November 26, 2012

Shougoin Daikon, etc./聖護院大根など

Today, I got another box of foodstuffs from my father, which included one shougoin daikon and more than ten yuzu.
今日は、また父から食料を1箱もらいました。聖護院大根が一本と柚子が10個以上入っていました。
I phoned my father to thank him, and he said that shougoin daikon was best in miso soup.  So, I decided to put some of it in miso soup.  As you can see from the photo below, shougoin daikon is dense.
お礼を言うため、父に電話すると、聖護院大根は味噌汁に入れるのが最高だと言うので、少し味噌汁に入れることにしました。次の写真で分かるように、聖護院大根は身がしまっています。 
I also added some komatsuna (a type of green) to the miso soup.
小松菜も少し味噌汁に入れました。
Despite what he said to me, I think shougoin daikon is better in simmered dishes and when pickled.
父はそう言ってますが、私は聖護院大根は煮物や漬物にしたほうが美味しいと思います。

A fukusai (side dish) I made for supper tonight was simmered hijiki.  As usual, I added some uchi mame.
今日の夕飯の副菜として、ひじきの煮物も作りました。いつも通り、うち豆を入れました。  
As I mentioned several times in my blog, uchi mame (lit. beaten beans) are soybeans beaten flat. They are a specialty of Niigata that I learned about after I came here.  A great advantage is that they can be cooked in a short time of about 5 min.
このブログで何回も述べているように、うち豆とは、平らに叩いた大豆のことです。新潟の特産で、私はこちらに着てから知りました。大きな利点は、5分程度という短時間で煮えることです。
The same old simmered hijiki
いつものひじきの煮物
You can also make hijiki salad, using mayonnaise.
マヨネーズを使って、ひじきサラダも作れます。

Another dish I made was kabocha soup.
他には、かぼちゃスープも作りました。
The shusai (main dish) was ground beef-and-pork hamburgers (scorched a little).
主菜は牛と豚の合い挽き肉のハンバーグです(ちょっと焦げちゃいました)。
I made grated daikon sauce with mentsuyu (noodle soup) concentrate, grated daikon, and vinegar.
濃縮タイプの麺つゆと大根おろしとお酢で、大根おろしソースを作りました。

I will add yuzu peel to pickled hakusai (Chinese cabbage).
柚子の皮は白菜の漬物に入れます。

8 comments:

Fabian said...

おお、かぼちゃスープは私だけ一番好きです!あなたの料理はとても美味しそうです。記事をありがとうございます。
Fabian

Hiroyuki said...

Fabian: Thank you for your comment. We still have a lot of kabocha, and I have to use them up before they go bad!
コメントどうも。まだかぼちゃがいっぱいあるので、悪くなる前に使い切らないと!

Sissi said...

I feel that I could visit your blog for 20 years and would learn something new at least once a week... The radish looks so cute and I would love to taste uchi mame one day.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: My father-in-law makes uchi mame by himself even today. I don't know the exact procedure, but soybeans are first soaked in water, and then beaten with a mallet(?) one by one. They are then dried.

I think I'll pickle the other half of shougoin daikon in the "senmai zuke" style.

Sissi said...

It sounds time consuming, but totally feasible (dried soy beans are easily available here). One more experiment to attempt!
Talking about pickles, do you remember my young ginger pickles I made a couple of months ago? I pickled several jars in a long-term, Western way (I processed in hot water bath and left in my pantry). I opened one jar last week and finished it in one meal! It was extraordinary. Even softer and more delicate than when tasted after a couple of days.
I'm looking forward to see your daikon pickled.

Fräulein Trude said...

This radish looks huge. Never seen such radishes before. I googled a bit but found no greenery in germany selling seeds or providing information about this radish (totally unknown variety) - but I found a black japanese variety. Right, nearly everday we can learn something new.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Consuming a jar of gari (pickled ginger) in a single meal? Sounds incredible (laugh)! I hope your stomach is OK (laugh).

Kiki: Sakurajima daikon is even bigger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakurajima_daikon

Shougoin daikon, as the name implies, is one of the so-called Kyo yasai (京野菜), meaning the traditional vegetables of Kyoto.
http://www2.ocn.ne.jp/~greenfrm/kyou.html
Japanese only.

Sissi said...

Actually I find that it improves digestion... especially with heavy meals. (The jar was small though!).