When new season food first comes on the market it is generally in short supply and the price is always high, if not extreme. There is a saying in Japan that each time you eat new season foods you extend your life by 75 days. If you believe that and can afford it, by all means indulge yourself. Then a meal includes nagori (end of season vegetables), it is said to be enriched with the sentiment of a found farewell for those particular ingredients, knowing it will be quite a while before they come around again.
Some events in Japan are also linked to the transition between seasons as they were once defined in China, but are now more notable for the symmetry of the days on which they fall, namely the third of the third, fifth of the fifth, seventh of the seventh, and ninth of the ninth of each year. Collectively they are referred to as sekku and they relate to Shinto ideals of removing impurities, looking after people's health, happiness and safety. Each one has a connection with a particular food, a bit like pudding at Christmas or chocolate eggs at Easter, common for Westerners regardless of their commitment to the associated religious festival.
The first event of the year, momo-no-sekku (the Doll's Festival or Feast of the Dolls) is celebrated by eating such bright and colorful delights as hishi-mochi (triangular rice cakes), hina-arare (fluffy pink rice) or chirashi-zushi (sushi rice with chopped vegetables or fish, not rolled) and drinking sweet amazake (non-alcoholic sake). Families of girls must share (or endure) the delights of having their house taken over by a grand display of Hina-ningy, a set of dolls that represent the Imperial lifestyle at this time.
I love Tango-no-sekko (Boys' Day) in May, not only for the chimaki (food wrapped decoratively in bamboo leaves) or the kashiwa-mochi (red bean mochi wrapped in a Japanese oak leaf), but also for the magnificent strings of koi (carp) kites that decorate all of Japan for the festivities.
Tanabata (the Festival of the Stars) in the heat of July, represents a time when two lovers re-unite in the heavens and is a time when people write down their romantic wishes on colorful strips of paper and hand them on a bamboo branch outside the house. It is fast fading from general popularity in big cities, except in primary schools, but you may still come across these decorations in rural areas. Because it occurs in summer, the most commonly associated food are somen (cold noodles), previously cold soba and before that rice cakes.
The ninth of September is the official date for Kiku-matsuri (chrysanthemum moon), but it is celebrated any time from September to the end of November, depending on the area, with beautiful displays of chrysanthemums of every color and variety - a veritable feast for the eyes. Traditionally it was celebrated with a cup of sake with floating chrysanthemum petals. Today, the tradition is in decline and often just an excuse to get stuck into the sake, if one needs an excuse.
It seems that some festivals have lost popularity while others have gained it. Whether it relates to changing lifestyle, commercialism or something more subtle I do not know. However, I can confidently say that those festivals that are still widely celebrated have become ingrained in Japanese culture and the foods that are so closely linked to them create an interesting aspect of Japanese cuisine.
SPRING
If you ask Japanese people for a symbol of spring they will say sakura (cherry blossom). We rejoice at the coming of spring and feel nostalgia and wonder at the short life of the sakura. People start to enjoy outdoor activities as o-hanami (cherry blossom season) begins and picnics are enjoyed under the cherry blossoms all over Japan.
The first days of spring herald the arrival of so many wonderful seasonal foods including sansai (mountain vegetables) growing wild along the roadside or riverbank. Gathering and cooking these vegetables at their peak in early spring with their bitterness, individual relish and distinct flavors is a wonderful pleasure of the season. These days some sansai are cultivated and you can buy them in the supermarket to use in tempura and salads. Once yo have enjoyed sansai you will never forget the experience.
Bamboo shoots are another food heavily associated with spring. In March, bamboo shoots of the new harvest are at a premium, but only one month later it is shun (the middle of the season) and a large amount of bamboo shoots come on to the market so that prices drop and people can easily enjoy a huge variety of bamboo shoot dishes.
In the spring fields, the beautiful yellow rape flower spreads. Rape flower is a plant of the brassica napus family, which also includes cabbage, broccoli and komatsuna (mustard spinach). Rape flower is sometimes used to make edible oil and is also used as a salad dressing. Today in Japan, canola oil is made from cultivated rape flowers and edible aburana (rape leaves)are available at vegetable stands or supermarkets.
