This meibutsu tsukmono is from Kamekura a shinise in Kameoka, a small and quaint town west of Kyoto. Kamekura is perhaps best known for its senmaizuke, a Kyoto winter favorite and favorite omiyage for visitors to the ancient capital.

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono Package

Kiku Kabura (Chrysanthemum Turnip) from Kamekura  亀蔵の菊かぶら
The white flesh of the turnip is meticulously cut to simulate the thin petals of a chrysanthemum flower and naturally dyed yellow with gardenia seeds, called kuchinashi in Japanese. The greens of the turnip are used as the leaves of the chrysanthemum. These are both pickled in a sweet brine. I was surprised at the sweetness of this pickle, but some tsukemono can be quite sweet, especially in Kyoto.

How to Eat
Like all tsukemono, this goes especially well with rice and generally as a side dish to the whole meal. Drinkers may enjoy tsukemono with beer, sake, shochu, wine, etc. However, tsukemono that goes well with drink is usually saltier than sweeter.

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono

Kabura Turnip Starts Out Looking Like This

Chrysanthemum: Not quite the right variety, but I will keep looking for the right flower.

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono - detail

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono - 'Bottom' of the Turnip

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono - 'Top' of the Turnip

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono - Served

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Say hello to the KyotoFoodie Kyoto vegetable garden! We are trying to grow some authentic, traditional Kyoto vegetables this year.

Kyoyasai, or Kyoto vegetables have a unique history going back hundreds of years. Osaka, Nara, Shiga and Kanazawa have their own traditional vegetables as well. They are all enjoying a resurgence of interest in recent years. In Kyoto there are some trendy Italian restaurants that only use Kyoyasai now. Even Kyoto Prefecture now has a registered Kyoyasai brand and farmers can display the trademark on their packaged products if they have adhered to the rigid standards required for authenticity.

KyotoFoodie Kyoyasai Vegetable Garden

New Cucumber

I am a country boy and at my home in Minnesota I used to help my family with several gardens every year. In primary school I often helped my mother with pickling and canning. Since I came to Japan, I have not had a chance to grow vegetables in my own garden though.

This spring I cleared out some bushes in my modest, back garden and made a small plot to try my hand at growing some Kyoyasai. I started out with some greens; mibuna and mizuna but they were infested by caterpillars without my noticing and mowed down to nothing overnight. Being averse to chemicals, I got my trusty blow torch and sent them all off to meet their maker. After the incineration, I turned the soil and replanted the plot with some hardier veggies: pepper and eggplant. Mizuna and mibuna I am going to try again in the fall when the weather cools down and the bugs are less active.

Despite the carnage upon my greens, today I harvested my first baby cucumbers and made them into nukazuke. I only pickled them for about 12 hours, and for baby veggies, that amount of time was just right.

I enjoyed them with some beer last night while thinking about all the summer yummies I will, hopefully, be harvesting from the Kyoyasai garden.

We will be updating the progress of the garden and the taste of the Kyoyasai. There are several varieties each of kabocha squash, eggplant and peppers as well as cucumbers and cucumber-like gourds, called uri. Stay tuned!

New Cucumber – detail

Before: New Cucumber Going into the Nuka for Pickling

After: New Cucumber Lightly Pickled

Baby Cucumber Nukazuke

Baby Cucumber Nukazuke – Sliced

Baby Cucumber Nukazuke – Served

Homemade nukazuke is turning out to be one of my all time favorite foodie discoveries! I cannot stop! I have been pickling springtime vegetables like kokabura (baby turnip), uri and nanohana (rape blossom) in my nuka pot the last few weeks and having great fun.

Here is another in our Nukazuka Report series.

In case you have not seen any of our previous nukazuke articles, nukadoko is a pickling bed made of rice bran and salt that is allowed to ferment and is used to pickle all sorts of seasonal vegetables in Japan. Nukazuke has a lot of vitamins and nutritional value provided by the rice bran.

Traditionally every household in Japan had a nuka pot or barrel. Nukazuke does not taste particularly exotic or ‘Japanese’. If you like fresh vegetables and you like fermented food, you would probably enjoy nukazuke.

