Osechi

A New Year’s Tradition: Osechi 12/30/2014

Osechi is the traditional Japanese New Year’s meal comprised of a number of small dishes into a single presentation. Each osechi dish has its own significance: from hope for a bountiful harvest, safety for loved ones, longevity, or fertility. Osechi is served in beautiful, ornate boxes and shared with family to celebrate the arrival of a new year.

While the preparation of osechi may seem daunting, it lends a sense of beauty and optimism for the coming year. If you can find the time to prepare even one or two of the dishes listed below, I think you’ll agree that it is a very special and rewarding ritual.

Osechi Recipes:

Kuromame: black soy beans simmered in sweet and savory sauce
Kurikinton: candied chestnuts and mashed Japanese sweet potatoes
Kouhaku kamaboko: Red and white broiled fish paste
Konbu Maki: Seaweed rolls
Kouhaku Namasu: Red and white (daikon and carrot) salad
Yawata Maki: Beef and vegetable rolls
Dashimaki Tamago: Japanese style rolled omelette
Chikuzen ni: A medley of simmered chicken and vegetables
Takenoko no Tosani: Simmered bamboo shoots with dried bonito
Osechi Ebi: Skewered prawns cooked with sake and soy sauce

Ozouni:

While not technically osechi, this miso based soup called Ozouni is regularly eaten on New Year’s day and deserves to be called out and enjoyed: Ozouni Recipe

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Kurikinton 12/29/2014

“Kuri” is the Japanese word for chesnuts and “kinton” means sweet potatoes. The color is is gold, and many Japanese believe this means you will have good finances this year.

Yield: 2 people

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 jar of chestnuts in syrup
1 sweet potato

Spices for sweet potato

1/3 cup mirin
pinch of salt

Spices

1/2 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt

Preparation

Cut sweet potato lengthwise, then soak it in water for about 10 minutes changing the water every three minutes.
Boil sweet potato until it softens
Strain water into a bowl and set the water aside
Add potatoes, 1/3 cup chestnut syrup, 1 tbsp saved sweet potato water, mirin to a food processor and process until smooth
Move sweet potato mixture to a pan, add 1/2 tbsp sugar, and dash of salt and chestnuts into a saucepan and stir it until it thickens (about 1 minute). Add some of the saved sweet potato water if it gets too thick.

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Kuromame 12/29/2014

Kuromame is the Japanese word for black beans and “mame” means good health.

Yield: 6 shrimp

Time: 7 hours

Ingredients

1/4 lb kuromame

Spices

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preparation

Wash the black beans and strain
Add water, sugar, soy sauce and salt in a saucepan, bring it to a boil, then turn off the heat
Add beans and baking powder and let it sit (still removed from heat) for 3 hours
After 3 hours, start boiling the beans over medium heat then skim the surface
Cover the mixture with a paper towel (inside the pot) to seal in the flavor. Boil another 4 hours (add water if the the liquid evaporates)
Cool and serve

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Kohaku Namasu 12/29/2014

Kouhakunamasu resembles traditional Japanese ribbons and kouhaku means red and white. Red and white are the colors typically associated with celebrations.　It a very healthy vinegar salad so good for appetizer for everyday dish as well.

Yield: 2 people

Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 lb daikon (cut into thick, rectangular shapes)
1/8 lb carrot (cut into thick, rectangular shapes)
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Spices

1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp sugar

Preparation

Put daikon and carrot in a bowl, sprinkle salt, and mix. Leave it 5 minutes
Remove any excess water from the daikon and carrot, the mix in vinegar and sugar and finally sprinkle your sesame seeds
Cool in a refrigerator, then serve.

Kohaku Namasu Ingredient

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Osechi Ebi 12/29/2014

Shrimp appear to have long beards and a hunched back, which some Japanese associate with a long and fruitful life. So eat your osechi ebi and enjoy your longevity!

Yield: 6 shrimps

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

6 shrimp

Spices

1/2 cup dashi soup (or 1/2 cup water with 1/2 tsp hon-dashi (soup stock powder)
2 tbsp sake
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp sugar

Preparation

Devein shrimp with toothpicks (See picture)
Mix spices in a sauce pan (dashi soup, soy sauce, mirin, sake) and bring it to a boil.
Add shrimp and boil for 4 minutes over low heat then let it cool in a saucepan.

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Takenoko no Tosani 12/29/2014

Takenoko is the Japanese word for bamboo, and Tosani describes the taste of bonito and soy sauce. Bamboo is known for its rapid growth, and as a result many Japanese believe that this dish brings positive growth to their families.

Yield: 2 people

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

1/3 lb boiled bamboo (cut into large chunks–see pic)
2 tbsp bonito

Spices

1 tbsp sake
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp tbsp mirin
1 1/2 cup dashi soup (or 1 tsp hondashi with 1 1/2 cups water)

Preparation

Boil the takenoko for 2 minutes then rinse with water.
Add mixed spices (sugar, sake, soy sauce, dashi soup), and bamboo in a saucepan, the boil for 10 minutes (or until water completely boils off)
Sprinkle bonito in a saucepan and mix
Serve!

