Sanma (Pacific Saury)/サンマ（秋刀魚）

The Japanese like sanma (Pacific saury).
In Japan, you can see them often served in a special, long plate like these.
日本人はサンマ（秋刀魚）が好きです。
日本では、このような特別な長い皿でよく出されます。

But, don't feel left out if you don't have such special plates. You can simply cut a sanma in half, salt-grill, and serve in a normal plate.
でも、そんな特別な皿がなくても気にしないで下さい。単にサンマを半分にして、塩焼きして、普通のお皿に出せばいいのです。



I'm very sorry to say that I am not a very good sanma eater. We are supposed to eat almost a whole sanma, except, the head, bones, and tail, but I simply can't; the innards are too bitter for my taste!
大変残念なことに、私はあまりサンマをうまく食べれません。サンマは頭や骨や尾を除き、殆ど全て食べることになっているのですが、私はできません。内臓は私には苦過ぎて。

My wife's plate (right) and mine (left):
妻の皿（右）、私の皿（左）：


Salt-grilled sanma are often served with grated daikon (daikon oroshi) and soy sauce/ponzu/citrus juice.
塩焼きしたサンマはよく、大根おろしと醤油/ポン酢/柑橘果汁と一緒に出されます。

Note that the sanma shown in the photos were not fresh but salted ones, so we didn't have them with soy sauce or ponzu.
写真のサンマは生ではなく塩サンマなので、醤油やポン酢では食べませんでした。

Komeko (Rice Flour) Crepes/米粉のクレープ

Today, my daughter took a class for making komeko (rice flour) crepes.
今日、娘は米粉のクレープを作る教室に参加しました。




Ingredients for two crepes:
30 g rice flour
10 g granulated sugar
100 cc milk
1 egg
Small amount of oil

クレープ２枚分の材料
米粉　30 g
グラニュー糖　10 g
牛乳　100 cc
卵　１個
油　少々

Haru no Nanakusa (Seven Herbs of Spring)/春の七草

The following is mainly based on the description on page 33 of the book on edible wild herbs published by Shufu to Seikatsu Sha Co., Ltd.



1. Seri
Picking season: March to early summer
Uses: Wash well and add to salad; boil quickly and use as or in ohitashi, aemono, nabe, etc.

Warning: Don't confuse seri with doku zeri (Cicuta virosa), which is poisonous.
The first three photos here show doku zeri, while the bottom two photos show seri. Doku zeri has a much longer stem, and has a big, hollow root (top right photo).

2. Nazuna (penpen gusa)
Picking season: November to next April and May
Pick young leaves.
Uses: Boil and soak in water and use as or in nibitashi*1, aemono, etc.
*1 Nibitashi refers to a dish in which the ingredients are simmered in dashi.
Ni (simmered) + Bitashi (< Hitashi (souced)).

3. Ogyo (hahako gusa)
Note (added on Jan. 9): This book calls this plant ogyo, but it is more commonly known as gogyo.
注（１月９日に追加）：　この本では、この植物を「オギョウ」と呼んでいますが、「ごぎょう」「ゴギョウ」のほうが一般的です。
Picking season: Fall to next May
Pick young leaves and stalks.
Uses: Boil and soak in water, drain, and use as or in ohitashi, tempura, or kusa dango*2.
*2 In days of old, kusa dango (and kusa mochi) were made with ogyo. Yomogi (mugwort) is now commonly used instead.

4. Hakobe
Picking season: March to May
Any time of the year in warm places.
Uses: Boil quickly and soak in water, and use as or in nibitashi or sunomono; chop (don't boil) and add to soup.

5. Hotokenoza (kooni tabirako)
Picking season: Winter to spring
Pick leaves.
Uses: Boil and soak in water throughly, and use as or in ohitashi or itamemono (stir-fried dishes); add to soup; make tsukudani with it.

Note: Hotokenoza as in the seven herbs of spring refers to kooni tabirako, not henbit.
Two photos here clearly show the difference between hotokenoza (purple flowers on the left) and kooni tabirako (yellow flowers on the right).

6. Suzuna (kabu), turnip
Picking season: Not specified.
Uses of leaves are not mentioned.

7. Suzushiro (daikon)
Picking season: Not specified.
Uses: Add to soup; use in abura itame (stir-fries); and make ichiya zuke (quick (one-night) pickles).