Once fermenting, the nukadoko (pickling bed) is a combination of two distinct smells; a pungent, fruity fragrance reminiscent of yogurt and a big, earthy smell similar to pipe tobacco. Before fermenting, it just smells like you might expect rice bran to smell. However, once fermented it is transformed!

Vegetables can be lightly fermented in a day or so, or heavily fermented in 5 to 7 days. Higher air temperature increases the pace of fermentation.

Springtime Nanohana

Green, fresh and pleasantly bitter!

Nanohana
Nanohana is the blossom of the rape plant. Nanohana is a very popular vegetable in Kyoto and is in season from late winter to late spring. To me, it signals the coming end of winter. Nanohana can simply be steamed, be added to soups and stews, can be deep-fried for tempura and of course be pickled. Nanohana is often pickled in salt, miso and of course nuka.

Nanohana is rather bitter and this combined with the pungent ferment punch of nuka is quite unlike any other taste I have encountered. I found that I like nanohana pickled in nuka for about 5 days, on average, that is probably a bit long. It gets very sour and pungent but the bitterness of the nanohana is retained. Fermented this long, the ‘fresh veggie-ness’ of the nanohana is gone though.

Springtime Nanohana

Covering Nanohana in Nuka

Covering Nanohana in Nuka

Covering Nanohana in Nuka

Covering Nanohana in Nuka – Finished

Several Days Later

Turning the Nanohana and Nuka

Several Days Later – Done

Removing Nanohana from Nuka

Nanohana Nukazuke – Ready to Wash

Nanohana Nukazuke – Washing Off the Nuka

Rescued Nuka

This is how much nuka could go to waste. I strained the rinse water through a cloth to capture the nuka. Nanohana being very leafy, a lot of nuka gets stuck to the greens that cannot simply be brushed off by hand. By contrast, the nuka on cucumbers, carrots and so on can easily be wiped back into the nuka pot when removing them.

Three Kinds of Tsukemono and Rice

Three Kinds of Tsukemono – Nanohana and Uri

The uri on the right, the brighter green three slices are asazuke, lightly pickled with salt.

Itadakimono: Early spring is the time to enjoy uri, a cucumber-like gourd that is in season here for just a few weeks. The only way I know to eat this vegetable is as tsukemono. In March and April, I often go to Nishiri to buy their uri that is simply and lightly pickled with salt. The other morning I got a call from Kichisen telling me that the boss had some fresh uri from me, so come on over and pick them up. It turns out that it was an entire box! As we are making homemade pickles now, I am putting these beautiful uri to good use.

Fresh ‘Cucumbery’ Uri Tsukemono
Uri is best lightly pickled, so I buried several in nuka and in less that 24 hours removed, washed and sliced them for our onigiri lunches tomorrow.

Uri is quite ‘cucumbery’, fresh and ‘springy’. The idea is that even though they are pickled, they should still taste very just off the vine fresh. The pungent taste and sourness of the nuka quickly penetrated the uri, it was the perfect balance of early spring fresh veggie with sour and pungency. The flesh is still firm and crunchy.

I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow! Hidden inside my recently perfected mixture of white rice, 30% milled brown rice, rolled oats and gokokumai, simmered in well water, sake, kombu and a dash of salt and wrapped in nori is uri nukazuke.

Itadakimono: Spring Pickling Vegetable Uri

Spring Pickling Vegetable Uri Washed and Ready for Pickling

Spring Pickling Vegetable Uri Washed and Ready for Pickling

Note beagle for scale.

Uri Split and Seeds Removed

Burying Uri in Nuka

Day Two

Uri in Nuka

Digging out the Uri

Uri Nukazuke Ready for Washing

Uri Washed and Slicing

Making Onigiri for Tomorrow’s Lunch

Making Uri Nukazuke Onigiri

Making Uri Nukazuke Onigiri

Uri Nukazuke Onigiri Served (with Kasuzuke Sujiko Ikura Onigiri)

Nukazuke Report: Our nukadoko pickling bed started to get pungent, I knew it was time to pickle our first vegetables. I chose hinona, a traditional vegetable from neighboring Shiga prefecture. It is a very long and narrow turnip.

