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…

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Japanese New-Year count down (-2)

Today sweet beans for Japanese New-Year feast. The black soy beans are not only pretty, they are precious too. More expensive, longer to cook. And their egg shape is in the fertility theme of Asian New Year. Another thing is “mame” the name for beans is homonym with “being dedicated at work”

kuromame (sweet black soy beans)

I cooked them a few minutes in a syrup of sugar and grated fresh ginger.

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Japanese New-Year count down (-3)

Let’s continue our walk to the Japanese New Year meal with fishcake. That’s not a dessert :

Just slice and alternate. They look good… but they are not full of flavors. There are tasty kamaboko, but they don’t look so nice….

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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.

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Japanese New-Year count down (-5)

Let’s continue our walk to the Japanese New Year meal with something sweet… You can call it a dessert, but the concept is ignored in traditional Japanese meals, particularly Osechi Ryori. Sweet, savory, savory-sweet are presented together…

Kurikinton , a chestnut treat.

Well there are homonyms… kuri kinton and kuri kinton
When I came to Japan, I first saw the New Year Osechi Ryori kuri kinton 栗金団, and well, when I hear the name, I think of this kind. “kin” means gold, and well, for simple brains like mine, it looks like it :

 

 

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