottom of a large oven-proof dish with the bread cubes. Break the eggs into a large bowl and whisk with a fork. Add the milk and Parmesan cheese and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Mix again and pour enough of the mixture over the bread to cover it. Set aside for a few minutes to allow the bread to absorb the egg mixture.

3  Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry the onion until soft. Add the spinach and scallops and stir to combine. Pour over the wine, stir and season with salt and black pepper. Spoon the mixture on top of the egg-soaked bread, then top with Camembert triangles placed randomly. Pour over the remaining egg mixture and bake for 35-45 min, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the quiche comes out clean.

(Adapted from a recipe in the December 17, 2011 issue of Orange Page)

Enjoy!

Happy New Year 2013: Osechi Tier 3

Osechi tier 3: Simmered stew

Spicy chicken and root vegetable nishime stew, ninjin no ume-ni plum-blossom carrots simmered in dashi and umeboshi pickled plum, snow peas

1. Koh Kentetsu's spicy chicken and root vegetable nishime stew

Symbolizes family togetherness
Time/Effort: * Cost: * Flavour: ***

Nishime is a kind of stew that is simmered until most of the cooking liquid has evaporated, then given a glossy sheen with a final blast with sugar and/or mirin.

The nishime served as part of Osechi, also called chikuzen-ni, has been a bit of a stumbling block for me for years, as it often contains some of my least-liked Japanese vegetables (satoimo taro, takenoko bamboo shoots and gobo burdock root, which I admit is now growing on me ; )). When I found this recipe, sans all the aforementioned ingredients, from my favourite food writer working in Japanese, Koh Kentetsu, I knew I'd hit the jackpot!

I found I had a lot of liquid left at the end of the specified cooking time (perhaps I messed up my calculations when I doubled the recipe?). But far from a problem, this was a real boon when I couldn't be bothered cooking the next day and had it as soup : D. If this should "accidentally" happen again, I will just remove some of the soup to a smaller pot and reduce it to the right consistency and mix it into the portion of stew that I serve.

This recipe uses the ran-giri cutting technique. This decorative Japanese cutting style increases the surface area of the cut pieces, helping them to cook more evenly. Basically, it involves cutting a long, round vegetable on the diagonal, turning the vegetable as you go, as demonstrated in this video.

Serves 4. Keeps for 2-3 days in the fridge.

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 boneless chicken legs, skin on (around 500 g)
2 potatoes (around 250 g)
1/2 a lotus root (around 100 g)
1 carrot (around 100 g)
8 cooked quail's eggs

For the cooking liquid
2 cups water
1/2 cup sake
3-4 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
3 tbsp sugar
2-3 dried red chillies, or to taste

1 Remove any visible yellow fat from the chicken and cut into large bite-sized pieces. Season with salt and black pepper. Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Peel the lotus root and cut into slices 1 cm wide. Peel the carrots and cut into bite-sized ran-giri pieces. Drain store-bought cooked quail's eggs or cook fresh quail's eggs for 4 minutes in boiling water and peel carefully. Cut the stalk end off the chillies. Mix together the cooking liquid ingredients in a bowl. Make a cartouche slightly smaller then the diameter of your pan and cut a 2 cm hole in the middle.

2 Heat toasted sesame oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Place the chicken pieces in the pot skin-side down and cook until on both sides until lightly browned. Add the lotus root and carrot and stir-fry until coated with the oil. Pour in the cooking liquid and bring to the boil, scooping off the scum that rises to the surface.

3 Drop the cartouche on top of the stew and simmer for  about 10 minutes. Add the quail's eggs and potatoes and replace the cartouche. Simmer for a further 15 minutes, stirring from time to time.

(Adapted from a recipe in the January 2, 2009 issue of Orange Page)

2. Ninjin no ume-ni plum-blossom carrots simmered in dashi and umeboshi pickled plum
Time/Effort: *** Cost: * Flavour: ***

I've often looked at the adorable three-dimensional carrots in the Osechi manuals and thought they would be much too hard to make. This year I took the carrot by the stalk, as it were, and gave it a whirl. Guess what, it's not nearly as hard as it looks (as demonstrated in this video). In fact, there is even a way to make these decorative carrots if you don't have a plum blossom veggie cutter!