We hadn’t cooked hinona before but it is a common sight in Kyoto in the winter. Usually it is pickled in sweetened vinegar. I want to say that I have had it as Narazuke some years ago, but I maybe wrong.

Hinona is quite long so I softened them up with some salt first to get them to bend enough to fit in our pickle pot. I just washed them well and then sprinkled some salt on them and let them sit for about an hour.

Of ocurse, all the greens are pickled and eaten as well.

Hinona Turnip

Hinona Turnip Detail

This is a very beautiful veggie and I am interested in learning other ways to cook it.

Day One: Burying the Vegetables

Bury Vegetable in Nuka

Bury Vegetable in Nuka

Bury Vegetable in Nuka

Day Two: Mixing and Turning the Nukadoko
Mixing and turning the nukadoko is essential to prevent spoilage. It is required everyday. It takes less than a minute.

Mixing and Turning the Nukadoko

Mixing and Turning the Nukadoko

Pressing Down the Nukadoko

We are trying to figure out the Zen of Nukazuke and will post articles from time to time on our progress.

Nukazuke Report: Our nukadoko is coming along well. The season is cold now so fermenting took some time. I added half a can of Japan’s best beer: Yona Yona Ale and kept the pickle pot warmish for a few days. We added a lot of turnip greens, not to eat but to add some germs and tasty veggie moisture content. After about a week of loving care, our nukadoko is going strong!

I am pulling up my sleeves and mixing the fermenting nukadoko around twice a day. It is great fun and just takes a minute. It is essential to mix nukadoko everyday, or it will spoil.

Miwa scored a nice enamel tsukemono pot on a Yahoo auction which we transferred our nukadoko to.

Adding Yona Yona Ale

Notice the partially exposed kombu.

Mixing Nuka, Adding Greens for ‘Juice’ and Germs

We had a lot of turnip greens whose turnips we are using for an amazing article on ‘turnip sushi’ (coming soon), we added these not to eat, although you can, for ‘juice and germs’ but you can use most any veggie that you have. This is a good way to put old veggies to use. Most people don’t eat the first few rounds of nukazuke though, this is to get the nukadoko up and fermenting and to start adding some taste to it.

Moving Nuka to New Nukazuke Pot

Mixing Nuka

Greens Added to Nuka

Pressing Down the Nuka

I added half a can of beer another day to help the ferment along.

Adding Beer to Promote Fermentation

We have some favorite shops in Kyoto for nukazuke tsukemono pickles but really wanted to be able to make our own at home. Traditionally every household in Japan made their own pickles, still many do. Nukazuke is quick and easy to make once you have a pickling pot full of fermenting ‘nukadoko‘ pickling bed. Just add some seasonal vegetables to the wet, salted rice bran powder and in a few days you will have some tasty, healthy pickles. Of course, it is fun too. With the passing of months and years your nukadoko will develop its own unique character and taste.

Nuzazuke is one of the Japanese culinary traditions that I would especially like to see adopted and spread abroad. It doesn’t taste particularly ‘Japanese’ or exotic, its just fresh, pungent veggies.

How to Make Nukadoko (Pickling Bed)

Nukazuke is quite simple to make provided that you can obtain the nuka (rice bran powder), which is a byproduct of milling brown rice into white rice. Other grain bran has been found to work abroad but we haven’t tried it. As Japanese style short grain white rice and brown rice is widely available, even cultivated abroad, you ought to be able to get a hold of nuka. In Japan you can get it free from rice shops.

Nuka Rice Bran Powder

We just got ours for free from our favorite liquor and rice shop, Kunitaya.

Nuka is mixed with salt and water and allowed to ferment. Bread and/or beer can be added to help the ferment. In Japan you can buy packaged pre-fermented nukadoko, but of course foodies make their own from scratch! You can also obtain a bit of ‘starter’ from a friend or tsukemono shop.

Flavoring agents such as whole chili peppers, ginger, dried shiitake mushrooms, kombu, egg shells, shaved fish and so on can be added to the mix.

