Thursday, July 26, 2012

Eel day 土用牛の日

July 27th

Today is eel day! Doyou ushi no hi is the traditional day to eat unagi - eel - in Japan. Doyou is mid-summer; literally, it's the 18 days before autumn "officially" starts (called Risshuu) around August 8th (but it will still be stinking hot until at least September).

A supermarket flyer for eel day. Eel is extra expensive this year, due to a shortage of  elver.


Of course, if you like eel grilled over charcoal with a sweet, soy-based sauce, then any day is eel day, but on this mid-summer 'ox' day, eating eel is supposed to give you enough energy to deal with the heat and humidity. But the real origin of "eel day" was a flash of Edo era marketing. Because of the heat, most Edo-ites favoured cold noodles at this time of year, which made business hard for grilled eel restaurants. One restaurant owner consulted Hiraga Gennai, who was a renowned inventor, herbalist, satirical essayist and all-round 'renaissance' man. At the time, people believed that eating foods with the letter 'u' on ushi no hi (day of the ox) would help them endure the heat, (udon noodles and umeboshi are also popular on this day) so Gennai suggested the restaurant make a sign saying something like "today is ushi no hi, so eat unagi". It worked, and other restaurants soon followed suit, and a new tradition was born. To emphasise the "u" in unagi, restaurants  make long flags with a stylised eel forming a "u" shape. So why not eat "ushi" or beef? The practice of eating beef is actually pretty recent in Japan. Before the Meiji era, the main sources of animal protein were fish and fowl. 


There are so many good eel restaurants in Japan, and the preparation - usually a combination of steaming and grilling and basting with sweet soy sauce - makes them delicious. My image of eels growing up was those creepy snaky things that lived in lakes and nipped at ducks feet - or even nipped you if you went swimming. We didn't eat eel. I had it once, made by a friend's mother, who was Dutch. She chopped it into small pieces, floured it and pan-fried it, served with wedges of lemon. It was great (though a few friends missed out, as they were weirded out by the eel's resemblance to snake)!  


Getting into a good eel restaurant on eel day is almost impossible, so I'm going to make it at home for dinner tonight. I'm not preparing it myself of course; driving a nail through the wriggling animal's head and quickly filleting it is not in my cooking repertoire. I leave that to the pros, so I just bought a pre-cooked piece of kabayaki eel, nicely butterflied and sticky with sauce, which I will chop up and mix through rice for dinner. My "unagi gohan" has thinly sliced cucumbers and shredded shiso leaves to cut through the richness of the eel. After all, it's 35 degrees today!


Eel is apparently rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, D and E along with those beneficial fish oils, plus it's lighter than beef or pork, so it's easy to eat, even when you're feeling a bit lethargic. In Tokyo, one of my favourite eel restaurants is Izuei in Ueno. The main restaurant is just across from Shinobazu pond. There's a line right out the door today. They've been preparing eel for about 260 years, so they know what they're doing! Expect to pay around Y3,000 for an unagidon set, with grilled eel on rice, some sashimi, and very delicious eel liver soup. However, I like the rather quieter sister restaurant "Izuei Umigawa Tei", tucked away near Toshogu shrine, inside Ueno park. You can sit outside in the garden or in one of the traditional style rooms (you can choose tatami seating or table and chairs). 


Izuei Umigawa Tei

This mysterious box contains....

Lunch! A half eel / half tempura set.




Eel lovers must visit Narita, the town in Chiba that's more famous for the international airport. The street that leads down to Narita San temple is lined with unagi restaurants, and here, you can see exactly how they are prepared. Chefs sit at tables out the front, grabbing squirming eels from buckets and deftly ... killing and preparing them. Venture inside and you can enjoy the results. 


Hard at work

Preparing the eel

Grilling is a hot job

"Irasshaimase!"

The finished result - about Y2,000 for a set with pickles and soup.