Spring Product :
- Vegetables : Rape flower, bamboo shoots, sansai.
- Fish : spring bonito, garfish.
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Takenoko no shiroae
Bamboo Shoot White Tofu Salad
Ingredients
- 300g momen-dofu(hard tofu)
- 100g kintoki carrots, peeled (Japanese carrot are bitter and reddish, but in this dish it is best to use kintoki carrot which as a sweet flavor after cooking)
- 300g takenoko (pre-cooed bamboo shoot)
- 100g konnyaku potato
- 4 tablespoons dashi
- 1/2 table spoons light-color soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 4 stems nanohana (rape leaves) or asparagus, trimmed
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds, ground.
Steps
1 . To extract the liquid from the tofu, wrap in muslin cloth or thick kitchen paper, place in a bowl, put a weight on top and stand for about 20 minutes in the fridge.
2 . Julienne carrot, takenoko and konnyaku, Blanch in salted water and drain.
3 . Combine sashi, soy sauce and mirin in a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, add vegetables and nanohana (or optional ingredients : beans, spinach(silverbeet), mushrooms, usu-age(fried thick sliced tofu), kaki (persimmon), and pears) and leave to soak for about 20 minutes.
4 . In a bowl, mash tofu with a potato masher. Stir in sugar, remaining 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce, and salt. Add sesame seeds and mix through.
5 . Strain vegetables and combine them with the tofu and any additional optional ingredients.
SUMMER
Everyone gives a sigh of relief when the hot summer arrives after suffering the inconvenience of tsuyu, the rainy season in late May and early Jun, even though summer can be rather damp and sticky too. In face, it is often so humid in the middle of summer that even when you are standing still, sweat oozes from every pore and you are likely to spend many a restless night unless you have air conditioning, which fortunately many people do.
I remember enduring the discomfort of summer heat in the days before air conditioning and the sound of mother hosing the front entrance in preparation for guests, and the deep, deep blue of the noren (traditional fabric dividers) hanging across the doorways inside, which gave us a feeling of coolness.
Even now, the spectacle of an ice-carving display of giant proportions in a fashionable alleyway in Odawara in the height of summer can have the same effect, but we also rely on the cooling effects of some of the foods we eat in summer. For instance, a pile of freshly grated daikon(white radish) on a plate suggests the iciness of a pile of soft snow and its piquant flavor refreshes as well as stimulating digestion. Sometimes a serving dish carved from a block of ice produces a wonderful cooling impart.
When I travel around Japan in summer, I usually feel like eating plain, simple food like noodles or eel. I feel it gives me energy. The roasted, wheaty flavor of a cup of cold mugi-cha(herbal-tea) is one of the best, most refreshing summer drinks, though an icy cold Japanese beer is pretty good too.
Summer product:
- Vegetables: Eggplants, Edamame (green soy beans)
- Fish: Jew-fish, Spanish mackerel
Nasu no aga oroshi ni
Fried Eggplant with Daikon
In Japan, several kinds of eggplants are used but the large eggplants common in Western countries are rarely seen. Ours are small and thin with a soft skin and delicate flavor. Eggplant can be stewed, pickled, or deep fried depending on the type. Round ones have firm texture with sweet flavor, they are good for stewing or dengaku (light deep fried). Kyoto is very famous for its kaga-nasu
Ingredients
- 4 small kaga-nasu (eggplants/aubergines)
- Salt
- 4 Okra
- 4 tablespoons peeled and grated daikon radish
- 1 red chili, chopped
- 200ml dashi
- 50ml soy sauce
- 25ml mirin
- 25 sake
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
Steps
1 . Make 5 or 6 slits lengthways along the eggplants then soak in salted water.
2 . Season okra with salt, then blanch. Drain and keep them under running water for a while to cool and keep the green color. Slice diagonally.
3 . Combine daikon and chili and set aside.
4 . In a pan, simmer dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sake. Meanwhile, drain the eggplants and wipe dry with kitchen paper. Deep fry in vegetable oil at medium heat or approximately 120*C. Drain well on kitchen paper.
5 . Place eggplant and okra in sauce and continue to simmer for another 1-2 minutes. Serve garnished with the daikon and chili.
