Joubi Sai

[Hiroyuki]

I have a feeling that many of those who are not familiar with Japanese home cooking don't know exactly how ichijuu sansai (one soup and three dishes, in addition to rice) is implemented in everyday Japanese meals. Ichijuu sansai is easier to implement if you prepare joubi sai (常備菜 in Kanji). A joubi sai is a dish made so that it can keep for days and some even for weeks. Joubi sai include tsukudani, kinpira, and touza ni (当座煮 in Kanji), which is a simmered dish, often seasoned heavily so that it can keep long. Some of my favorite joubi sai are simmered hijiki and kiriboshi (cut and dried) daikon. One of my wife's favorites is nasu miso (eggplants stir-fried with miso).

If you prepare one joubi sai and keep it in the fridge, all you have to do to make an ichijuu sansai meal is to:

1. Cook rice (or reheat leftover rice)

2. Make miso soup (or reheat leftover miso soup)

3. Make a shusai (main dish), such as grilled fish.

4. Make a fukusai (side dish or sub-dish?), such as a salad.

Sounds easy to do, doesn't it? It actually is.

So, my questions are:

Do you make joubi sai regularly?

What are your favorites?

One more question: Do you practice ichijuu sansai?

[OnigiriFB]

I cook a lot of Japanese dishes and don't find it difficult to make three different dishes to eat. What I do have a problem with is trying to figure out what goes with what. An example would be niku jagu. I want to try this dish and figure a simple cucumber salad would work with it but what else would I serve?

[Hiroyuki]

I cook a lot of Japanese dishes and don't find it difficult to make three different dishes to eat. What I do have a problem with is trying to figure out what goes with what.  An example would be niku jagu. I want to try this dish and figure a simple cucumber salad would work with it but what else would I serve?

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Any joubi sai you like, and that's the theme of this thread!

Books will tell you to use different cooking techniques for three dishes, but you don't have to take this rule so seriously. Just make any joubi sai you like, and you will be happy!

[torakris]

I prepare joubi sai frequently but not for their intended use. They are usually eaten on the day they are made, though sometimes I will save some out for bentos the next day.

If I cooked Japanese food 7 days a week I would probably prepare these in large portions much more often.

Most meals in my MIL's house consist mostly of store bought joubi sai to which she adds rice, soup a main and a salad. She can have 2 to 4 joubi sai on the table at one time and she will pull them out everyday (breakfast, lunch and dinner) until they are gone.

[Hiroyuki]

Most meals in my MIL's house consist mostly of store bought joubi sai to which she adds rice, soup a main and a salad. She can have 2 to 4 joubi sai on the table at one time and she will pull them out everyday (breakfast, lunch and dinner) until they are gone.

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I don't know how big is your MIL's family, but that sounds reasonable for a small family. But the biggest disadvantage of store-bought souzai (惣菜) or nakashoku (中食) is that they are generally either quite sweet or salty.

[Cheeko]

Do you make joubi sai regularly?

What are your favorites?

One more question:  Do you practice ichijuu sansai?

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Since reading Elizabeth Andoh's "Washoku" book, I've been trying to prepare joubi sai. Still need some practice I made some simmered acorn squash (kabocha's hadn't showed up yet) and it was my yellow/black addition to our 5 colored dinner.

I don't always serve soup but I do try to have the 5 dishes, 5 colors of food present (black, red, white, yellow and green) and vary the cooking methods.

An example would be niku jagu. I want to try this dish and figure a simple cucumber salad would work with it but what else would I serve?

Have you seen the Andoh book? It might give you some ideas, especially if you already know some of the things you want to prepare. I like the book very much, and it opened my eyes to how 2 dimensionally I think about cooking and preparing a meal. I've always focused on what ingredients complimented others; never took into consideration how a dish was prepared and how that could compliment another dish. I try (but don't always have time for) a steamed, simmered and fried combination. For instance, you mentioned a slightly sweet simmered dish; it could be complimented by a vegetable that has been fried or broiled. I've eaten it with a small serving of kimchee to contrast sweetness of the nimono stock and a small bit of rice. However, my husband thinks rice with potatoes is overkill He's an Atkins/South Beach refugee.

[Hiroyuki]

and it was my yellow/black addition to our 5 colored dinner.

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5 colored diner... I know what it means, but does the Washoku book explain that principle? I must admit I've never thought of following that principle.

What is that in the big bowl on the left in your second photo?

How often do you make Japanese-style meals?

[Cheeko]

and it was my yellow/black addition to our 5 colored dinner.

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5 colored diner... I know what it means, but does the Washoku book explain that principle? I must admit I've never thought of following that principle.

