Kyoto Foodie: Where and what to eat in Kyoto » bean

Donabe Eda Mame ‘Green Soybean’ Gohan, Matsutake Gohan, Ayu Shioyaki and Tsukudani

Kyoto Foodie — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:07:35 +0000

Donabe Takikomi Gohan: Eda Mame ‘Green Soybean’ Gohan, Matsutake Gohan, Grilled Ayu Sweetfish and Homemade Tsukudani

Being requested for more frequent recipes by our readers on KyotoFoodie, last night I made eda mame gohan cooked in a donabe and tried my new experimental tsukudani. While preparing this simple, seasonal and very tasty dish, Tanigawa-san from Kichisen called and told that he had some wild ayu sweetfish and a box of natsu matsutake gohan for me, so come on over and pick it up. Dinner turned out to be quite a feast!

One of my favorite Japanese dishes is eda mame gohan. Eda mame are most commonly served salt boiled and chilled in the summer as an accompaniment to beer. Eda mame are available pre-packaged in the supermarket boiled and frozen, but I prefer the fresh ones, still on the stalk for this dish. They are a little more expensive and preparation takes more time, but the taste is definitely worth it!

This is a dish that is easy to prepare and you ought to be able to get all the ingredients in your country. If you cannot get fresh green soybeans, try adapting the recipe with other varieties of beans or peas. And, of course, tell us what you come up with!

Fresh Eda Mame ‘Green Soybeans’

Boiling Eda Mame

Eda Mame Beans Separated from Pods

Kodai Sea Bream Heads for ‘Kakushi Aji’ Broth

I bought some baby sea bream (kodai) heads for soup stock and broth and added two to the the gohan nabe. To remove any fishy smell, pour boiling water over the fish heads or grill them lightly. I did both.

Kodai Sea Bream Heads Wrapped in Muslin

To prevent bones and scales from getting in the rice, I wrapped the kodai heads in muslin.

Rice and Eda Mame in Gohan Nabe

All Ingredients in Gohan Nabe

Eda Mame Gohan Recipe
Please see our How to Cook Rice in a Donabe article here for lots of details and explanation. Also, we have an article and video on How to Season a Donabe if you have a new one.

Eda Mame Gohan Ingredients
2 1/2 cups rice, 1/2 cup pressed oats (I use a combination of lightly milled brown rice, white rice and oshi-mugi, or pressed oats)
1-2 cups of fresh green beans
1/2 cup cooking sake
2 1/2 cups fresh, clean water
kombu
pinch of salt

Soak rice and pressed oats in warm water for 30-60 minutes.

While soaking the rice, boil the beans in salt water for approximately 5 minutes. The point is to cook them enough that you can easily ‘squeeze’ the beans out of the pod. Be careful not to cook them so long that they become too soft and squish when squeezing them out.

Measure equal parts soaked rice to water and fill donabe. Bring uncovered donabe to a boil. Reduce heat and cover and simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove heat and keep covered for an additional 10 minutes. Again, see this article for how to cook rice in a donabe.

I added some grilled baby sea bream heads for a kakushi aji, or ‘hidden’ flavor.

The Feast

Kichisen’s Matsutake Gohan – Wrapped

Kichisen’s Matsutake Gohan – Unwrapped

Fresh Seasonal Ayu Sweetfish

Ayu Shioyaki (Salt Grilled Sweetfish)

Eda Mame Gohan with O-koge

O-kage is the charring of the rice at the bottom of the earthenware pot. This is slightly too charred, the color should not be black or dark brown and the rice should not get hard. Just the right amount of o-koge makes you remember why you spent the little extra time and effort to make rice the old fashioned way, not just push the button of the electric rice cooker!

Eda Mame Gohan Dinner Served

Eda Mame Gohan – Served

Eda Mame Gohan – detail

This is REALLY good!

Kichisen’s Matsutake Gohan – Served

This is ‘summer’ matsutake mushroom (natsu matsutake). The fragrance is sublime!

My Experimental Tsukudani

This is made with ‘water’ eggplant (mizu nasu), a traditional Osaka vegetable used mainly for tsukemono, wagyu beef tendon and egoma sesame leaves (egoma-no-ha). It was pretty good, but not a masterpiece. The eggplant variety wasn’t quite right for tsukudani. Egoma leaves, popular with beef dishes in Korean cuisine, aren’t usually used in Japanese cuisine but I like the astringent ‘mediciney’ taste very much. I will keep working on the recipe.

My Experimental Tsukudani

Ayu Shioyaki and Tade Kuzu Vinegar

Tade (蓼) is a bitter wild herb that is used to flavor vinegar for ayu. Kichisen adds Yoshino kuzu starch to their vinegar to make it very thick. This helps ‘stick’ more flavor on the fish. Eating the entire ayu, head, guts and all is quite bitter, but with ayu this small the flesh cannot really be removed from the bones very easily. The alternative would be deep frying, but these wild ayu are too good to just deep fry!