The nukadoko must be mixed and turned by hand once or twice a day to prevent spoiling. Once in the winter, twice in the summer is the usual rule. The more mixing the better.

Vegetables are buried in the nukadoko for several days to a week, depending on the vegetable and the temperature.

The salt and ferment of the nukadoko transforms the vegetables into a healthy, pungent pickle.

Ingredients

• 2 kg of lightly roasted nuka
• 400g of salt
• 2L of water
• 1 slice of bread
• dried kelp (kombu)

Preparation of Nukadoko (Pickling Bed)

Nuka: Roast the nuka in a large clean pan over moderate heat and mix well as it roasts to avoid burning. Of course, DO NOT use cooking oil. Allow to cool to room temperature.

In Japan they say that you are trying to get it hot enough to kill the ‘bad’ bacteria that will cause spoilage but not hot enough to kill the ‘good’ bacteria that will produce tasty pickles. Some report the proper temperature is 70 C, this is the temperature that nuka will start to change color ‘a bit’. Getting a fry pan or wok full of powder to a uniform and exact temperature seems quite impossible to me. I roasted ours in two batches until I could smell the nuka and the color darkened. See photo. Miwa was sure that I roasted it too much (and ruined it), but it seems to be fermenting well.

Keep in mind that you will need to add nuka powder from time to time to your nukadoko to replenish it, as a small portion is lost to mixing and removing vegetables. So, keep some on hand.

Roasting Nuka Rice Bran: Before

Roasting Nuka Rice Bran: After

The darker brown nuka is from the bottom of the pan.

Nuka Rice Bran

Water: Boil clean, fresh water and add salt. Once dissolved, remove from heat and add chopped bread. Allow the bread to soften and mash by hand when sufficiently cool. Allow to return to room temperature.

Mix: Add the roasted nuka to your pickle pot. Gently pour or ladle in water mixture while mixing and squeezing with your free hand. Mix and stir by hand for several minutes. The nukadoko should feel like wet sand when done.

Bread for Nukadoko

Soaking Bread for Nukadoko (Boiled Salt Water)

Mashing the Bread for Nukadoko

Adding Bread Mush and Salt Water to Roasted Nuka

Mixing in Bread Mush and Salt Water in Roasted Nuka

Mixing in Bread Mush and Salt Water in Roasted Nuka

Mixing Nuka, Adding Kombu

Pressing Down the Nuka

Pickle Pot: The pickle pot can be wood, ceramic, metal, glass, plastic, etc. Traditionally pots were wood or ceramic. We are using an enameled metal pot. You just want something that isn’t going to rust. Plastic is very commonly used in Japan now.

Fermentation: Depending on the season and temperature fermentation will take 1 to 3 weeks. Using a seed starter will of course take less time. Adding beer will help speed fermenting.

The nukadoko needs to be mixed by hand once or twice a day, be sure that your hands are clean and free of lotions, creams and so on. If nukadoko is not mixed sufficiently, it will spoil.

We started our nukadoko without seed starter in February in our cold Kyoto machiya townhouse and ours wouldn’t ferment well, so I rigged-up a hot water bottle and old blankets to keep ours warm for several days, then it started to ferment nicely. I would imagine that in most houses in Western countries, even in the winter, this would not be an issue.

We will keep you posted on our progress. Making nukazuke seems like great fun and I think that this is another Japanese cuisine that could be widely adopted abroad.

Meet nukazuke, a traditional Japanese tsukemono that is fermented in rice bran with a bit of salt. Nukazuke is full of vitamins and can be extremely pungent. Most any kind of vegetable can be used, even meat can be pickled by this method! It is easy to make at home and only takes a few days. The saltiness and sourness of the final product can easily be adjusted to accommodate your own taste.