Many recipes for plum-blossom carrots just simmer them in a bit of dashi and soy sauce, but the idea of simmering them in actual umeboshi pickled plums appealed to my cheekier side. I used the super-red kindoki ninjin variety here to contrast with the regular carrots in the stew.

1/2 a kindoki ninjin red carrot
400 ml dashi stock
4 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp usukuchi (light) Japanese soy sauce
2 umeboshi pickled plums (low sodium for preference)
pinch of salt

1 Cut carrot into 1 cm-thick coins and cut out plum blossom shapes using a veggie cutter.

2 At the point where the petals join, make 4-5 mm deep cuts into the center, like the spokes of a wheel. Beginning 1/3 of the way between two petals, remove a small piece of carrot by cutting diagonally toward the cut that you made. Repeat with each petal until you have a three-dimensional plum blossom. Repeat with the rest of the carrots.

3 Bring a small pot of salted water to the boil and parboil the carrots. Drain and cool in cold water.

4 In the same pot, bring the dashi, sugar, usukuchi soy sauce to the boil. Add the carrots and umeboshi pickled plums, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 4-5 min. Set aside to cool in in the cooking liquid.

(Adapted from a recipe in Osechi to kigaru na omotenashi (Osechi and easy dishes for entertaining))

3 Snow peas

String and cook briefly in boiling water. Make "fans" of three snow peas and tuck into the stew as a garnish. My guess is that this presentation represents either the kadomatsu New Year's entrance decoration or the stylized matsu (pine) motif so popular at Japanese New Year.

Happy New Year 2013: Osechi Tier 2

Osechi tier 2: Savoury and pickled delicacies

By row from top: Apurikotto namasu pickled carrot and daikon with dried apricots and mint, matsukaze-yaki chicken terrine, date-maki fish and egg roll, subasu spicy pickled lotus root

I rang the changes with the second tier this year, with new-to-me recipes for namasu, the celebratory red-and-white pickle and date-maki, the easiest of all Osechi dishes to make.

1. Apurikotto namasu pickled carrot and daikon with dried apricots and mint
Symbolizes the wish for peace
Time/Effort: ** Cost: ** Flavour: ***

Flicking through the January 2012 edition of the women's glossy Katei Gaho, I couldn't help but get excited by this riff on namasu, with its almost Mediterranean vibe. The mint and nuts added texture and freshness and made this quite addictive. I think I'll go with this version again next time.

Making this without a mandoline is possible, but I really wouldn't recommend it unless you have chef-level knife skills. A LOT of liquid comes out of the daikon. Some effort is required to squeeze it all out. You should think of it as stress relief ; ).

There is a particularly red variety of carrot in Japan called kindoki ninjin, which will make your pickle more vibrant if you can find it. These carrots are also great for making plum-blossom-shaped carrots to decorate your third Osechi tier.

You want to make this a day or two in advance to let the flavours meld. Keeps for 10 days in the fridge.

600 g daikon
80 g carrot
2 cups (400 ml) water
1 tbsp salt

For the pickling liquid
2/3 cup (66 ml) Japanese rice vinegar
6 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

small handful of dried apricots, sliced
small handful of almonds, sliced
small handful of mint leaves, torn roughly, and a few whole sprigs to garnish

1 Using a mandoline, shred the daikon along the grain into fine ribbons 4 cm long. Repeat with the carrot. Place in separate bowls.

2 Mix salt and water and pour 2/3 of the amount over the daikon and the remaining amount over the carrot. Soak until the vegetables become pliant. Squeeze the vegetables in the water a few times with your hands, drain and squeeze until very dry. A great deal of liquid will come out of the daikon. Keep squeezing until no more liquid comes out to prevent your pickle from becoming watery.

3 Mix the pickling liquid ingredients together and add the dried apricots

4 Add the daikon and carrot and mix gently. Place in a zip-topped bag to marinate in the fridge for a day or two, turning once or twice.

5 When ready to serve, mix some mint and almonds into the portion to be served, reserving the rest for the remainder. Garnish with a whole sprig of mint.

