Around O-shogatsu, a few Japanese New Year specialties…

MOCHI

Mochi is Japanese New Year and Japanese New Year is mochi.
These blocks of pounded sticky rice are made in this season and used as a decoration and as food.

mochi 101
my display of kagami mochi

A soup is made with mochi. There are many very different regional or familial recipes, many lovely original ingredients…

O-zoni (mochi soup), colorful
O-zoni, Kyoto style

Soba
Noodles eaten to pass the year and symbolize continuity.

toshikiri soba (2011, explanation)
toshikiri soba (2012)
toshikiri soba (2012)

Osechi Ryori, New-Year good luck dishes are old style dishes whose names, colors or shapes are linked with good things. Most of it is prepared a few days in advance with many different ingredients and displayed in big lacquer boxes.

Here is an example of home-made full menu :

the lacquer box
the Osechi menu 2011
kuri kinton
kuro mame
Osechi 1 : kazu no ko
Osechi 2 : kintoki ninjin and daikon for namasu
Osechi 3 : building a rice paddy
Osechi 4 : kohaku kamaboko fish cakes
Osechi 5 : chicken matsukaze
Osechi 6 : the vegetable box
Osechi 7 : tamago mosaic
omedetai, lucky grilled fish

Tai-meshi, a meal with Osechi leftovers

A tradition for January 7th

7 herb day
nanagusa okayu (7th day soup)

Little New-Year, women’ New Year… it’s a little forgotten.

okayu for Koshogatsu

And to finish with the mochi :

breaking the New Year mochi (done around January 15th)

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 (-8)

Namasu (raw salad) takes New-Year colors for the Osechi meal…

紅白なます, kohaku namasu is a standard of Osechi Ryori, simply because it is red (ko) and white (haku). The red and white association of color is considered auspicious for New Year in many Asian countries….

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