The Mr. Universe of Nukazuke: Takakuraya’s Red Turnip
In winter when the akakabura, or red turnip is in season, Peko (that’s me) MUST eat akakabura nukazuke from Takakuraya in the Nishiki Market. It is just the best! Let me say that again. It is just the best! Takakuraya’s red turnip nukazuke has appeared on KyotoFoodie several times and is even on our current masthead banner. Peko bought this one the other day and rushed home to photograph it for the foodies of the world. It was mighty tasty with rice and sake. (The taste does vary depending on how long it was fermented. The older, the better, in my book.)

Akakabura nukazuke is also very, very photogenic in my mind. I love how it is to bright red, the ‘greens’ are red, even the nuka gets stained red. Before washing you can’t quite imagine that it could be food inside that clump of dough-like nuka mash. But, just a quick wash and it is something completely different. The reds and the greens, the texture of the turnip itself after being pickled and of course the yeasty smell all come together as something that has no parallel, not just in terms of food, but even among other nukazuke!

Akakabura Nukazuke

Akakabura Nukazuke

Akakabura Nukazuke and ‘Greens’

Akakabura Nukazuke – Washed

Akakabura Nukazuke – Washed Greens Detail

Akakabura Nukazuke – Washed Detail

What is Nukazuke?
Nukazuke‘s history isn’t as long as you might expect, it was invented in the Edo period with the advent of rice milling. Previous to this there was no nuka in Japan because rice was eaten as brown rice, not white rice.

Beriberi was prevalent in Japan at the time and this illness is a result of vitamin B1 deficiency and nukazuke happens to contain a lot vitamin B1. So, the practice of making and eating nukazuke naturally spread and the government encouraged people to eat it.

Nukazuke has the tanginess of pickles but retains much of the crunchiness of fresh vegetables.

How is Nukazuke Made?
Traditionally every household had a large container filled with nuka for making tsukemono. Now it is often purchased in stores, but some families still make it. In recent years a small bag ‘set’ filled with salted, wet nuka and ready to pickle has become popular with small families and singles that want to make their own nukazuke at home.

Nuka can be obtained for free from most rice stores. It is popular to mill rice in a small milling machine on site after the customer has decided what kind of rice and how many kilos they want to purchase. Nuka just piles up and they end up throwing a lot of it away. I got some at Kunitaya, my favorite liquor store, and they were only too happy to give me a huge bag of it.

The water and salt is added to the nuka powder and the vegetables are buried in the nuka mixture, called nukamiso in Japanese. Once started the nuka ‘bed’ must be stirred once or twice a day, depending on the air temperature to prevent rotting. Water content is maintained in the nukamiso via the vegetables pickled. Additional ingredients may be added to the nukamiso for flavor such as kombu, egg shells, apple peels and chili peppers.

The tangy, pungent flavor is achieved as a result of fermentation process that produces lactic acid.

Nukazuke Sliced and Served with Rice

Nukazuke Served with Rice

This picture might be a bit misleading. You don’t ‘sprinkle’ tsukemono on rice in Japan like a topping. Tsukemono and rice are almost always eaten together, in the same bite, but tsukemono isn’t a ‘topping’. A bite-sized portion is picked up off the plate, placed on the rice and scooped up the the chopsticks.

Peko’s Favorite Nukazuke Shop
Peko’s favorite shop for nukazuke is Takakuraya at the east end of Nishiki Market street. Takakuraya offers other kinds of pickles as well, but I like their nukazuke because it is very sour.

Miwa did some research on the store and it turns out that the owner, loves nukazuke that is quite old, the older the more sour. So, Takakuraya’s nukazuke is a bit more sour than usual — therefore Peko is a big fan.

＊Below are some pretty horrible piks that I took with my mobile phone. You get the idea how they sell them in the market. The tsukemono is presented on top of the nuka bed. This is just for show. They are really fermented somewhere else.

