Sansai

[matsutakekichigai]

よもぎ Yomogi (mugwort)

Thank You Hiroyuki San, I have always thought yomogi was mugwort.

The other confusion I have on this thread is with Fuki. I have always thought fuki was a type of coltsfoot. I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling. There are many different species of both types of plants and I have found they all taste a little different. This difference might come from the type soils the sansai are grow in as well the different species.

Maybe another word for aku would be astingent. I've heard some Oban Chan use the word removing the "ash" for aku.

[Hiroyuki]

Maybe another word for aku would be astingent. I've heard some Oban Chan use the word removing the "ash" for aku.

I have just learned that coltsfoot is called "fuki" tanpopo (tanpopo = dandelion) in Japanese.

http://aoki2.si.gunma-u.ac.jp/BotanicalGar...ki-tanpopo.html

Fuki is this:

http://www2.odn.ne.jp/shokuzai/Fuki.htm

fuki-no-toh refers to the flower stalk of fuki:

http://www2.odn.ne.jp/shokuzai/Fukinotou.htm

The second right photo reveals the difference between the "leaves" and "flower stalks" of fuki:

http://www.kobe-c.ed.jp/shimin/shiraiwa/column/hukinoto.html

Astingent... Is it astringent?

As you imply, ash is used to remove aku. Since ash is hard to get these days, baking soda is more popular now.

Edited May 20, 2004 by Hiroyuki (log)

[torakris]

Is coltsfoot (fuki tampopo) edible? I have never seen that before...

[Hiroyuki]

According to several sites, it has medical uses.

[Sleepy_Dragon]

You have to get rid of aku (harshness) with some baking soda and boiling water:

What kind of texture does this have?

And baking soda, really? I'm curious because our classroom experiments with baking soda and green vegetables turned them a strange neon green color with a mushy texture each and every time.

Red cabbage was even weirder, going from purple to bright blue!

Pat

[Hiroyuki]

>What kind of texture does this have?

Hm, I'd say neither mushy nor crunchy. Maybe it's like hard-boiled asparagus shoots...

>And baking soda, really?

Oh, yes. Sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as baking soda.

I guess several factors come into play, such as:

1) Boiling time

I DON'T boil bracken shoots. I found a site that tells you to boil them for ten seconds, and if you like them soft, for twenty seconds.

http://www.sansaiya.com/ryouri/r_warabi.html

2) Material of the pan, bowl, bucket, etc. to keep them in water

I usually use a plastic bowl. A pan made of copper is recommended to turn them into a bright green color.

3) Amount of baking soda used

5 ml per liter of water should be the right amount.

[torakris]

I have often avoided certain sansai because I had no idea what to do with them...

this year I am going to experiment more!

I found this neat site (in Japanese) that has nice large pictures of them as well as ideas on how to prepare them.

[torakris]

In my quest to learn more about sansai, I ordered a book called Sansai Ryouri 山菜料理 (Sansai cooking/cuisine), it came this morning.

Paging through it, it looks great --lots of pictures and tons of information. Now I need to go out and find some.....

[Kiem Hwa]

I got to do some Sansai hunting when I was in Japan last week

I got pretty good at identifying yomogi よもぎ 蓬

yomogi (in the middle) and some other spring plants.....sansai?? This picture was taken in Izumisano (Osaka prefecture).

Yomogi everywhere! I also spotted yomogi in Shiga prefecture near Mt Hira, and in Wakayama city (where this picture was taken).

Yomogi flavors were everywhere (in March), especially in the buns and breads in the pan-yas, and other sweets. I also sampled some mixed into soft kyo-dofu, which I mentioned in the tofu thread:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...id=883688&st=42

I also was attracted to this yomogi soba I ate in Arashiyama, Kyoto!

Very light yomogi flavor, but I also only taste light flavors in other flavored soba/udon noodles ive tried such as matcha flavor or ume flavor.

Anthoer one I saw around: Fukinotou ふきのとう 蕗の薹

This picture was taken in Shiga prefecture, near Mt Hira.

Here is some gathered fukinotou and yomogi (and some other plants I picked but didnt eat).... i taught my sister how to make tempura

Was I supposed to do anything (removing any aku?) prior to cooking these? I cant say the fukinotou tasted much different from any garden weed.