AUTUMN
In autumn, everything tastes better. The weather becomes mild after the scorching summer and it is the season for harvesting rice and many fruits and vegetables. Matsutaki mushrooms are at their most delicate in autumn. Matsutaki have an individual aroma that captivates people's appetites and although they are quite expensive, people are eager to taste them.
In autumn, nights are becoming cooler but the days are still warm from summer. Leaves are turning gold, orange, red and brown; it is the most colorful season in the year.
Autumn product:
- Vegetables and fruits: yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit), chestnuts, black beans, apples and grapes.
- Fish: samma(pike fish), saba (mackerel)
Kuri-gohan
Chestnut Rice
Gardenia berries are a natural yellow coloring agent available from Asian groceries. They are used to color chestnuts, pickled daikon-radish, noodles and snacks.
Ingredients:
- 3 pieces dried gardenia berries
- 20 chestnuts (preferably large ones), shelled
- 2 cups short grain rice
- 1 cup mochi-gome (short grain sticky rice)
- 3 cup water
- Salt, pinch
- 1 tablespoon mirin
Steps:
1 . Crush gardenia berries and soak in water with chestnuts overnight.
2 . Rinse rice and mochi-gome and place in a pan or rice cooker. Add water, salt and mirin.
3 . Drain chestnuts, add to the rice and cook together.
4 . When cooked, mix rice lightly with a rice paddle.
Note : To remove chestnut shells, roast over high heat in a frying pan until the shell is scorched, then remove shell with a sharp knife.
WINTER
Winter is the best season for hot-pt cooking. In the Edo Era(1603 - 1867) when a basic food culture was established, a small table and a small hot-pot were provided to each person. The Meiji Era (1867 - 1912) introduced different varieties of hot-pot cooking, for example gyu-nabe (beef hot-pot), which used seasonal and local ingredients. The combination of ingredients in hot-pots are easily adjusted depending on the seasoning available and the method of eating; in Tokyo-style sukiyaki, warashita (prepared sukiyaki sauce of stock, soy sauce, mirin and sugar), is used with beef and vegetables. In the Osaka-style sukiyaki, the beef is put in the hot-pot first, sugar is added and fried then soy sauce and seasonings are added. There are also other popular hot-pot dishes called mizutaki, shabu-shabu, yu-dofu (warmed tofu) oden, yose-nabe and chanko-nabe. I describe them below.
Mitsutaki : In Fukuoka, the local mizutaki is made by boiling chicken or winter kingfish in hot water and eating it straight from the pot with a dipping sauce - either ponzu (Japanese citrus vinaigrette), or yuzu-kosho (Japanese citrus and pepper condiment). The idea is to taste true umami (deliciousness) - the Japanese fifth flavor in addition to the sweet, salty, sour and bitter flavors recognized in the West. Also added to the mizutaki are Japanese cabbage, spring onion, some mushrooms, shirataki (noodles made of konjac, a yam-like vegetable) and edible chrysanthemums. Sometimes udon (plain flour noodles), pork and beef are used. Finally, some people use the leftover stock, add rice, raw egg and soy sauce and make zosui using the stock of mizudaki or just add rice to make a hotchpotch, medley soup. It's very tasty.
Shabu-shabu : To make shabu-shabu, bring water to the boil in a hot-pot, blanch thin slices of beef a few times in water, then dip into sesame and ponzu (citrus) mixture. You can cook vegetables, tofu and kuzukiri (kuzu noodles) in the hot-pot as well. Mainly we use beef for shabu-shabu but as another option you could use pork, chicken, fugu(puffer fish), octopus, snapper or pacific or snow crab.
Yu-dofu : is simple tofu hot-pot cooking. The dipping sauce is a mixture of soy sauce, sake, mirin and stock or ponzu. The condiment is spring onions, yuzu (Japanese citrus), daikon-oroshi (grated white radish) and shaved bonito flakes.
Oden : is made with a stock of bonito flakes and kelp. Soy sauce is added later. Then konnyaku, daikon, boiled egg and other various ingredients are cooked in the stock. Depending on family choice, some people use many different ingredients. By the way, in Osaka oden is called kantou-daki.