Akakabura Nukazuke and Plum Bonsai

Akakabura Nukazuke

Akakabura Nukazuke

Previous KyotoFoodie article (midway down there are two pretty excellent piks, before and after.)
Uni-ikura Donburi

Nishiki Takakuraya Tsukemono Specialty Store 京漬物専門店 錦・高倉屋
location: Takakuraya is located on the east end of the Nishiki Market street, next to the shoe store on the south side of the street, very close to the Shikyogoku arcade.
address: Kyoto-shi, Nakagyo-ku, Nishikikoji-dori, Teramachi, Nishi-iru, Higashidaimonji-cho 289-2 (京都市中京区錦小路通寺町西入ル東大文字町289-2)
tel: 075-231-0032
website: http://nsk-takakuraya.ocnk.net/ (circa 1995, Japanese language only)
10:00 am – 6:30 pm

Shiokara is a favorite of Miwa and she made some recently and it is ready for eating. Shiokawa is made of salted squid semi-fermented in its own guts and is a kind of chinmi, literally ‘rare taste’. Japanese like shiokara on rice or with sake.

Shiokara

Miwa, with some help from Kichisen, made her first shiokara. It came out very well, she reports. Here are a few photos of it served. (I took some photos of her happy face eating the shiokawa on rice, but she absolutely would not allow me to put them up on this article.

Miwa says the following about shiokara:
Shiokara on shinmai, new rice, like in the photos on this article, is a simple meal but the most luxurious meal to Japanese. Yum, yum, yum!

Even though we thought that it would be too salty, the taste definitely got more and more mild over the passing days and it is very nice now. The progression of the taste with time is something I like very much. I think Mr Tanigawa’s tip of adding high quality kelp helps a lot.

Shiokara lasts just a few weeks but you can freeze it too.

I have not tried this, but heard that you can eat on pasta too, as sauce. I am going to try this soon.

Paku says:
Please pass the karasumi.

Be sure to check out our shiokara series:
How to Clean Squid
How to Make Shiokara
How to Eat Shiokara (this article)

Squid Shiokara Served

The dark strip on the top is kombu, of kelp. Kombu is naturally salty and softens and adds complexity to the flavor.

Squid Shiokara Served – detail

Giving and receiving gifts is an essential aspect of Japanese culture. Gifts are usually small and often given spontaneously. On the way back from an appointment today I stopped in at Kisen to return a very old and precious book on Kyo-ryori to the owner that I had been lent earlier this autumn.

Itadakimono: a gift humbly received

I was seated and served tea in a room that always has a flower arrangement in which the vase or basket is attached to the wall, rather than simply sitting on a surface. I was just there to return a book. Today was yellow chrysanthemums in a ceramic vase. In an alcove behind me I notice an incredibly colorful woodblock print that was a montage of New York City.

Mr Tanigawa, the owner; part boxer, part Zen master came in in a nylon gym suit with the biggest, roundest daikon radish I had every seen while ordering underlings to bring this dried kelp and that tsukemono press, then handing the daikon off and ordering it to be wrapped up. Then, “hey, bring him a bag of rice too.” It’s shinmai, or ‘new rice’.

The rice is grown especially for his restaurant by a farmer in rural Kyoto.

Itadakimono

I was given a quick lesson on how to make tsukemono with the daikon and Mr Tanigawa ordered some out from the kitchen for me to try. I plucked out a wedge shaped slice of daikon pickled simply in salt and kombu (dried kelp).

I haven’t made tsukemono for a few years, but I am going to give it a try with this wonderful itadakimono, which if successful will go extremely well with this fine new rice.

In Kyoto summer is here! It’s time for cold noodles and vegetables.

Natto: Have you heard about natto? Natto is fermented soybeans which due its pungent smell has many detractors. Many people dislike, some even hate natto. But here at KyotoFoodie, we think that good natto is a wonderful thing! In addition to its ‘challenging’ smell, natto is very ‘nebaneba‘, meaning ‘sticky’ and ‘stringy’. Like, sticky in a way that you have probably never experienced! And, in Japanese cuisine there are a number of ingredients that are sticky and gooey, we combine several here for a yummy, healthy and cooling summer noodle meal.

Nebaneba Hiyashi Udon with Natto, Nagaimo and Okra is one of Paku’s original creations that Peko absolutely LOVES! There are many ‘hiyashi‘, chilled noodle dishes in Japan, but this is a masterpiece! Sawara with Minty Miso Glaze Peko made with some inspiration from Marc. Paku was dubious about mint and cilantro flavored miso but loved it! Mizunasu is a kind of early summer tsukemono in which fresh, young eggplant are lightly picked in saltwater and served chilled. This all goes really well with beer!