2. Matsukaze-yaki chicken terrine
Time/Effort: * Cost: * Flavour: ***
This item does not symbolize anything in particular, but has its place in the New Year spread due to the "matsu" (pine) in its name. Matsu (=sho) is one part of the auspicious sho-chiku-bai (pine-bamboo-plum) triumvirate of trees that bring good fortune.

This recipe is basically the one I learned a few years ago at ABC Cooking Studio. I like to ramp up the ginger and to sneak in a little of the exotic by using dried dill instead of nori powder as a sprinkle.

This is another relatively easy Osechi fix. You will need either a 10 cm x 15 cm nagashi-bako, a two-part square tin used in Japanese sweet-making, or a square cake tin the same size. If white poppy seeds and nori flakes are hard to come by, regular and black sesame seeds can be substituted. Matsuba-gushi skewers (seen in the photos here) are used on happy occasions, such as weddings, as they symbolize two as an inseparable one. Unfortunately, they are a little hard to come by.  I used regular dango skewers to make the suehiro folding fan shape that symbolizes gradually increasing prosperity and is a common presentation for matsukaze-yaki (as in these photos).

Makes 8 fan-shaped slices. Keeps for 5 days in the fridge.

250 g chicken mince

4 tsp sugar
16 g white miso paste
2 tsp cooking sake
1 tsp Japanese soy sauce
1.5 tsp ginger juice squeezed from grated fresh ginger

1 large egg, beaten
8 tsp panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp white poppy seeds (or sesame seeds)
1 tsp nori flakes (or dried dill)

Equipment
15 cm x 12 cm nagashi-bako or similar sized square cake tin, with or without removable bottom
30 cm x 30 cm square of baking paper
8 matsuba-gushi bamboo skewers or other small skewers, about 5 cm in length

1 Create a liner for the nagashi-bako or cake tin by placing it at the center of the baking paper. Make 4 cuts in the paper from the edge of the baking paper to the left hand corner of each side of the tin. Make folds along the base line, line the tin neatly and set aside.

2 Preheat oven to 220 C if using gas, 230 C if using electric. Meanwhile, thoroughly mix the chicken mince, sugar, miso paste, sake, Japanese soy sauce and ginger juice in a bowl, using your hand like a whisk. Add the egg and panko breadcrumbs and briefly mix again. Pour into the prepared nagashi-bako or cake tin and flatten the surface. Remove the air by gently tapping the bottom of the nagashi-bako or cake tin against a flat surface a few times. Sprinkle one half of the chicken mixture all over with the poppy seeds.

3 Bake for 15 min, or until a skewer comes out clean. Cover with aluminium foil and return to the oven with the heat off to steam for a further 5 min. Remove the chicken loaf from the tin and cut in half along the poppy seed line. Sprinkle the plain half all over with the nori flakes. Cut each half into 4 long "fan" shapes by cutting across the width of the halves on the diagonal. Push a matsuba-gushi or other small skewer into the short side of each triangle to make fan shapes. This is also the shape of a hagoita, or battledore, used in Japanese New Year "badminton".

3. Date-maki fish and egg roll
Time/Effort: * Cost: * Flavour: ***
Symbolizes culture and learning, due to its scroll shape

This is super easy, delicious and quite dramatic in the jubako. Unlike regular sweet egg rolls, this one contains the fluffy white fish cake hanpen. This makes it lusciously spongy. Date-maki rolling mats, called onisudare, are not readily available, even in Japanese department stores. I got mine at the Kappa-bashi cooking supplies town in Tokyo. A regular sushi rolling mat will do fine, even if it does not produce the customary zig-zag pattern.

I was again invited to a dear friend's for a NYE party/sleepover and took half of the Osechi I had made to that point to give her a hand with her New Year spread. That meant I made two date-maki again this year. To ring in the changes, I made a version with dashi stock in it for the second one, and enjoyed that even more than the first. But I am even more excited about  trying a version containing yuzu and scallops that I found in this book on plating techniques next time!

Version 1
Make a day in advance is using an date-maki rolling mat to allow the zig-zag pattern to set. Keeps for 1 week in the fridge.