After eating, you can stroll the temple grounds to work off your lunch. The gardens of Narita San are really beautiful. I used to fly to Europe via Tokyo just because Japan Airlines had a good flight deal, with an overnight stay at one of the Narita Airport hotels. If only I had known how close by and how lovely Narita town was, I would have taken the free shuttle bus and had an eel feast! If you've got a few hours to kill at the airport, I really recommend a quick trip to Narita.

The road down to the temple, lined with eel restaurants.



Hitsumabushi


I've only been to Nagoya once and at that time, I didn't eat the regional specialty there, hitsumabushi. It's eel, prepared by grilling without steaming, so it tastes a little different and actually, I like it more than Tokyo style unagi, which is sometimes too soft. Hitsumabushi is eel served on rice, but you then divide your bowl into 4. The first quarter, you eat just as is, the next you add sliced negi and wasabi, then the third (my favourite), you make into a kind of ochazuke by adding a little dashi broth. The last is - your choice! While I didn't eat it in Nagoya, there is a branch of a well-known Nagoya eel restaurant called Hitsumabushi Nagoya Bincho (named after the special charcoal used for grilling the eels), in Ginza. It's on the 12th floor of the Maronnier Gate building (between Ginza and Yurakucho). The restaurant website has a little guide to eating hitsumabushi (in Japanese, but with photos) : http://www.hitsumabushi.co.jp/omeshiagari.html

Here's a hitsumabushi set. We also ordered some shirayaki (top left), which is cooked without the sauce. You get white soy sauce for dipping.

The restaurant has views over Yurakucho station. After lunch or dinner, you can check out Tokyu Hands in the same building. So, happy eel day, everyone!


Update:

Here's what we had for dinner. A nice piece of grilled eel, which I chopped up and put on rice with thinly sliced cucumber, negi, nori and shiso, plus a little extra of the sweet grilling sauce and some sansho pepper. It was good!



Saturday, July 21, 2012

Summer Motifs


Early summer - fishing for zarigani (crayfish)



When you hear the word “summer”, what immediately springs to mind? Growing up in Sydney, summer meant one thing: the beach. As a kid, I drew starfish and shell motifs, and summer holidays meant weeks without shoes at my Grandma’s house on the beach, eating BBQ, going night fishing, building bonfires on the sand, and the coconutty scent of Reef Lotion (not on me – as a very pale kid, I had to wear thick, milky sunscreen that left a pearly white sheen). We’d collect cicada shells to wear like brooches and scramble up the tracks into the bush to find Aboriginal rock carvings. At night, my Grandma would set up hurricane lanterns on the table outside, spray us with citrusy insect repellent and we’d have boiled corn, foil-wrapped, roast potatoes and sausages, lamb chops or maybe her famous sesame chicken wings and salad in a big wooden bowl with “French” dressing.

If I had to choose typical symbols of Australian summer, I guess mangoes and cherries, thongs (flip flops) and snorkelling gear, Chiko rolls and fish and chips, sunglasses and sunscreen? Any others? Since Australia is so temperate, we could get almost any food at any time of the year and go swimming almost anytime except July and August (midwinter). For me, oysters are a summer treat – arranged on a platter of ice, with a wedge of lemon – but my Japanese friends are adamant that oysters are a winter treat, which taste best cooked.

Moving to Japan, I found a whole new language of summer motifs. Summer greeting cards are popular, often printed with standard messages along the lines of “take care in the summer heat” and a scene redolent of summer. You’ll see summer motifs everywhere – on cards, stickers, yukata fabrics, store curtains, handkerchiefs, chopstick rests and packaging - kakigori (shaved ice), beetles (kids love to spend the summer holidays catching and documenting bugs), watermelon, goldfish, fireworks, windchimes, katoributa, houzuki and morning glory plants, sunflowers, cucumber, corn, uchiwa, yukata and of course, beer.

