Japanese New-Year count down (-1)

We arrive at the last step of preparations for the Japanese New Year Osechi Ryouri.
You were thinking there were only small bits and no big piece. That’s true in a way. Japanese meal favor the variety. The more items the biggest luxury.
But there is something else. A roast… well a grilled fish.

Shio-yaki tai (salt grilled tai fish)

Making a traditional meal of Japanese Osechi (New Year good luck food). That was an experiment and I had a lot of fun doing it. As usual, don’t look for perfection. I am no expert…

Japanese New-Year count down (-4)

Let’s continue our walk to the Japanese New Year meal…
It’s about nuts, fish and caramel today. This taste maybe a little challenging for foreigners.

田作りtadzukuri means “building a rice paddy”, it’s the name of these baby caramelised fish served for Osechi Ryori. But such snacks are available year round.
It’s obviously made to favor an abundant production of rice. The slender fish look like a rice paddy in herb, in the making.

Osechi 3 : building a rice paddy

田作りtadzukuri means “building a rice paddy”, it’s the name of these baby caramelised fish served for Osechi Ryori. But such snacks are available year round.
It’s obviously made to favor an abundant production of rice. The slender fish look like a rice paddy in herb, in the making.

These small dried fish are called “gomame” (small beans).

kurozato tadzukuri

NB : This is not the classic recipe. They do it with white sugar.
It’s simple. Take the gomame dry fish (and not the dust in the bottom of the pack) and roast them in a pan without anything, while stirring well during about 3 minutes. That won’t smell too good.

In another pan, heat very slowly 2 tbs of soy sauce, 2 tbs of powdered kurozato (black sugar) and a little water. When the sugar is dissolved, pass on high heat. You should get a bubbly very sticky sirup. Out of the fire, add a tbs of water in order to have just the texture to pour it on the fish. Let cool.

I made another batch with walnuts and sesame seeds instead of the fish.

Osechi ryori compilation

DIY Classic Osechi Ryori

Making a traditional meal of Japanese Osechi (New Year good luck food). That was an experiment and I had a lot of fun doing it. As usual, don’t look for perfection. I am no expert.

The menu is highly related with Shinto religion. And New Year is the major Shinto event of the year, maybe the only one everybody kind of celebrates in Japan. Everything is symbolic. Most things are displayed to call good luck and prosperity.

Doors are decorated with kadomatsu that contain pine, oranges…

And the main activity of January 1st is hatsumode, the first visit to the Shinto shrine. For most people, that’s the only visit in the year. Look at this shrine. I live nearby and I see people getting in maybe once a month… except today.

I’ll detail the symbolism of the food, and the recipes, in other posts. These preparations are ancient Japanese food. In old times, cooking and serving a hot meal was a lot of work for the housewife and the maids. So, in order to free everybody of work for the celebration, the Osechi Ryori is prepared in the week before the New-Year (from 25th to 31st roughly). Then, it is eaten cold the 3 first days.

First floor (from the left) :
紅白なます　kohaku namasu (made of daikon radish and kintoki carrot)
紅白かまぼこ　kohaku　kamaboko (white and pink colored fish cakes)
鶏松風　tori matsukaze (chicken terrine, topped with poppy seeds and green aonori seaweed)
田作り　ta dzukuri (caramelized fish, and caramelized walnuts)

Second floor :
卵　tamago (front left – mosaic omelette)
数の子　kazu no ko (front right – sake flavored fish eggs, from Pacific herring eggs)
栗金団　kuri kinton (back left – sweet potato and chestnut puree)
豆　mame (back right – black and white sweetened beans)

Third floor :
金時人参　kintoki carrots
konnyaku
里芋　sato imo (taro)
shiitake mushroom

Shio-yaki tai (fish salted and roasted)

Mochi topped with a kumquat.
That should be a mikan orange, or a daidai bitter orange, but I have the miniature mochi totem. Mochi are blocks of sticky rice paste.

To be continued…

Osechi ryori compilation