Japanese foods-- Shun no mono

[Hiroyuki]

Unfortunately, I haven't. I didn't know it could be eaten that way. I only drink dokudami tea.

I found several interesting sites, though. I might try dokudami tempura!

http://www.shishiclub.co.jp/uenoya/yakuzen_dokudami.html

An excerpt from this site:

－食べれるんですよ－

独特の臭みも高熱により消失する。

◆若い芽の天ぷら

◆塩湯でゆでて、水でさらし、味噌とみりんで和える。

こんな食べ方もあるんですよ。

Partial translation:

High heat destroys the distinctive ordor.

- Tempura of young sprouts (young leaves?)

- Boil (leaves?) in salty water, soak them in water, and dress with miso and mirin)

http://www.yozan-foods.com/user/index.php?...e7abb7b78b4f63f

Photo of dokudami leaf tempura

http://www.overlandclub.jp/ryouri/foods/rauthom.html

According to this site, doudami is eaten raw in Viet Nam. The dokudami there has thinner leaves and tastes less awful.

[torakris]

I went outside ( in the puring down rain!) and apparently I didn't pull it out as agressively as I thought, or else it is more agressive than I am , but there is a large amount of it growing all over the area by my compost. I will have to give it a try!

[torakris]

hard to believe with the weather today, but it is that time of year again.....

[helenjp]

Careful with that dokudami...the very name suggests how strong the "kudasu" (err..."relaxing") effect is, and unfortunately, it can cause powerful intestinal cramping along the way.

Dokudami in salad...hmmm..would I be brave enough!

Young yomogi Artemisia princeps shoots though...time for me to go hunting again! Recent housing development has destroyed almost all sites, except for the area behind the local temple. Unfortunately I don't want to go there, because every spring the local boys drag stuff out of the temple junkpile and build forts everywhere, and I have a strong feeling that the priest knows who the ringleaders are...

The very young tips of yomogi shoots are wonderful in almost any application, from tempura to shira-ae.

Edited March 20, 2005 by helenjp (log)

[torakris]

NANOHANA!

broccoli rabe is a sign of spring in Japan

Last night I rolled it in some fatty pork that had been smeared with yuzu-koshou and pan fried it, I could eat this every day!!

[torakris]

I pulled most of the sansai (mountain vegetable) talk out of here and put them into their own thread.

The new sansai thread

[Hiroyuki]

I bought a pack of mebaru (rockfish) sashimi for tonight's supper.

The rockfish is now called a haru tsuge uo (spring-announcing fish). (The herring used to be called a haru tsuge uo.)

I was fascinated by the kingyo sou (snapdragon) flower used as a garnish. The orange seafood on the right is aoyagi (gaka gai) (Mactra chinensis).

I also bought two other packs: maguro (tuna) and tai (sea bream)

so I could get a discount (1,000 yen for 3 packs), instead of 398 yen per pack.

I'm going to use the shredded daikon for miso soup tomorrow morning.

I'm glad that spring has finally come to my snowy region.

　

[Domestic Goddess]

Hiroyuki - I never thought about using the shredded daikon for miso soup. I always try to eat all of them and reluctantly throw out what I can no longer eat. Thanks for the tip!

[Hiroyuki]

Bought a big (2L) takenoko yesterday for 480 yen. It came with a small bag of kome nuka (rice bran).

I simmered it for one hour in a big pot of water and the rice bran.

I think I'll use the hime kawa (uppermost inner soft skins) for soup, the middle part for takikomi gohan, and the bottom part for some kind of stir-fry.

[Hiroyuki]

I made takikomi gohan with the middle part of the takenoko and clear soup with the hime kawa (姫皮 in kanji) called wakatake jiru (若竹汁), meaning young-bamboo-soup. Just when I started making stir-fry with the bottom part of the takenoko, ham, and green peppers, the bell rang. My sister-in-law brought us negi-toro rolls and nina (simmered green). So, I didn't make the stir-fry tonight.

Both takikomi gohan and wakatake jiru were very good!

[Peter Green]

I made takikomi gohan with the middle part of the takenoko and clear soup with the hime kawa (姫皮 in kanji) called wakatake jiru (若竹汁), meaning young-bamboo-soup.  Just when I started making stir-fry with the bottom part of the takenoko, ham, and green peppers, the bell rang.  My sister-in-law brought us negi-toro rolls and nina (simmered green).  So, I didn't make the stir-fry tonight.

Both takikomi gohan and wakatake jiru were very good!

←

I'm hungry again.

[torakris]

We just came back from a couple days in the Yoro-keikoku 養老渓谷 area of Chiba, and though we spent most of it camping we had a wonderful lunch at a restaurant called Kiyoe 清恵. Their specialties of the season were sansai (mountain vegetables) and takenoko (bamboo shoots), I chose their 1,100 yen ($11) takenoko meal. It was wonderful, I wish I could eat like that everyday and the price can not be beat. There was so much food I had to force myself to finish it.

I didn't have my camera but they have a picture on their website right here. the first one

[Hiroyuki]

We just came back from a couple days in the Yoro-keikoku 養老渓谷 area of Chiba, and though we spent most of it camping we had a wonderful lunch at a restaurant called Kiyoe 清恵. Their specialties of the season were sansai (mountain vegetables) and takenoko (bamboo shoots), I chose their 1,100 yen ($11) takenoko meal. It was wonderful, I wish I could eat like that everyday and the price can not be beat. There was so much food I had to force myself to finish it.

I didn't have my camera but they have a picture on their website right here. the first one

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Thanks for the information. Yoro-keikoku is near my parents' house, and I've been there once. Do you remember the type of bamboo you were served? I think madake (真竹) are more popular there than mousouchiku (孟宗竹). I was once given a lot of madake, which I found very good.

[torakris]

Thanks for the information.  Yoro-keikoku is near my parents' house, and I've been there once.  Do you remember the type of bamboo you were served?  I think madake (真竹) are more popular there than mousouchiku (孟宗竹).  I was once given a lot of madake, which I found very good.

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I wish I had any idea, it is all just bamboo to me.

I really enjoyed the restaurant and I would love to go back in a different season to try other things. It was just one of those really nice family run places that just served really good food at a price that I felt was almost too cheap. I really wanted to try the sansai tempura but I have a really hard time digesting deep fried foods and it was only the first day of our trip...