Natto and Nagaimo
Natto and nagaimo (Japanese mountain yam) are generally available in Western countries now, so we hope that you will give this one a try. Some natto, especially the ‘cheap’ stuff we don’t like. You probably cannot get kuromame (black bean) natto abroad but in our experience, the bigger the beans in the natto, the better it tastes. Also, don’t make too much of the reputed smell of natto, natto, especially modern natto is not that smelly. Western cheeses are far more pungent than natto.

Preparation
Here are the ingredients and basic preparation methods. As with all our homecooking articles here on KyotoFoodie, we just give you the basic idea and as you are all foodies, you can adapt and refine for your tastes. If you haven’t used tsuyu before check if you need to dilute it with water and of course, follow the instructions or your noodles could be far too salty. The photos below illustrate the process and steps.

Nebaneba Hiyashi Udon with Natto, Nagaimo and Okra

• nagaimo (or yamaimo) about 10-15cm, wash or peel and grate
• okra 10-12, blanch in salt water, rinse to cool and slice
• natto 2-3 packages
• scallion 5 chopped
• udon boil and chill (‘fresh’ udon is preferred but high-quality dried udon will work fine too)
• tsuyu 1/2 cup per serving (dashi broth with soy sauce)
• egg yolk 1 per serving (optional)
• shiso leaf (optional)
• jyako (optional)

Boil the udon, rinse well with cold water. Prepare the other indgredients.

Serving: In a large bowl, place several ice cubes. Place the udon noodles over the ice cubes and add the other ingredients in layers. Grated nagaimo goes down first, then well stirred natto. The veggies go on next, if you like raw egg add a single yolk. Finally pour on tsuyu and serve. The noodles should be well chilled when they go into the bowl and by the time it is eaten, the ice cubes should be almost completely melted.

Sawara with Minty Miso Glaze

• sawara (Spanish mackerel)
• fresh mint
• fresh cilantro
• miso paste (white, light, sweet recommended) 3-4 tablespoons
• sake or cooking sake (ryori shu) 2 tablespoons
• mirin 2 tablespoons

Finely chop the mint and cilantro and combine with miso, sake and mirin into a creamy consistency. Save some chopped mint and cilantro for garnish. Marinade the sawara or similar fish for 12-24 hours. Before grilling, wipe off excess miso marinade. When cooking, excessive heat will cause the miso glaze to burn.

Mizunasu Tsukemono
Although we bought our mizunasu it is not difficult to make. We can find a recipe if anyone is interested. It ought to be quite simple; it is eggplant, salt and water.

The ‘Nebaneba’ Ingredients

Natto, nagaimo and okra are stringy, sticky, gooey – not to mention very healthy and delicious! In the liquid-filled plastic bag in the center is mizunasu tsukemono, literally ‘water eggplant’.

Ingredients for Sawara with Minty Miso Glaze

This was inspired by Marc’s Salmon with a minty miso glaze and uses sawara (Spanish mackerel) which is in season now.

Peeling Nagaimo

I (Peko) sometimes don’t peel it, I just scrub it vigorously and that removes all the yucky stuff. I think that Japanese always peel it though.

Grating Nagaimo

Grating nagaimo is kind of enjoyable. It’s like the proverbrial hot knife though butter.

Natto Packaging

Two small packets of mustard and soy sauce are included.

Kuromame ‘Black Bean’ Natto

Stirring Natto

Ice Cold Udon Noodles

Cold udon in often served with a few chunks of ice in the summer.

Pouring on the Grated Nagaimo

A Final Stir of the Natto

Adding the Natto

The Masterpeice! All the Toppings and Tsuyu

On the left, okra, on the top and bottom is kuromame natto, on the right scallions and in the middle an egg yolk. Around the egg yolk Paku sprinkled jyako (tiny dried, seasoned fish fry) and finally a few tablespoons of tsuyu (cold noodle dipping sauce) is poured on. Tsuyu is just dashi with a fair amount of shoyu (soy sauce).