Probably not a sansai in the Spring terms, but its nice to know chestnuts - kuri くり 栗 grow wild in Japan! My favorite Autumn flavor!

These seemed a little old though....probably sitting around since fall?

This picture was taken in Shiga prefecture, near Mt Hira.

山くらげ: Is this pronounced "yamakurage" or "sankurage"? Im not exactly what this is ("mountain jelly vegetable"), or if it a spring vegetable or not, but I bought some dried ones at the flea Market at Tennoji Temple in Osaka, and also some tsukemono in Kyoto (I didnt even realize these two things I bought were the same thing until just now!)

Really yummy stuff. The sample at the flea market was rehydrated and dressed with a shiso sauce, the tsukemono I bought cause it was delicious and I had never seen it before.

More about 山くらげ:

http://www.kumagaya.or.jp/~yasutani/hatake/kurage/kurage.htm

http://www.hamaichi.com/mjv.html

More about preparing dried 山くらげ:

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/kawamoto/425988/425996/

I also bought myself a Sansai Book to look at the pictures while I was there (and to help with my incidental hunting). This book also mentions dokusou どくそう 毒草: poisonous plants, which is definately good to know.

http://www.yamakei.co.jp/prev.php?id=9910

[Hiroyuki]

Was I supposed to do anything (removing any aku?) prior to cooking these?  I cant say the fukinotou tasted much different from any garden weed.

←

We don't remove aku (harshness) from fukinoto (butterbur sprouts) before making fukinoto tempura. My wife doesn't remove aku before making fuki miso, but most recipes for fuki miso call for removing aku by boiling for some time with or without baking soda.

I have never tasted any garden weed. Have you??

[Hiroyuki]

山くらげ:  Is this pronounced "yamakurage" or "sankurage"?

←

Yamakurage.

Yamakurage is a favorite of mine. I didn't know it was Chinese in origin. Thanks for the info.

[torakris]

great report!

I discovered yamakurake two years ago at an omiyage (gift shop) area in Shikuoka, they had it prepared in a variety of ways and I bought a pack of the dried stuff and some pickles.

Back in Yokohama I started noticing it was available at almost any supermarket (dried form), I had never noticed it before.....

[Hiroyuki]

I made fuki miso this evening.

A close-up photo of a fukinoto (butterbur sprout) on my son's hand

26 fukinoto in total (counted by my son)

Fukimiso

This time, I removed aku (harshness) from fukinoto before making fuki miso.

To do this, I just boiled the fukinoto in water for three minutes (without baking soda).

Then I chopped them.

I mixed 40 ml mirin, 3 tbsp sugar, and some miso (less than 100 g, I think) in a pan, heated, and added chopped fukinoto.

I had expected that the fuki miso tasted less bitter, but I found it just as bitter as the one I make without aku-nuki (harshness removal).

A webpage describing a recipe for fukimiso (Japanese only)

http://konnyaku.web.infoseek.co.jp/tezukurifukimiso.htm

The onigiri (rice balls) grilled with fuki miso look really delicious!

[Hiroyuki]

I went shopping today and found kogomi sold for 198 yen per pack at the nearby 'home center'. I just had to buy it.

I boiled it for about five minutes. I'm going to have it with mayo and ponzu for lunch.

[Evan]

I love all kinds of sansai; warabi, fuki, myoga, mitsuba, just to name a few. They all grew wild around my house when I was growing up in Yamagata. Oh and kuri in the fall is sooo good, I have memories of getting stung by the thorns trying to open them. They are good steamed with rice( Kuri gohan) or just plain roasted.

[torakris]

Evan,

Welcome to eGullet and the Japan forum!

Do you get back to Japan often?

the dokudami has just sprung up all along the fence in my backyard, hhmmm... what to do with it...

[Evan]

Thank you Torakris,

I haven't been back in Japan for over 14 years. I want to go back sometime in the near future, sooner than later I hope.

[Hiroyuki]

My wife made yomogi (mugwort) tempura (right), together with kakiage (left), for today's supper. It's yummy.

[Kiem Hwa]

Hiroyuki's post reminds me.... I finally found myself a yomogi plant, and now its getting pretty big.....

What kinds of dishes can I make with yomogi....besides mochi/manju, and tempura (and in soba noodles or in tofu, which i posted about before)?