Ayu Shioyaki and Tade Kuzu Vinegar

Setsubun: The Day Before Spring, Demons, How to Eat Eho-Maki and Throw Your Beans

Kyoto Foodie — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:50:42 +0000

Setsubun: The Day Before Spring, Demons, How to Eat Eho-Maki and Throw Your Beans (節分: 立春、恵方巻、炒り豆、豆撒き)

On February 3rd, people in Japan celebrate Setsubun, the coming of spring. Special sushi rolls called Eho-maki (恵方巻) and eaten while facing the auspicious direction for that year. After dinner, roasted soy beans, or iri-mame are thrown out the front door of the house to cast out demons (oni), disease and bad fortune and welcome spring and and a new year of good fortune.

Paku did some shopping at one of the major department stores in Kyoto and came over with some tasty Setsubun goodies.

Setsubun is associated with The Chinese New Year, or Lunar Calendar which was used for centuries in Japan, so this is a coming of spring festival as well as the traditional new year. It is still an important event in Japan. Setsubun properly refers to the day before the coming of any of the four season. So, this is actually, risshun (立春) , spring Setsubun.

Setsubun dinner is simple, sushi rolls (makizushi). The proper way to eat this dinner is to face a certain direction, this year it was south-east, and eat the entire sushi roll without stopping. Don’t speak, just make your wish! This takes longer than you might think, so you have time to wish for a lot!

Eho-maki, Iri-mame and Oni (demon) Mask

Eating the entire makizushi in one go is quite difficult and I would imagine that more than a few people have choked to death while eating their makizushi according to the rules.

This makizushi is called ehomaki (恵方巻) literally, ‘direction of blessing roll’, wrapped in egg is quite an innovation to my eyes. The oni is branded (yaki-in) on the sheet of egg that is used to wrap the sushi. While it is common to see a single yaki-in on various foods in Japan, usually egg based creations, we had never seen one like this where it covers the entire thing like this.

Someone must have invented a new machine, I thought!

Setsubun Sushi Rolls, Eho-maki – detail

Machine-made or not, it was one of the best damn makizishi I have ever had, and fun to eat!

It came packed in a cute little box to boot. Japanese put lots of energy and effort into packaging.

About those beans. The beans are roasted soybeans. They taste just fine if you are in to roasted soybeans, nothing to get real excited about, taste-wise.

What to do with the beans:

Iri-mame and an Oni (demon) Mask – detail

What you do here is put all the beans in a big bowl then each person counts out the number for your age, placing them in your own blog or plate. This is done after dinner.Then, together you count, one, two, three.. and eat one bean for each year.

This was actually the first time I had done this properly as Paku is a real traditional Japanese girl. Seeing my life as a plate of beans was strange.

As Paku was counting and we were eating beans, I was thinking in my mind the landmarks in my life that came to mind when I picked up each bean. First memories, first pet, t-ball, golden birthday, first kiss, — Paku was born –, lost my virginity, traveled abroad, graduated uni, came to Japan, turned 30.

As Paku was eating her last bean, she said out loud, “How long I have known you, darling!” Oh, sweet!

Some people eat one more bean, this is said to protect your from getting a cold and others say that it ensures a year of happiness.

Then with the remaining beans, you take them to the front door and say “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” (鬼は外! 福は内!) Literally, “Oni out, good fortune in!” Then throw them out in the street. As this is the beginning of spring, some people say “Out with the old and in with the new!”

According to Wikipedia, in one region of Japan, they say something like “Oni‘s eyeballs — SMASH! SMASH!” I like that one!

I tried it out on Paku right away. As she was quietly reading after dinner I blurted out, “Paku’s eyeballs — SMASH! SMASH!”

Terrified, she looked at me like I was pointing a knife at her. I thought she was going to run away or call the police, maybe both! (The Japanese words are really scary.) I retorted, that I was just trying out what I learned on Wikipedia and that IS what they say in up in Fukushima Prefecture.

The throwing of beans, called Mame-maki (literally, bean scattering) dates back to ancient Japan. A Heian-era monk is said to have driven away a demon by throwing roasted beans at him/it. Ah, life must really have been simpler back then.

So there you have it, Setsubun. Ehomaki and roasted soybeans. Another fun Japanese festival intricately intertwined with food.

Eho-maki, Iri-mame and Oni (demon) Mask

notice the box in the background.

KyotoFoodie Setsubun Articles
Setsubun Ehomaki, Mame-maki and Grilled Sardine
Setsubun Customs: Hiiragi Iwashi (Holly and Sardine Head)
(2008) Setsubun: The Day Before Spring, Demons, How to Eat Eho-Maki and Throw Your Beans (this one)

＊Link Love: Are you a foodie blogger? We give Link Love. Details right this way.