Dinner is Served

Nebaneba cold udon, minty miso glaze grilled sawara, mizunasu tsukemono and of course Japan’s best beer; Yebisu. This makes for a mighty fine summer dinner!

Eating Nebaneba Cold Udon – Stir Well and Gobble

Eating Nebaneba Cold Udon

Eating Nebaneba Cold Udon

The food courts of department stores in Japan are a near other-worldly experience. The offerings are exquisite in taste and beauty and nearly boundless in regional and seasonal variation. In addition to the regular stores, there are ‘demise‘, small stands that sell a product from a different region or local, small shop and these demise change every week. Paku found some amazing narazuke from a tsukemono house in Nagoya the other day at Takashimaya Department Store. Her favorite is ginger.

Narazuke (Nara pickles), as you might guess are originally from Nara, but they are made in other regions of Japan now. Yamatoya Moriguchizuke Honke (大和屋守口漬総本家) is a long established maker of narazuke from Nagoya and they have a demise at Kyoto Takashimaya several times per year.

About Narazuke

With narazuke various kinds of vegetables are pickled in a mix of sakekasu (sake lees, what remains after pressing sake mash), mirin, sugar and salt. Narazuke requires a minimum of 1 to 3 years to make.

Narazuke, originally from the ancient capital of Nara, has a history going back at least 1,300 years! That makes narazuke even older than the ancient city of Kyoto. The typical narazuke is often so strong in alcohol content that you feel a bit drunk after eating a few bits, especially if not eaten with food. A pickle that intoxicates!

Peko has been a fan of narazuke since he first washed up in Japan, because it’s a ‘drinkin’ man’s pickle’. To connoisseurs it goes especially well with Japanese winter cuisine, rice and of course beer and sake. Paku, like a lot of gals in Japan is no fan of narazuke.

Yamatoya Moriguchizuke’s narazuke is much lighter in taste and more accessible to modern palates.

Yamatoya Moriguchizuke’s Narazuke

Moriguchi Daikon: A daikon radish reaching more than 1.8 meters in length! That’s a big one! A rare vegetable and longest daikon in the world. Originally from Osaka but now mainly grown along the Kiso River near Nagoya, this daikon is used exclusively to make this tsukemono. (see image below)
Uri: A cucumber like gourd, translated as Armenian Cucumber or Japanese gourd. A very popular spring vegetable pickled in various ways. Peko is quite crazy about anything with uri.
Ginger: Traditionally an unusual vegetable for tsukemono. This ginger narazuke was exceptional.
Baby Watermelon: Another ‘modern’ narazuke. This is Peko’s all time favorite. About the size of an egg, this narazuke is very, very soft, yet still crunchy.
Cucumber: Another classic for narazuke. Tasty.

Yamatoya Moriguchizuke ‘Demise’ Stand

Yamatoya Moriguchizuke ‘Demise’ Stand – Narazuke Offerings

The very long ones are moriguchi daikon.

Yamatoya Moriguchizuke – Narazuke

From left to right, uri (a kind of gourd), ginger and cucumber. Notice they are still covered in sakekasu paste, which has turned brown with the fermentation process.

Yamatoya Moriguchizuke – Narazuke

Left to right, moriguchi daikon, baby watermelon and cucumber.

Yamatoya Moriguchizuke – Narazuke
Moriguchi daikon and uri.

Moriguchi Daikon – a LOOONG Veggie!

This is a scan of a pamphlet distributed by the shop.
credit: Yamatoya Moriguchizuke (大和屋守口漬総本家)

Yamatoya Moriguchizuke Honke

This tsukemono house was established in the 1920′s and has been serving the Imperial Household since 1948.

Yamatoya Moriguchizuke website (Japanese language)

Honten/Main Store (Japanese language)
The honten includes a restaurant that serves many tsukemono and tsukemono inspired dishes. (We haven’t been there, but the pictures on the webpage look very good! Nouveau tsukemono cuisine!!)

Shop Locations (Japanese language)
There are many shops around Nagoya and several in the Tokyo area. Well worth checking out if you are in the area.