Sweet Young Soybean Zunda Mochi

Kyoto Foodie — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:46:11 +0000

Itadakimono: Toru, one of my best friends is in Kyoto and as always he brings me some zunda mochi. He lives up north in the city of Sendai and Sendai is famous for zunda mochi. I still remember when I arrived in Japan, I went up to Sendai to see Toru and he took me to a famous ‘shinise’ zunda mochi shop. I liked this dish so much I ordered another after finishing it! Zunda mochi is not just sweet, it has a fresh and ‘green’ taste and is very, very delicious.

Wagashi: Sendai Meibutsu Zunda Mochi 仙台名物ずんだ餅

Soft and Chewy Mochi Covered in Sweet Young Soybean Paste
Sendai is in the northern part of the main island, Honshu. This region is called Tohoku, literally ‘north east’ and is famous for many tasty things such as seafood, beef, sake, soba and apples, to name just a few. Zunda mochi is made with eda mame, young green soybeans. Eda mame are grown all over Japan but only in the Tohoku region is zunda mochi ubiquitous. It is part of the history and tradition of the region.

Eda mame, literally ‘stem bean’ because it is usually sold in bunches while still on the stalk, became popular in the Edo era about 250 years ago with the rise of the urban merchant class. It is usually a snack or appetizer and boiled, salted and chilled goes well with beer in summer. (I like to use eda mame to make this rice dish.)

To make zunda mochi, young eda mame soybeans are harvested about 3 months before the normal harvest time. They are blanched and shelled and then ground into a chunky paste in a suribachi mortar. The paste is simply sweetened with sugar and a little salt. Fresh, soft and chewy mochi is covered with the thick chunky paste. Very simple! If you can get fresh mochi abroad, you ought to be able to make this dish easily.

Sweet Young Soybean Zunda Mochi

Zunda Mochi – detail

How Does Zunda Mochi Taste?
The fresh, young, green soybeans don’t taste anything like mature soybeans or tofu. The taste is just like the color: green! While the paste tastes somewhat ‘beany’, it is more fruity and fresh in taste than you might expect. The point is fresh ingredients, quick preparation and a bit of sweetness, but not too much. The salt that is usually added cannot be tasted.

The chunky texture of the paste is a wonderful contrast to the soft mochi.

This is another Japanese dish that I think we could adopt and adapt to Western cooking and tastes.

Sendai Omiyage
At omiyage shops all over Sendai this mochi is for sale. For tourists and business travelers it is packaged frozen and by the time you arrive back home in several hours to half a day it ought to be thawed out and perfect for eating. Mochi starts to harden soon after being made and the zunda fresh green soybean paste starts to discolor soon, so this omiyage should be eaten as soon as you arrive home or to the office.

The zunda mochi producers have taken their traditional regional mochi, developed modern handling and packaging techniques and made this omiyage into quite a business for the local economy. In that sense it is similar to Kyoto’s famed omiyage: Yatsuhashi. However, zunda mochi is enjoyed by locals too (unlike yatsuhashi in Kyoto) and freshness is of the essence.

Zunda Mochi Package, Fresh from Sendai

Zunda Mochi Package

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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

Kyoto Foodie: Where and what to eat in Kyoto » eda mame green soybean

Sweet Young Soybean Zunda Mochi

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

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