What is that in the big bowl on the left in your second photo?

How often do you make Japanese-style meals?

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It doesn't go into too much detail on the principal, but enough for me to understand the simple, nutrional logic that comes with thinking about colors in a meal.

From Elizabeth Andoh's Washoku

Five colors, or go shiki, suggest that every meal include foods that are red, yellow, green, black, and white. (Often very dark colors, particularly deep purple - eggplants, grapes - and sometimes brown - shiitake mushrooms - are counted as black.) Vitamins and minerals naturally come into balance with a colorful range of foods.

The book goes on the explain the five tastes (go mi,) the five ways (go ho,) the five senses (go kan,) and the five outlooks (go kan mon.)

Recently, I've started to make Japanese-style meals for dinner. While I don't have the time to always follow the five principals, it does make me think more about what I am planning for dinner and how it will all fall together. Its fine to think about a food pyramid and calories to fat or what will go with a red meat, but I feel like I'm not really "participating" - I feel like I'm just following a routine rather than using a little imagination. I also find that the principals can be applied to western-style meals and without even intending to, I'll discover a "government approved" balanced meal...

The left, big bowl: While mom thinks I'm going through a phase, she is nonetheless interested in what I am learning. She sent us a little care package of food items my aunt sent to her from Kyoto, and one of those was a kind of instant miso soup base with matsutake mushrooms. She didn't like it, neither did we...

[Hiroyuki]

and one of those was a kind of instant miso soup base with matsutake mushrooms.  She didn't like it, neither did we...

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***

Here is another question (not only for Cheeko but for anyone else):

Do you know the phrase "gohan no tomo" (rice's companion)?

Do you have any specific gohan no tomo that you like?

As I stated here, my wife's gohan no tomo is nasu miso, my father's is fuki miso, and mine is the home-made mackarel furikake. As you can see, many gohan no tomo are joubi sai.

[Yung-i]

i like to take salted salmon fillets, cook and flake them, and keep them in a jar. so for me it's that with black sesame seeds, thin nori strips and shichimi togarashi.

...and if i'm in the mood, a little squirt of kewpie! scandalous, i know.

(oh, and hey hey to all. i've been following the Japan thread for about a year, and decided to join recently. yoroshiku onegaishimasu.)

[Hiroyuki]

i like to take salted salmon fillets, cook and flake them, and keep them in a jar. so for me it's that with black sesame seeds, thin nori strips and shichimi togarashi.

...and if i'm in the mood, a little squirt of kewpie!    scandalous, i know.

(oh, and hey hey to all. i've been following the Japan thread for about a year, and decided to join recently. yoroshiku onegaishimasu.)

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Thank you, Yung-i, for your reply and welcome to my thread!

You mean you like "sake fureeku" (salmon flakes). I sometimes make it myself, but usually buy it in bottles. A favorite of mine and my two children's.

And you mean you are a mayoler (sp?)?

[Cheeko]

and one of those was a kind of instant miso soup base with matsutake mushrooms.  She didn't like it, neither did we...

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... it was because I don't think they were real matsutakes. Either that or they just too old and dried out. I shouldn't expect so much from a dried soup mix anyway

My favorite rice companion? Nori and sesame seed furikake. If I'm being really bad, ochazuke with lots of arare

[SuzySushi]

I jumped here from Torakris's thread on Planning Japanese Meals.

Like Kris, I make joubi sai dishes (such as hijiki, yaki nasu, etc.) frequently but my family usually finishes them the same day they're prepared! And because we don't eat Japanese food every day, there isn't really a point to prepare large quantities ahead of time and keep them in the fridge to use later in the week.

For gohan no tomo, we always have kizami nori (confetti-like nori strips) and furikake in the house, and I'm partial to House brand ume-jiso paste in tubes. We used to use nori tsukudani, too, but that has too much salt and sugar for our current dietary habits.

[JasonTrue]

ichijuu sansai -- I might be wrong, but I vaguely recall from one of the translation and proofreading projects I worked on, or maybe from a Japanese history book, that ichijuu sansai was actually promoted by the government to encourage the "affluent classes" to eat more modestly.

My understanding is that as merchants and non-noble classes started to have more money, moral authorities were concerned that wealthier homes were indulging in as many as 7 dishes at dinner time, which was considered hopelessly wasteful.

I might have to go and dig out this reference.

In contemporary lifestyles it must often seem like 4 small dishes is too much work for a weekday meal. But I think it was meant to encourage thrift...

[Hiroyuki]

According to one site describing honzen ryori, there can be up to sanjuu juugo sai (three soups and fifteen dishes) .