Summer postcard: kakigori with matcha syrup,  adzuki beans and condensed milk

Morning glory plants 
Sunflowers near our house

Yukata for the whole family at Mitsukoshi
Sumo looking for cool drinks in yukata with summery prints.

Even your dog can wear a yukata, with goldfish or morning glory designs

It was interesting to re-watch “My Neigbour Totoro” recently on TV. I could see immediately that it started around late May or June, just by the plants and everyone’s frantically planting rice. Then it moves into rainy season, with hydrangeas, frogs and sudden afternoon downpours, before moving into summer, with vegetables like cucumber, corn, tomatoes and eggplant washing in a cool stream; the sound of cicadas, giant sunflowers, the kids sleeping under mosquito nets, and the Dad using an uchiwa. Before I moved here I wasn't so aware of the strong divide between the seasons.

For many Japanese people, the archetypal image of summer would probably be Dad in his suteteko (summer underwear that looks like a pair of long, light cotton shorts), sitting on the tatami floor, drinking beer, snacking on edamame, fanning himself with his uchiwa (a fixed, rather than folding fan), watching the annual Koshien baseball tournament, as the katorisenko (mosquito coil) keeps the mosquitos at bay.

Stickers with typical summer motifs

How I plan to spend summer - relaxing on the tatami. It says "sometimes, you're allowed to slack off".


What are the symbols of summer where you live? 

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Cold noodles


Summer is here – with a vengeance. Rainy season has basically finished, and the temp has settled into the mid-30s every day. I awoke yesterday morning at 4.30am (it gets light – and hot - then) to the first cicadas of the season.

In this weather, I avoid the kitchen as much as possible, but man cannot live on ice cream alone! So, cold noodles are easy to cook and eat on hot, humid nights. I love hiyashi chuuka (it translates roughly as cold chinese noodles). It has a vinegar and soy sauce, which is refreshing and easy to eat.

Natsubate – summer sickness – is a big topic in the news every summer, as people become listless and lose their appetite. It's been worse since the Fukushima reactor disaster last year - this is our second summer of "setsuden", or energy saving. We're supposed to avoid using the airconditioner in the middle of the day, which is of course, when you need it the most! Vinegar is believed to stimulate the appetite again, and noodles are light on the stomach. 

The main toppings are usually thin strips of ham, omelette, cucumber and green onion, plus shiso leaves if you like, but you can use anything. When I want to make it “fancy”, I use strips of char siu pork or boiled prawns (that’s shrimp to my American friends). Oh, and don’t forget the bright  red “beni shoga”, pickled ginger. The variety of different colours and flavours on the plate will make even the most listless of eaters enthusiastic again.

The sauce / soup is a simple mix of water, equal parts rice vinegar and sugar, soy sauce and a drop of sesame oil.
Honestly, it tastes better than it looks.

A similar dish uses a sesame sauce (I cheat and buy sesame sauce at the supermarket). It’s also delicious and a little spicy, often garnished cold chicken, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and chili flakes.

Here's one from the convenience store, with sesame sauce, chicken, bean sprouts, etc.


The key to tasty noodles is to cook according to the instructions in lots of water (usually about 3 mins for ramen noodles) and rinse thoroughly. I wash them as if I’m washing my hands – you want to get that starch off. They’ll start off feeling soft and slimy and become firmer as you wash.

Another dish borrowed from China is jyajyamen or jajamen; ramen noodles (or udon if you like) with a cold, spicy sauce of ground pork and red miso. You can find recipes online (I confess, I buy the sauce ready made, because it’s a bit of a faff).

I used thicker noodles this time - a kind of udon. The spicy pork and miso sauce is delicious.

Somen is even easier and comes with a dashi-based dipping sauce and a plate of grated ginger, thinly sliced green onion, sliced myoga, etc. and some toppings like cold chicken, okra, cucumber, omelette or whatever you fancy.