Yose-nabe : uses a variety of vegetables, fish and shellfish. The seasoning is salt, soy sauce, sake and miso. White miso is generally used for yose-nabe. We also use grilled tofu, fried bean curd and fish cake but it can vary greatly. At the end of cooking, noodles or rice are added to the pot and finally it's all eaten together.
Chanko-nabe : is a high calorie power food, which Sumo wrestlers eat. Motsu-nabe uses the organs of cows or pigs, which are cooked in a soy sauce or miso-flavored stock. Ishikari-nabe mainly uses salmon. Kimchee-nabe is a very popular Korean style kimchee(pickled chili haku-sai) hot-pot in Japan.
Winter products :
- Vegetables and fruits : turnip, daikon, haku-sai and gobou (burdock) and citrus fruits.
- Fish: tilefish, kingfish and hokke
Mizutaki
Chicken Hot-Pot in Fukuoka Style
Mizutaki means chicken simmered on the bone in water without using any seasoning. This is a traditional method of cooking (mizu means water, and daki or taki means to cook). A donabe (earthenware pot) is an ideal pot for this dish. Instead of using chicken, you may also choose to use thinly sliced beef of pork.
Ingredients:
- 3 chicken carcasses, chopped into 3-4 pieces each
- 8 chicken wings
- 1 sheet kelp 5 cm square
- 1/4 cup sake
- 500g chicken thigh
- 1/2 cabbage, chopped
- mushrooms to taste, such as enoki, shimeji or shiitake
- 4 spring onions
- 200g momen-dofu (hard tofu)
- Ponzu - dipping sauce
+ 1/3 cup (80ml) lime or grapefruit juice
+ 100ml rice vinegar
+ 150ml soy sauce
+ 10ml dashi stock
+ Shichimi (Japanese seven spices), to taste
- Optional ingredients: French beans or chinese broccoli
Steps :
1 . To make chicken stock, put chicken bones in a large pot - cover with cold water. Bring to boil and skim off surface fat with a ladle. Simmer for 1-2 hours. Strain.
2 . Wipe the sheet of kelp and soak in 1 1/2 litres of water for 30 minutes.
3 . Put chicken wings in an earthen ware pot, pour over the kelp and the water it was soaked in. Bring it to the boil and add sake. Simmer with a lid on for half an hour, occasionally skimming off any surface fat.
4 . Add chicken thigh and sufficient chicken stock to pot, cook for a further half an hour.
5 . Leave to cool for 1 hour with a lid on.
6 . To make dipping sauce, mix all ingredients.
7 . Add vegetables and tofu to pot.
8 . Serve the pot in the centre of table with a portable gas stove if possible.
9 . Eat chicken, tofu and vegetables with dipping sauce.
Note: You can use the stock from Mizutaki to make zoni (Japanese soup with mochi rice cakes) or zosui (Japanese rice soup). To make zosui, add rice to the stock and cook. Finish with whisked egg and salt or light colored soy sauce for seasoning.
Chikuzen ni
Seasonal Vegetables and Chicken in Broth
Ingredients :
- 8 Chicken wings
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 litre dashi
- 100g fresh or frozen burdock
- 1 medium carrot , peeled and cut in a zigzag along the length of the carrot
- 4 small satoimo (yam) potatoes, peeled
- 4 fresh or dried shiitake mushrooms
- 100g konnyaku jelly, sliced
- 60ml soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sake
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 120g caster sugar
Steps :
1 . Heat saucepan. Pour oil in a pan and stir fry chicken tulips until hot. Add dashi and cook for 10 minutes. Occasionally remove scum from the surface.
2 . Using a kitchen scourer, scrub burdock to remove the surface skin and chop into pieces lengthwise.
3 . Add burdock, carrot, satoimo and mushrooms into the dashi and simmer about 10 minutes covered with an otoshibuta lid (wooden lid that sits inside the pan on the top of the vegetable when simmering) or a piece of baking paper the size of the pan.
4 . Lightly stir fry konnyaku in a frying pan. Add a little dashi, then transfer back into the remaining vegetables and dashi mixture.
5 . Add soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar and cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes.
Notes : chiken wings should have the frlesh partially stripped from the bone and inverted to form a tulip shape. Konnyaku jelly is made from the starch of the konnyeku potato or devil tongue.
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