March 21, 2013

Making Nozawana Zuke/野沢菜漬け作り

(Sorry, more like a personal memo.)
(個人的なメモのようなものです)

Last Thursday, I got just a lot of nozawana from my father. I measured them, and they were 3.8 kg in total. Just too much to use up for a few days, so I decided to pickle them, although it is very unusual to pickle nozawana around this time of year. They are usually pickled in late November to December. I googled for a good recipe, but there were just too many of them, so I just added 3%  (3.8 kg x 0.03 = 114 g) salt and one red pepper.
先週の木曜日、父から野沢菜をいっぱいもらいました。測ると、全部で3.8 kgもありました。数日で使い切るには多すぎるので、漬けることにしました。今頃、野沢菜を漬けるのはとても珍しいことですが。普通は11月下旬~12月に漬けます。いいレシピをググってみたのですが、あまりにも色々あるので、ただ塩を3%(3.8 kg x 0.03 = 114 g)と唐辛子を一本入れました。


Today, I took some of them and put some in my nukadoko.
今日は少し出して、少し、ぬか床に入れました。
Something that's not usually done, but I wanted to have something similar to daikon leaf nukazuke.
普通はしないことですが、大根の葉っぱのぬか漬けに似たようなものを食べたかったので。

I finely chopped the rest to mix with natto.
残りは、納豆と混ぜるため、細かく刻みました。
To make "kirizai", of course! Kirizai is a very popular local dish here in the Uonuma region of Niigata whose main ingredients are natto and nozawana zuke.
もちろん、「きりざい」を作るためです!きりざいとは、新潟の魚沼地域でとても一般的な郷土料理で、納豆と野沢菜が主な材料です。

I also made kinshobai today. To make kinshobai, you don't necessarily have to dry dried bonito shavings on very low heat for a long time, say, five minutes. Just dry them in a frying pan on very low heat for about 2 min., constantly stirring with chopsticks. When they have cooled, you can easily crumble them into powder with your hand.
今日は錦松梅も作りました。錦松梅を作る時は、花かつおを長時間(例えば5分)ごく弱火で加熱する必要はありません。フライパンでごく弱火で2分程度、箸で常にかき混ぜながら加熱し、冷まして下さい。手で簡単に粉状にできます。
My wife made these large kakiage as part of supper last night. She also made something I don't know the name of (darker ones; deep-fried grated potatoes + tempura batter). She said her mother used to make them.
昨日の夕飯には、妻が大きなかき揚げを作りました。また、何と言うのか私には分からないもの(黒いほう。おろしたジャガイモと天ぷらの衣を揚げたもの)も作りました。妻の母が昔作っていたそうです。
We had them with soba.  I had only one kakiage and some soba because I'm on a diet.
そばを一緒に食べました。私はダイエット中なので、かき揚げは一つだけ、それとそばを少し食べました。

My lunch today was two leftover onigiri and leftover gyudon (beef bowl).
今日の私の昼食は残りのおにぎり二個と残りの牛丼です。
I have lost 9 kg so far since December 17. One more kg to go!
12月17日から9 kg減量しました。後1 kgです!

I took one bag of simmered natsumikan peels from the freezer. I will simmer them with sugar later.
冷蔵庫から、煮た夏みかんの皮を1袋出しました。後で砂糖と煮ます。
I'm not a big fan, but my son says he can't stop eating them.
私はあまり好きではないのですが、息子は食べだしたら止まらないそうです。

10 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your diet success!

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  2. You worked really hard, 10 kg is a great success.

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  3. Badcat and Kiki: Thank you both. Actually, I have already decided to lose another 3 kg or so. One reason is that the fat around my chin hasn't gone away, and another is that when I walk briskly, I feel I can run, but if I do, I still feel myself rather heavy.

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  4. Congratulations! You have done an excellent job! I admire your willpower and discipline. 9 kg is really a lot!

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  5. Sissi: Thank you! But as I said above, I'm not really satisfied yet. I will continue to lose weight until the fat around the chin goes away and I feel comfortable running.

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  6. Hiroyuki, I discovered nozawana on the breakfast buffet menu in my hotel in Tokyo. It was so good, I took half of the plate the following day filled with nozawana (imagine the looks from the many Japanese guests ;-) ). It looked very similar to yours.
    I have sown some seeds today on my balcony and now I wonder do you plant any seeds this year?
    I have planted some seeds I bought in Japan: mizuna (here it's so expensive and appears in my Japanese shop twice a year maybe), of course mitsuba, some chrysanthemum leaves and something strange called in English "baby reef", do you know what it is? I hope it's edible ;-) I am trying shiso for the third year now... Let's hope it grows.
    Have I told you I have planted... yuzu? I know, I'm crazy. It will never bear fruits, but I have heard that some people use its leaves and if it's not possible, then I will have a lovely decorative plant in the house. Two yuzus have already sprouted (I have planted the seeds from fresh fruit, after removing the hard shell).

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  7. Sissi: My father says that nozawana zuke was a favorite "snack for 3 o'clock" (sanji no oyatsu) in Nagano.

    Yes, I do. But, here in the snowy region, I have to wait until early May to plant any seeds.

    As for baby reef, I guess it's actually baby leaf.

    As you may know, it will take 10-20 YEARS for a yuzu seed to grow into a tree to bear fruit.

    This person gave up growing yuzu three years after planting seeds.
    http://homepage2.nifty.com/miti-kusa/gade519.html
    (Japanese only)

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  8. Thanks a lot, Hiroyuki. I would have never thought about "leaf" instead of "reef" (It's written in English "reef"...). I now wonder what plant is it exactly, or maybe a mixture of baby leaves. There will be a surprise!
    I know, I have read extraordinary stories about yuzu trees. People apparently graft it onto other trees because otherwise they would never see the fruit...
    I only hope for decorative plants reminding me of this wonderful fruit we cannot have here. Have you ever thought of anyone using yuzu leaves? They have an extraordinary smell when slightly crushed, so I thought I might use them maybe...
    On the other hand it seems I have more luck growing yuzu plant than shiso ;-) At least yuzu sprouts!
    The photos on the blog don't look encouraging... even for a purely decorative plant.

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  9. Sissi: As you may know, there is no L or R sound in Japanese, and we tend to make such stupid mistakes as:
    We live on lice.
    I rub you.

    It's a mixture of several types of leaf vegetable, I suppose.
    I posted photos of baby leaves here:
    http://hiro-shio.blogspot.jp/2010/04/shiitake-stuffed-with-meat.html

    Yes, karatachi is used for the grafting in Japan.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifoliate_orange

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  10. Thank you, Hiroyuki, for the links.
    I know the Japanese have troubles with l and r (actually in Europe many children have this problem and there are some tongue twisters I know, which would make a Japanese person faint ;-) ).
    I had a good laugh at your examples of errors. Excellent!

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