[Kiem Hwa]

An interesting article about the search for yomogi in Honolulu (focuses more on Chinese then Japanese usage): unfortunately they dont reveal the locations you can pick the fresh stuff growing over here.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbc...0314/1083/TASTE

The recipes posted with that article: Yomogi mochi (microwave Japanese version), and In Sai Biang (Chinese yomogi rice cakes):

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbc...40313/1083/LIFE

I had these In Sai Biang cakes before at a festival in Chinatown, and I thought they might be made from yomogi, but when I asked the guy who was selling them (he also made them), if it was mugwort or yomogi, he just gave me a blank look and told me some Chinese name... he probably said "in sai", but I can't remember anymore.

[AzianBrewer]

I think some of these mountain vegetables are used for eastern herbal medicine.

[jeniac42]

Some of you may remember that I was trying to identify a vegetable in a salad I had been served. I posted about it but can no longer find the thread. It turns out that it was, actually, dried warabi (hoshi warabi).

Does anyone know of a recipe for this? I believe it had sugar in it, and was probably just a vinegar-dressed salad. I saw the hoshi warabi today at the Korean grocery store and I plan to buy it soon. I don't think I can get fresh warabi here.

[Hiroyuki]

Some of you may remember that I was trying to identify a vegetable in a salad I had been served.  I posted about it but can no longer find the thread.  It turns out that it was, actually, dried warabi (hoshi warabi).

Does anyone know of a recipe for this?  I believe it had sugar in it, and was probably just a vinegar-dressed salad.  I saw the hoshi warabi today at the Korean grocery store and I plan to buy it soon.  I don't think I can get fresh warabi here.

←

Was it simply sweetened with sugar or seasoned with soy sauce and mirin and/or sugar for "ama-kara" flavor?

I find it hard for me to answer your question because I can't tell what type of dish it can be, so why not just reconstruct the dried warabi in lukewarm water first and then season it according to your taste.

As for "ama-kara" flavor, I think that recipes for kyara-buki (simmered fuki stalks) will provide some suggestions.

400 g fuki (butterbur stalks)

80 cc soy sauce

100 cc mirin

50 cc sake

1 tbsp. sugar

200 cc dashi

from http://mamacita.milkcafe.to/recipe/wagaya/kyarabuki.htm

[jeniac42]

Thanks, Hiroyuki. I believe it had an "ama-kara" flavor. I'm sorry I wasn't more clear. It's been a few years since I even ate this dish, so I can't remember all the details! I'll give that a try next weekend.

If I prepare it in the way Hiroyuki mentioned, would it be called "kyara-warabi"?

Also, should I use baking soda to reduce bitterness in reconstituted warabi, or is that only necessary for fresh warabi?

[Hiroyuki]

Thanks, Hiroyuki.  I believe it had an "ama-kara" flavor.  I'm sorry I wasn't more clear.  It's been a few years since I even ate this dish, so I can't remember all the details!  I'll give that a try next weekend.

If I prepare it in the way Hiroyuki mentioned, would it be called "kyara-warabi"?

Also, should I use baking soda to reduce bitterness in reconstituted warabi, or is that only necessary for fresh warabi?

←

Sorry for responding late, but it took some time to determine whether dried warabi required akunuki (harshness removal). I think that depends on whether akunuki was performed before drying. Maybe you can ask a sales person whether dried warabi requires some treatment before use.

If your dried warabi requires akunuki, then boil water in a pot (large enough to hold warabi when reconstituted), put warabi in, turn off the heat, let it sit overnight. (Change water several times to quicken the akunuki process.) No baking soda is required.

I found other akunuki methods, but the one described above is the easiest to do.

One caution: Don't attempt to remove aku (harshness) completely. Otherwise, you would lose all flavor of warabi. This goes for all other sansai too.

(Dried zenmai is quite popular in Japan, but dried warabi isn't. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've never seen dried warabi around here...)

Although kyara (agilawood) buki is quite popular in Japan, I have never heard of kyara warabi or any other kyara + sansai combination. Kyara buki is heavily seasoned (it's essentially the same as tsukudani), so if you prefer light seasoning, I'd recommend recipes such as:

http://www.nipec.niigata.niigata.jp/sozai-...view.asp?id=276

http://www.imabari-cooking.jp/recipe/r026.html

(Japanese only)

Edited March 20, 2006 by Hiroyuki (log)