4 eggs
1 cake hanpen (pounded white-fleshed fish) (approx. 110 g)
32 g cane sugar or other brown sugar
1 tbsp mirin
1/4 tsp Japanese soy sauce
1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Equipment
Date-maki rolling mat or sushi rolling mat
2 elastic bands

1 Break hanpen up and place in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Add eggs, cane sugar, mirin and Japanese soy sauce and process or blend for 30 sec.

2 Heat oil in a medium frying pan. Pour in the hanpen-egg mixture and cover with a lid. Cook on a medium flame for 1 min, then reduce the heat to low and cook a further 15-20 min, or until the "omlette" is cooked through when pierced with a skewer and the top is dry. Turn off the heat, cover and leave to steam for a further 3 min.

3 Remove omlette from the pan onto a chopping board. Form into a "rectangle" by cutting off a 1.5 cm strip of omlette from the left and right sides and the edge furthest from you. Keep the uncut side closest to you. You will now have three long semi-ovals of cutout omlette. Cut the left and right semi-ovals in half across the middle.

4 Place the date-maki or sushi rolling mat on your work surface with the narrow side closest to you. Cover with cling film. Now place your omlette on top, dark side down, with the uncut side closest to you. Keeping close to this edge, place the omlette cutouts on top of the omlette "rectangle" so that they form a neat rectangle at the "bottom" of your roll.

5 Firmly roll the omlette from bottom to top, keeping the wrap out of the way as you go. You should end up with a tight egg roll. Fold the ends of the wrap in at the sides. Secure the egg in the mat with a rubber band at each end, and leave to cool. If making ahead, refrigerate until ready to serve. To serve, remove rubber bands, mat and wrap, and slice roll into eighths.

(Adapted from ABC Cooking Studio recipe)

Version 2
Make a day in advance is using an date-maki rolling mat to allow the zig-zag pattern to set. Keeps for 1 week in the fridge.

1 cake hanpen (pounded white-fleshed fish) (approx. 110 g)
5 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp usukuchi (light) Japanese soy sauce
50 ml dashi stock

1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Equipment
Date-maki rolling mat or sushi rolling mat
2 elastic bands

1 Break hanpen up and place in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Add eggs, mirin, sugar, soy sauce and dashi and process or blend for 30 sec.

2 Heat oil in a medium frying pan. Pour in the hanpen-egg mixture and cover with a lid. Cook on a medium flame for 1 min, then reduce the heat to low and cook a further 15-20 min, or until the "omlette" is cooked through when pierced with a skewer and the top is dry. Turn off the heat, cover and leave to steam for a further 3 min.

3 Remove omlette from the pan onto a chopping board. Form into a "rectangle" by cutting off a 1.5 cm strip of omlette from the left and right sides and the edge furthest from you. Keep the uncut side closest to you. You will now have three long semi-ovals of cutout omlette. Cut the left and right semi-ovals in half across the middle.

4 Place the date-maki or sushi rolling mat on your work surface with the narrow side closest to you. Cover with cling film. Now place your omlette on top, dark side down, with the uncut side closest to you. Keeping close to this edge, place the omlette cutouts on top of the omlette "rectangle" so that they form a neat rectangle at the "bottom" of your roll.

5 Firmly roll the omlette from bottom to top, keeping the wrap out of the way as you go. You should end up with a tight egg roll. Fold the ends of the wrap in at the sides. Secure the egg in the mat with a rubber band at each end, and leave to cool. If making ahead, refrigerate until ready to serve. To serve, remove rubber bands, mat and wrap, and slice roll into eighths.

(Adapted from a recipe in 12-gatsu 31-nichi dake de dekiru Osechi (Make-in-a-day Osechi))

4. Subasu spicy pickled lotus root
Symbolizes good prospects for the future
Time/Effort: ** Cost: * Flavour: ***

This is a really pretty pickle, with the lotus roots carved into flower shapes before slicing. If I'm honest, I've struggled a bit carving the lotus root, but it seems there is a technique to it, demonstrated in this video, that I will be employing from next time!

Make 2 days in advance. Keeps for 3 weeks in the fridge.

