Osechi (food for New Year in Japan) for 2017
The jubako (lacquered set of boxes) has:
Vegetables on the bottom layer (burdock root with ground sesame, kelp rolls, devil's tongue root twists, asparagus, simmered dried shiitake mushrooms)
Meats in the middle layer (my husband's favorites - ham, nibuta pork roll, thickened omelet roll, and vinegared chrysanthemum petals and turnip slices). This layer doesn't look very decorative, does it!
Mostly traditional goodies on the top layer (black beans in syrup, octopus in vinegar, datemaki egg and fish paste "cake" roll, chrysanthemum greens with sesame, sujiko salted salmon roe, vinegared little shad fish pickled in millet, steamed grilled fish-cake, honey gravlax, squid and salted smelt roe
The lid of the box - it has a pine tree motif.
Sweet potato mashed with syrup and mixed with chestnuts....I absent-mindedly forgot a step, so it's not as yellow as it should be.
Dishes of vinegared shreds of daikon giant radish and carrot, topped with sujiko salted salmon roe
Sticky rice and red cowpeas, topped with toasted sesame seeds and salt
Clear chicken and dashi soup with fish sausage, chicken, snapper, carrot, sato-imo (a type of taro), daikon giant radish, Japanese dividing onion naga-negi, mustard greens, fish sausage, and dried shiitake mushrooms...but no grilled mochi (rice cakes) this year.
