October 11, 2014

Gomoku Mame (Five-Item Beans)/五目豆

Gomoku mame is another comfort food for most Japanese.
Go = Five
Moku = Item (ingredient)
Mama = Beans
In gomoku mame, mame means soybeans, and you don't necessarily use exactly five items to make this dish. Common items include konnyaku, shiitake, carrot, renkon (lotus root), gobo (burdock root), and kombu.
Note that store-bought gomoku mame is rather sweet, and in fact, simply too sweet for my taste. I can't blame the manufacturers, though, because sugar is a natural preservative.

The other day, I was lucky enough to get a pack of boiled soybean for half the price, so I decided to make gomoku mame. 

I googled for a good dashi, soy sauce, and mirin ratio for gomoku mame, to find a ratio that sounded good: 7:1:1.
五目豆とは、大半の日本人にとっては、ほっとする料理の一つです。
五目豆の豆とは大豆のことで、必ずしも五つの具材を入れる必要はないのですが、普通は、こんにゃく、シイタケ、ニンジン、レンコン、ゴボウ、昆布などを入れます。
市販の五目豆は甘めで、と言うか、私には甘すぎます。まあ、砂糖は自然の防腐剤なので、メーカーを責めるわけにはいきません。

先日、運よく、茹で大豆を半額で買えたので、五目豆を作ることにしました。

五目豆用のいい出汁、醤油、みりんの割合をググって、よさそうな割合(7:1:1)を見つけました。

Cut each ingredient into 1-cm dice, except boiled soybeans.
Soak konnyaku in hot water for some time to remove the odor.
Put all ingredients in a pot, add dashi, soy sauce, and mirin, boil to a boil, and simmer for 10-15 min. until done.
大豆以外の具材をそれぞれ1センチ角に切ります。
こんにゃくはお湯にしばらく漬けて、臭いを取ります。
鍋に具材を全て入れ、出汁、醤油、みりんを加え、沸騰させ、火が通るまで10~15分程度煮ます。

Frozen shiitake, konnyaku,
Kombu for making dashi, carrot, boiled soybeans
冷凍したシイタケ、こんにゃく
出し昆布、ニンジン、茹で大豆 


5 comments:

9895039531 seeandoh said...

Mr. Hiroyuki, Can you give me your e-mail. I want to show you some mushrooms I saw during my trip last week to a hill resort in my state. I see some wild mushrooms here but I am afraid to eat them without knowing if they are poisonous.

9895039531 seeandoh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hiroyuki said...

seeandoh:
hironiigata312@gmail.com

But don't expect me to give you a definitive answer.

9895039531 seeandoh said...

No problem. You are an expert on many species of Mushrooms. May be you have an answer. Thank you Mr. Hiroyuki. I will send you the pictures.

Hiroyuki said...

seandoh: I do hope you take my caution seriously. Mushroom gathering is a joyful hobby but must not been taken lightly.