1 section of lotus root (approx. 15 cm long)
splash of Japanese rice vinegar

For the amazu sweet vinegar pickling liquid
5 tbsp dashi stock
3 tbsp Japanese rice vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt

1 dried Japanese red chilli, sliced finely
2 cups boiling water
3 tbsp Japanese rice vinegar
pinch of salt

1 Peel lotus root with a vegetable peeler. Cut away sections of flesh between the holes of the root to create a flower shape (it may be easier to cut the lotus root in half around the middle and repeat this process on the two halves). Slice the root into rounds 5-6 mm thick. Soak in water with a splash of Japanese rice vinegar added to it.

2 Make the amazu pickling liquid. In a small pot, heat the dashi stock, rice vinegar, sugar and salt. When the sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat, add the sliced dried chilli and allow to cool.

3 Bring the water to the boil, add the rice vinegar and salt. Boil the lotus root for 1-2 min, or until slightly transparent, and drain immediately. Take care not to overcook or the texture will become unpleasant.

4 Place the cooked lotus root and the pickling liquid in a zip-topped bag and leave to marinate for a day.

(Adapted from the recipe in Kihon no Osechi to Shogatsu no omotenashi 2010 (Basic Osechi and special occasion food for the New Year))

Happy New Year 2013: Osechi Tier 1

Osechi tier 1: Sweet delicacies

Clockwise from left: Ringo-kan apple jelly, kinkan no kanro-ni kumquats in syrup, yuzu-kan citron jelly and matcha-iri kurikinton sweet potato and chestnuts with green tea
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)

Happy New Year 2013: Osechi




Osechi: Traditional cuisine for the Japanese New Year

Happy New Year!

What you see above is the fruits of (let's be honest) quite a lot of work at the end of 2012.

Osechi is the traditional New Year food of Japan. Made over the dying three to four days of the old year, the dishes are intended to tide families over the three-day New Year holiday, when, in days of old, all shops would be closed.



A jubako 3-tiered lacquer ware box

Osechi is typically served in a lidded three-tiered lacquer ware or china box called a jubako. I couldn't resist this one, with it's auspicious sho-chiku-bai (pine, bamboo and plum blossom) motif.

The plum trees have not usually blossomed in Yokohama by January 1, but as the first flowering tree to blossom, they are the harbingers of spring and the plum blossom is a classic New Year symbol in Japan (see table runner). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a plum blossom napkin fold, so we made do with roses, instead. In any case, the rose is the floral emblem of Yokohama, so it felt appropriate, somehow ; ).

With an amazing assortment of morsels with auspicious or virtuous meanings,  cooking the three-tiered goodie box can be a bit daunting, especially if also undertaking the mandatory Big Clean that the Japanese housewife is told is essential to starting the New Year on the correct footing. (Some cleaning product ads even exhort  "clean up this year's dirt before the end of this year!")

I don't go in for spring cleaning, and with the Young Man set to leave Japan for university in Australia later this year, I wanted to give Osechi my very best shot. I managed to double my previous best effort of 7 items to 15, with around 4 days of cooking.

Doing a spot of research, I discovered that the January 2012 edition of the glossy women's magazine Fujin Gaho  had a big Osechi recipe feature. That, various copies of its competing glossy Katei Gaho, the food bi-monthly Orange Page and two Osechi mooks I have picked up over the years provided the recipes for this spread.

Some of these dishes have become firm favourites over the years, others were new to me and may still need a bit of tweaking till I get them right. I'll be posting the recipes shortly.

Tier 1 (left; sweet delicacies)

Kuromame (black soybeans caramelized in sugar and soy sauce), pirikara tatsukuri (spicy dried young anchovies with ginger and garlic), kumquats in syrup, kurikinton (sweet potato and chestnuts) with matcha, plum-blossom-shaped apple jelly and yuzu (citron) jelly

Tier 2 (middle; savoury and pickled delicacies)

Matsukaze-yaki chicken terrine, namasu pickled daikon and carrot with apricots and mint, pickled subasu lotus root, datemaki fish and egg roll

Tier 3 (right; simmered stew)

Spicy chicken and root vegetable nishime stew, ninjin no ume-ni plum-blossom carrots simmered in dashi and umeboshi pickled plum, snow peas

I served this with my usual gochiso buri daikon yellowtail teriyaki with daikon and Edo-style Ozoni soup (minus the mochi rice cake this year).

More to come shortly...