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 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)

Oysters with lotus root and garlic chives

Oysters with lotus root and garlic chives

Oysters are a common winter treat in Japan. They are enjoyed both raw (of course!) and cooked, and most supermarkets (in my part of Japan, at least)  have a stock of both kinds--ready shucked--during the season, which runs until around April.

I've been meaning to incorporate oysters into my winter menu for a few years, and have been collecting recipes for a while. This recipe, from Korean-Japanese food writer Koh Kentetsu, is a real find. Far from overwhelming the plump brininess of the oysters, the assertive ginger-garlic-garlic chive sauce and lotus root crunch really complement and enhance the tender mollusks.

This recipe appeared in the Orange Page column Koh Kentetsu's yasai de otsumami (vegetable dishes to enjoy with drinks). Koh recommends Shaoxing wine, beer or shochu with this dish. I say it is too good to save just for drinking parties. Why not have it for dinner tonight, while oysters are still to be had!

Renkon-iri kaki-nira itame: Oysters with lotus root and garlic chives

Serves 4

1 lotus root bulb (around 240 g)
1/2 bunch garlic chives (around 50 g)
16 shucked oysters

2 tsp Japanese soy sauce
2 tsp cooking sake

For the sauce
4 tbsp (60 ml) cooking sake
4 tsp Japanese soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp Japanese rice vinegar
1 tsp katakuriko potato starch

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
piece of ginger the size of 2 thumbs, chopped finely
2 tsp tobanjan (doubanjiang) or other chilli paste, or to taste (optional)
dribble of toasted sesame oil

1 Place shucked oysters in a sieve in a bowl. Wash gently to remove any grit in water to which you have added a little salt. Drain, pat dry with kitchen paper and place in a bowl with the Japanese soy sauce and cooking sake. Mix gently to coat and set aside. Wash lotus root well and peel with a vegetable peeler. Cut in half length-ways and cut each half cross-ways into slices 5 mm thick. Wash the garlic chives and cut into lengths 4-5 cm long. In a small bowl, mix the sauce ingredients.

2 Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan or wok over medium heat. Add the oysters and stir-fry quickly until plump. Remove and set aside. In the same frying pan or wok, heat the remaining 1 tbsp vegetable over medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger and tobanjan, if using, and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the lotus root and continue stir-frying until it becomes slightly transparent.

3 Return the oysters to the pan. Stir the sauce ingredients and pour into the pan in a circular motion. Mix and continue stir-frying until the sauce thickens. Dribble toasted sesame oil around the edge of the pan, stir once and place on a serving dish.

Recipe source: Orange Page

Meshiagare!

Osechi 2012: Tier 1 Subasu and Tatsukuri

The top tier of the 3-tiered box traditionally contains foods that represent wishes for the family's health and prosperity (e.g. tatsukuri (seasoned young anchovies) and kazunoko (preserved herring roe)), and celebratory red-and-white items (e.g. red & white kamaboko (steamed fish paste) and cooked prawns).

This year, I made (clockwise from the left) green-and-gold Matcha-iri Kurikinton (sweet potato and chestnut paste with matcha), Subasu (spicy pickled lotus root), Koh Kentetsu's Pirikara Tatsukuri (Korean-style spicy dried young anchovies in gochujang-sake dressing) and Kuromame  (black soy beans in soy sauce caramel).

Subasu:
I ventured into new culinary territory with lotus root. I don't know why, but I'd just never got round to cooking anything with this crunchy mid-winter staple. I'm very glad I did, and this super easy Osechi item is very satisfying. "Carving" petals into the root was a bit fiddly, but that step can be omitted if time is tight. This needs to be made at least a day in advance to ensure full flavour. (Note: I messed up! This pickle should have been in the 2nd tier. Live and learn ; ))

It is best to use Japanese rice vinegar, which is more mellow than other vinegars. You will need a small amount of dashi stock for this recipe.

Subasu (spicy pickled lotus root)
Symbolizes the ability to foresee the future
Time/Effort: ** Cost: * Flavour: ***

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. Keeps for around 1 week.

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

Tatsukuri:
I've made several versions of tatsukuri, dressed dried young anchovies, over the years, but was never quite satisfied that this was the one. I think I've finally found what I've been looking for with this recipe from Koh Kentetsu, the ever-smiling Korean-Japanese darling of Japanese food TV and publishing. The son of a renowned Korean cooking expert and sibling of another food personality, he is the real deal.

With spicy gojujang Korean miso, garlic and ginger, this moreish riff on tatsukuri fairly pops in the mouth. I'll be making this often as a nibble for drinks.

Dried young anchovies (niboshi) and kochujan/gojujang are available at Japanese and Korean grocers, respectively. Choose the smallest niboshi you can find.

Koh Kentetsu's Pirikara Tatsukuri
Symbolizes an abundant harvest
Time/Effort: * Cost: * Flavour: ***

30 g niboshi (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, kochuujan, 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. Keeps for around 1 week.

(Adapted from a recipe in http://www.orangepage.net/book/orp/new/090102_orp.html (no longer available for purchase))