After picking up my Hisagozushi demon sushi roll, I passed through Takashimaya Department Store to see the Setsubun foodie offerings and take a few photos for you. I found a demon roll wagashi at Sentaro and I was surprised to find that a vegetable and salad specialty chain shop had a very interesting ‘salad eho-maki’ and deep fried food specialty shop had deep fried sardines. No one wants to miss out of the Setsubun commerce!

See the previous KyotoFoodie article links below if you would like to know more about the Setsubun customs, they all seem to involve food! But first, here is what you need on your Setsubun shopping list:

Setsubun Shopping List Item #1: Sardines
The Japanese demon, ‘Oni’, who you want to drive away from your home on Setsubun doesn’t like the odor of sardines. So, grill up a lot, eat a lot, stink like sardines and even hang a grilled sardine head around your front door. Best to cook yours at home on Setsubun and stink up the house rather than buy them precooked in the stores.

Super-size Sardines for Grilling at Home

Grilled Sardines, for Cheater!

'Out with the Old, In With the New!' Sardines Deep Fried Tonkatsu Style

Setsubun Shopping List Item #2: Roast Soybeans
Throw roasted soy beans, called Fuku-mame 福豆, ‘good fortune/happiness beans’ out your door and say, demon out, good fortune in, or, out with the old, in with the new!

Fuku-mame Roasted Soybeans for Good Fortune

Fuku-mame Roasted Soybeans for Good Fortune

Setsubun Shopping List Item #3: Eho-Maki
Eho-maki 恵方巻 is the ‘direction of good fortune’ sushi roll. The Eho-maki has made a come back in the last few decades and is more popular in Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe) than in Kanto (Tokyo area). This sushi roll contains 7 lucky ingredients and should be eaten without stopping or talking, facing the direction of good fortune for the year.

So many traditional eho-maki to choose from!

So many traditional eho-maki to choose from!

So many traditional eho-maki to choose from!

Queuing for Hisagozushi Eho-maki

'Out with the Old, In With the New!' Shrimp and Avocado Salad Eho-maki

'Out with the Old, In With the New!' Shrimp and Avocado Salad Eho-maki - detail

Previous KyotoFoodie Setsubun Articles
Setsubun Ehomaki, Mame-maki and Grilled Sardine
Setsubun Customs: Hiiragi Iwashi (Holly and Sardine Head)
Setsubun: The Day Before Spring, Demons, How to Eat Eho-Maki and Throw Your Beans

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Aburi Sanma Bozushi 炙りさんま棒寿司
From last week or so, I have noticed in the fish and sushi section of a few stores a bozushi like sabazushi (pickled mackerel on sushi rice) that is made with the seasonal sanma, or Pacific saury. The saury is quite a bit smaller than the mackerel, so I imagine that it is quite difficult to make pressed bozushi sushi with. I bought this one at the food court of Takashimaya department store.

Sanma Aburi Sushi: Seared Saury Pressed Sushi

Depachika デパ地下: Department Store Food Court
This article is in our series (with too few articles) called depachika. Depachika means department store (underground) food court; depa (department store) and chika (underground). If you are in Japan and hungry, it is hard to go wrong with depachika food. While department stores used to be very expensive in Japan they are much more reasonably priced now. Generally, shopping at the department store food court will cost you only a bit more than an average priced supermarket. Shopping depachika-style is a lot of fun because the food courts are just SOOOOO over the top. If you are staying at a hotel near a department store you can always buy a lot of depachika food and eat it in your room. That would be cheaper than eating out at even a moderately priced restaurant.

Sanma Aburi Sushi: Seared Saury Pressed Sushi

How did it taste?
This was really great! The sanma was very rich and oily, even more than mackerel. I realized that this must be the most oily aozakana of them all. Before pressing on sushi rice, the fish is lightly seared with a flame. This is aburi. The sushi rice was pretty good, not too sweet, not too sour. There was a thin layer of pickled ginger between the fish and the rice.

I think that I have only had this sushi once before, I can’t remember exactly. So, it is rare. If you see it, it is worth a try. I have seen both seared and non-seared, if you have a choice I would go for the seared variety as the taste is more complex and the searing contrasts well with the fattiness of the fish.

Sanma Aburi Sushi: Seared Saury Pressed Sushi

Kanji (Chinese Character) Lesson
Sanma 秋刀魚: 秋 autumn, 刀 sword, 魚 fish (the fish really looks like a dagger in shape and color)
Aozakana 青魚: 青 blue, 魚 fish
Abura ga notteiru 脂がのっている: There are two similar characters that can be read as ‘abura’; 油 oil and 脂 fat. Some Japanese may be mistaken about the proper character I have heard.

Sanma 秋刀魚: The Autumn 'Sword' Fish

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Nasu Dengaku must be one of Japan’s all time greatest dishes!

We are starting a new series called Depachika to give another perspective into contemporary culinary culture in Japan. ‘Depa’ means department store and ‘chika’ means underground. So, food court in the basement floor of a department store. ‘Depachika’ is synonymous with excellent food in Japan and in addition to being delicious is big, big business.

We absolutely love nasu dengaku and I (Peko) was at Takashimaya Department Store food court and discovered this luxurious and extravagant dengaku from a very famous kaiseki restaurant that has a deli counter at Takashimaya.

This is a nice summer veggie dish that you might be able to make without too much trouble even if you don’t have access to a lot of authentic Japanese ingredients. If you can get miso paste and mirin, you’ve got dengaku mirin, the rest is easy. Some people now use a microwave oven instead of deep-frying. (We are purists and never would…but have.)

Kamonasu Dengaku

About Nasu Dengaku
Nasu dengaku is a dish with a long history and is often made with tofu, fu (wheat gluten) and sometimes other vegetables. Dengaku miso is the same miso paste that is used to make miso soup, however a good deal of mirin (sweet rice cooking wine), sake, sugar and sometimes egg yolk. Centuries ago farmers added flavor to their meager meals with dollop of sweetened miso paste on vegetable and tofu that they grilled over their hearth.

To make nasu dengaku an eggplant is split in half then deep-fried in oil for a short time. This does not completely cook the eggplant, the rest will be done under a direct flame. In an oven or Japanese style fish broiler, the eggplant half is cooked. When it is done through and through, dengaku miso is added on top and it is returned to the oven.

This nasu dengaku uses two types of miso; sweet (white, light) and salty (red, dark). Here the white miso is richly flavored with sesame and the ‘red’ miso is garnished with poppy seeds, for a contemporary touch. The eggplant used is Kyoto’s famed Kamo Nasu.

To add further luxury to the dish, vegetables and a shrimp are added for garnish. The vegetables include carrot, kabocha squash, satoimo (Japanese taro potato) and okra.

Price: 780 yen (makes about half a nice dinner for two)

Kamonasu Dengaku

Kamonasu Dengaku – detail

Well, once again the department store food court turns up some yummies! Paku and I bought this, I think it was from a demise (出店) from Ishikawa Prefecture, it is called ika meshi. Ika means ‘squid’ and meshi is one of several ways to say ‘cooked rice’.

Ika meshi is a simple dish in which a whole squid is stuffed with seasoned rice and cooked. The stuffed squid can be steamed or grilled, or both. To serve, the squid is simply sliced and then tare (thickened sweet shoyu) is drizzled over the top.

Like a l lot the offerings in the department store food courts, ika meshi is another yummy treat that could make a tasty, reasonably priced meal for travelers at their inn or hotel or just along the river bank.

Ika Meshi Served

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