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Japanese New Year's Cuisine
by Jackie Miyasaka, from the January 2003 newsletter
My love of cooking began 15 years ago when I first tasted Japanese food. Although
I had never been particularly interested in culinary pursuits, Japanese food
changed this. I liked the food so much that I felt compelled to learn how to
make it. I learned a great deal while I was living in Yokohama and later from
my mother-in-law in Kyoto. I have since branched out to Korean and Chinese cooking
as well, but I intend to focus on Japanese cooking in the newsletter this year.
Because Japanese food is closely linked with the seasons, this column will provide
information about seasonal ingredients and various ways of using them in Japanese
cooking. The column will also describe how to cook with certain "obscure"
Japanese ingredients available at the Co-op, such as umeboshi and sea
vegetables.
I thought it would be interesting to start with Japanese New Year's cuisine. The New Year is considered the most important holiday of the year in Japan and is celebrated for three days from January 1 through 3. It is a solemn, yet joyous, holiday spent primarily with family, and it is regarded as an opportunity for a fresh start.
On New Year's morning and for the first three days of the New Year, people eat osechi-ryori (Japanese New Year's cuisine). Originally, the term osechi-ryori referred to the meal served at sechie, banquets held by the imperial court during the Heian period (794-1185) to celebrate the transition from one season to the next. The custom of preparing osechi-ryori specifically for New Year's began when these foods were offered to the toshigami (literally "year god"), the deity believed to pay an annual visit to people's homes on New Year's Day. The dishes were to be prepared before the New Year, when the toshigami descended to the mortal world. Since then, the custom of making osechi-ryori in advance evolved as a way to give family cooks a break during the holidays, though it does require a week's worth of labor-intensive preparation before the holidays. Nowadays, in fact, many families order osechi-ryori from restaurants and supermarkets for delivery on New Year's morning.
Typically, osechi-ryori contains 20 to 30 items of food elaborately arranged in a three-tiered set of lacquered boxes. The menu varies by region, but common traditional favorites include kuromame (boiled black soybeans), kazunoko (salted herring roe), and kuri kinton (mashed sweet potatoes with chestnuts). Dishes like namasu (julienne carrot and white radish marinated in sweetened vinegar) lend color to the assortment. Many of the foods carry symbolism appropriate to the New Year. For example, the soybeans represent a prayer for the ability to work hard, while the herring roe represents a wish for many progeny.
Alongside osechi-ryori, an essential part of the Japanese New Year meal is ozoni, a hot soup that contains mochi (steamed sticky rice that has been pounded and formed into rice cakes). The custom of eating ozoni at New Year started in the 15th century when people took mochi that had been offered to the "year god" and simmered them in fresh water over a new flame along with food from the sea and the mountains to make a soup thought to provide power for the coming year. The word ozoni means literally "mixed simmering," which is indicative of the soup's origins. The soup base can be kelp stock, fish stock, miso-flavored broth or good chicken stock. To this are added winter vegetables such as spinach, daikon radish, potato, carrot, and/or a source of protein such as chicken, duck, shellfish, or fish. The choice of ingredients illustrates regional differences and family preferences. For example, in eastern Japan the soup is transparent, while in western Japan it contains white miso. The recipe below is just one of many possibilities. Be creative and treat yourself to this very traditional Japanese New Year's Soup on a cold winter's day!
Ozoni (Japanese New Year's Soup)
Serves 5
5 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
15 round slices daikon radish, around 1/8-inch thick*
10 round slices carrot, around 1/8-inch thick*
15 stalks spinach*
3 shiitake mushrooms, sliced*
5 Japanese (or 15 Korean) rice cakes**
5 cups water
2 pieces of kombu (kelp), each about 7-inches long*
1 cup bonito flakes (dried fish, available at Asian markets)
1 teaspoon salt*
1 teaspoon soy sauce*
Soak kelp in 5 cups of water for 30 minutes. Heat water until boiling and then remove kelp. Pour 1/4 cup cold water in soup to cool it down. Add bonito flakes to soup. The bonito flakes will sink. When they rise to the surface again, turn off the heat. Strain soup. Add salt and soy sauce.
In a medium pot of boiling water, add pinch salt and cook the shrimp until pink and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the shrimp and let them stand in a bowl.
In a medium pot of fresh boiling water, cook the daikon, carrot and mushroom slices 3 minutes. Add the spinach for the last 30 seconds. Drain and set aside in another bowl.
Place rice cakes in a microwave oven-proof dish, cover with plastic wrap, and cook at medium power for 2 minutes. If you do not have a microwave oven, boil the rice cakes with the daikon, carrot and mushroom slices.
Divide rice cakes, shrimp, daikon, carrot, mushrooms and spinach among 5 soup bowls. Pour soup over the ingredients in each soup bowl.
* Items available at Moscow Food Co-op
** These are not the crunchy rice cakes eaten as snacks, but steamed sticky rice that has been pounded and formed into cakes. If Japanese rice cakes (2 x 3 x 1/2-inch) are not available, use 15 smaller Korean rice cakes (1/8-inch-thick disks). Korean rice cakes are available in the frozen food section at the International Store of Asian Groceries in Pullman.
Jackie Miyasaka moved to Pullman with her husband last summer and works as a Japanese-English translator.
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