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Kohaku Kamaboko 12/29/2014

Kamaboko is a Japanese fish cake (kouhaku means red and white, and these two colors are typically associated with congratulatory sentiments). I used only red kamaboko this year but it would be prettier if I had white as well.

Yield: 2 people

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 kamaboko

Preparation

Remove the kamaboko from its wooden base and slice it into 1/2″ pieces.
Slice each piece of kamaboko lengthwise from along the pink and white border, leaving about a 1/2″ uncut on the other side.
Turn the sliced piece over and make a 1″ incision along the middle, careful to leave the ends untouched (see picture)
Twist from the inside and lay the top back over the remainder of the kamaboko (see picture)

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Chikuzen Ni 12/29/2014

Chikuzenni is usually cooked at home in Japan. It features chicken and a variety of vegetables, including, carrots, renkon (lotus root), and konnyaku. “Chikuzen” used to be the name of what is now modern-day Fukuoka, and was the most popular cuisine from that city. The holes in the lotus root inspired people to believe that it had the power to reveal the future, and satoimo is known for its alleged powers of fertility, given the sheer number of potatoes that spring from the soil. Satoimo is beautiful when cut in a decorative way, and thus perfect for your osechi!

Yield: 4 servings

Time: 70 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 lb thigh chicken (cut into bite sizes)
5 satoimo
1/4 lb renkon (lotus root)
1/4 lb carrot
5 shiitake mushroom
1/4 lb gobo
2.5 oz kinusaya (snow peas)
1 konnyaku

Spices for chicken

1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sake

Spices for chikuzenni

1.5 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups dashi soup (or 2 cups water, 1 tsp hondashi)

Preparation

Mix spices for chicken in a small bowl and marinate chicken inside for 10 minutes
Cut carrots into a floral shape (slice carrot into 1/2 inch pieces then cut around to make 5 petals–see pictures)
Cut renkon (lotus root) into a floral shape (same as carrot), then marinate them in 2 cups water with 1/2 tsp vinegar for 10 minutes (see pictures)
Shape satoimo (taro). Cut an edge onto the top and bottom of the potato, then cut six edges around the top and bottom, kind of like a six faceted a diamond (see picture). After the cuts are made, wash with cold water, then boil for 2 minutes
Pull the gobo’s skin with the back of knife and slice thin at a sharp angle (see pictures)
Make an incision in the center of the konnyaku and turn inside out to give it a spiraling shape (see pictures)
Cut each shiitake with an X on the top (see pictures)
Remove the stringy edge from the kinusaya (snow peas), boil for few minutes, then cut in half
Mix spices for chikuzenni in a small bowl
Put oil in a pan and sauté chicken for 2 minutes
Add carrot, satoimo, renkon, shitake, gobo, and mixed spices, then boil for 40 minutes
Arrange on a dish or inside oshechi box with kinusaya (snow peas)

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Dashimaki Tamago 12/29/2014

This is a very simple Japanese style omelette recipe, though difficult to master. It is a common item for bento boxes, and people love it. There are many kinds of Japanese omelette and this particular one features seafood broth (but it’s also good without). If you prefer a sweeter taste, you can add some sugar or mirin in the eggs.

Yield: 4 people

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

4 eggs

Spices

1/3 cup dashi soup (or 1/3 tsp hondashi with 1/3 cup of water)
1/2 tsp soy sauce
dash salt

Preparation

Crack eggs in a bowl and mix
Add cold dashi soup, soy sauce and salt to the eggs and mix
Heat a retctangle shaped frying pan. Oil the pan by putting a little cooking oil on a paper towel and swiping it in the pan
Add about 25% of the egg mixture, and when it toughens, fold it over 5 or 6 times like an omelette until it takes up 1/4 of the space in the pan.
Using the paper towel, add a little more oil then add another 25% of the egg mixture to the surface of the pan. Lift the folded egg a little bit to let the new batch run underneath.
When the new batch toughens, fold the egg again, beginning with initial folded egg to create a singular folded omelette. Repeat this process twice more until you have one large omelette
Move the omelette to the side, letting it cool for a couple of minutes, then slice lengthwise into 1/2″ pieces.

Modifications

If you don’t have a rectangular pan, you can use a circular one and fashion it like a regular omelette.

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Konbu maki 12/29/2014

Konbumaki is rolled seaweed. “Konbu” is a play on words with “yorokobu,” which means “to be happy,” so we eat a konbumaki over New Year’s for good luck.

Yield: 2 people

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

5 seaweed rolls (dried kelp and konpyou rolled and packaged)
3 shiitake (sliced)

Spices

1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbspsoy sauce
1/2 tbsp tbsp mirin

Preparation

Soak seaweed in a water for five minutes to rehydrate (save 1/4 cup of the water afterward to mix with the spices)
Add the seaweed, shiitake and spices (soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, water) to a small sauce pan and boil for 15 minutes over low heat, then let cool to absorb the flavor.
Remove and place on dish or in osechi box

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