Cold udon is delicious with grated daikon, grated ginger, some shredded shiso leaves and some crunchy tempura bits (which you can buy really cheaply, about 50 yen for a bag), and a dashi-based sauce poured over. Garnish with a wedge of sudachi if you can find it – or use a lime if you can’t.

Finally, cold soba might be my favourite! Zaru soba is cold soba served in a basket, with shreds of nori and a dashi-based dipping sauce. I always eat it so fast, I never remember to take a picture! We went to Kanda Yabu soba, which is a lovely, Edo-era soba restaurant. The waitresses sing the orders to the kitchen! I also had the lightest, most delicious tempura I’ve ever tried here. Highly recommended, and not expensive. Around the corner is Matsuya soba, which my husband says is actually better, but the interior isn’t quite as pretty, so it depends whether you’re going for taste or atmosphere. 

Kanda Yabu Soba, an easy walk from Kanda or Akihabara station.

Inside, it's cool and relaxing.

This is Matsuya, just around the corner from Yabu Soba.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Horikiri Matsuri 堀切まついり

Ok, this is about a month late - Horikiri is famous for it's iris garden, "Horikiri Shobuen". Around mid-June they have a festival to celebrate the iris flowers.

This is what I love about living in Japan; you come out of the supermarket and find yourself in the middle of the neighbourhood festival. I used to live in Horikiri and I loved the laid-back atmosphere. People are chatty here; they'll pop out of their shop to say hello. There's nothing much to see, apart from the iris garden (which is lovely in all seasons - I've posted pictures of the wisteria there, before). There are a couple of good ramen shops and the usual collection of sembei shops around the station. Every morning, a few elderly ladies gather in front of the station with their vegetables. They carry them in boxes wrapped in lovely old fabric, tied to their backs like ad-hoc backpacks.

The festival is the same - everyone knows each other. There are about 6 different dance troupes and a taiko drum team. The local boy scouts provide "security" - a piece of string to separate the dancers from the onlookers. After the festival, there's a bit of a karaoke competition; the local oldies belting out enka songs from the front of the shrine.

The moral is, if you hear drums, a flute and drums, or calls of "wasshoi", just follow the sounds!

Waiting for the parade

Dancers with irises, getting ready.

Drummers


As I packed my grocery bags, I saw the drummers assembling.




Awa odori dancers






Happy feet

Sponsored by the local paper.

Houzuki market ほうずき市

July 9

Straight after Tanabata, it's time for the Houzuki market. Held in the grounds of Asakusa's Sensouji temple, there are about 200 vendors selling houzuki - chinese lantern plants or ground cherries.  It's been a popular event since Edo times.  The plant is used in traditional medicine, but the main use is as an offering for ancestors (Tokyo area marks Obon around July 15th, while other parts of Japan celebrate it on August 15th). Some of my friends said they remember playing with the vivid orange pods as kids - they look like papery balloons - and they make a lovely decoration.

The market vendors dress like Edo-era merchants and the combination of bright orange pods, cool green, and some very pretty plant sellers, brings the amateur photographers in droves. The tinkling sound of glass wind chimes (also for sale) and the cheerful cries of the vendors (and the smell of the nearby yakitori and takoyaki stalls) make it one of those perfect "summer in Japan" occasions.

As if that weren't enough, visiting Asakusa's Kannon temple on July 10th is said to be worth 46,000 visits! So you really get your money's worth! Early morning or early evening are the best times to visit, to avoid the crowds and the heat. The plants cost around 1,500 yen, but you can also buy branches of the orange pods for around 800 yen, and crowd watching is free. If you go there in the afternoon, be sure to stop by Amuse Museum, just off to the right of Sensouji. The museum always has interesting craft displays and a great shop...but after 6pm head upstairs to Bar Six, tucked away above Asakusa, with great views over the temple complex.

The sounds and smells of summer: fuurin (wind chimes) and katori buta (pig shapes mosquito coil holders)

Skytree!

Houzuki sellers






I bought a little basket of pods.
Sensouji as seen from Bar Six