(Japanese text omitted)/日本語は省略

Ishikari Nabe/石狩鍋

Ishikari nabe is a nabemono or simply nabe (one-pot dish) whose main ingredient is salmon, and it's a local dish of Hokkaido.
My first encounter with this nabe was at an izakaya in Tokyo when I was in my 20s; it was quite good, and it contained milk. I had long assumed that Ishikari nabe should contain milk. Now I know I was wrong.
Yesterday, I bought one pack of salmon kama (collars), and I decided to make Ishikari nabe for supper, and I also decided to follow this recipe:
Ishikari nabe with milk/牛乳入り石狩鍋 (Japanese only)

You may also want to view this video, which explains this recipe, although you will need a little help from a native Japanese to fully understand it.

Ingredients for 4 servings

4 slices (320 g) salted salmon
4 (600 g) potatoes
2 (200 g) carrots
1/4 (300 g) cabbage
2 (400 g) onions
10 cm kombu
5 cups (1,000 ml) hot water
1/2 cup (100 ml) sake
3 tbsp miso
2 cups (400 ml) milk

石狩鍋は、サケ（鮭）を主な具材とする鍋物で、北海道の郷土料理です。
この鍋とは、20歳代の時、東京の或る居酒屋で初めて出合ったのですが、とても美味しく、また牛乳が入っていました。長い間、石狩鍋には牛乳を入れるものだと思っていましたが、今では間違いだと分かっています。
昨日は鮭のカマを１パック買ったので、夕飯に石狩鍋を作ることにし、またこのレシピを使うことにしました：
Ishikari nabe with milk/牛乳入り石狩鍋（日本語のみ）

また、このレシピを説明する、このビデオを見るのもいいと思います。完全に理解するには日本人の助けがいるでしょうが。

４人分の材料：
塩鮭(甘塩) 4切れ(320g)
じゃが芋 4個(600g)
にんじん 2本(200g)
キャベツ 1/4個(300g)
玉ねぎ 2個(400g)
だし昆布 10cm
熱湯 5カップ
酒 1/2カップ
みそ 大さじ3
牛乳 2カップ

Salmon collars and Hidaka kombu:
鮭のカマと日高昆布：


TQ/The expiration date of the kombu is... May 2, 2010. Never mind!
昆布の賞味期限は...2010年５月２日。気にしない！


This particular kombu is quite impressive! First-class product!
見事な昆布です。一等品です！


Don't forget to remove it before the pot comes to a boil.
鍋が沸騰する前に、忘れずに取り出して下さい。


Salmon kama and a deba:
鮭のカマと出刃：


You will need a deba to cut the kama.
カマを切るには出刃が必要です。


Resulting nabe:
出来上がった鍋：

Unfortunately, the nabe wasn't as flavorful as I had expected. I will make the necessary changes to it tonight, and report back.
残念ながら、思ったほど美味しくありませんでした。今晩、変更を加えて、再度報告します。


Note: The vegetables that I used were:
1/2 daikon
3 potatoes
1 carrot
2 onions
注：　私が使った野菜は
大根　1/2本
ジャガイモ　３個
ニンジン　１本
玉ねぎ　２個
です。

***
Edited to add the following on December 12:
I added 1 tbsp miso and 1 tsp instant dashi. I tasted the broth and found it was a little too salty, so I had to add about 200 ml water. I found that the broth was just about right this time.
12月12日に追加：
味噌を大さじ１、出汁の素を小さじ１、足しました。味見してみると、ちょっとしょっぱ過ぎるので、水を200 ml程度足しました。今度はだいたいちょうど良くなりました。

Making Niku Jaga and Curry at the Same Time/肉じゃがとカレーを同時に作る

Suppose that someone in your family wants to have curry, and you want to have something lighter. How do you solve your problem?
家族の誰かがカレーを食べたいと言い、あなたはもっと軽いものを食べたいとします。その問題をどう解決しますか？

For supper tonight, I made curry and niku jaga or nikujaga (meat and potato stew) at the same time.
Here are most of the ingredients:
今日の夕飯にはカレーと肉じゃがを同時に作りました。
主な材料です。

250 g thinly sliced pork
3 onions
1 carrot
2 potatoes
1 box curry roux
豚の薄切り 250 g
玉ねぎ　３個
ニンジン　１本
ジャガイモ　２個
カレールー　１箱

After I simmered the ingredients for 10 min. in 1,300 ml water, I transferred 1/4 of them to another pot.
材料を1,300 mlの水で10分煮てから、1/4を別の鍋に移しました。

I added six of the eight curry roux cubes in the box to the pot containing 3/4 of the ingredients to make curry:
箱の中の８つのカレールーの塊りのうち六つ、3/4の具が入った鍋に入れ、カレーを作りました。

I added to the other pot the following:
1/2 tsp instant dashi
40 ml soy sauce
40 ml mirin
(Dashi, soy sauce, and mirin ratio: 8:1:1)
別の鍋には次のものを入れました：
出汁の素　小さじ1/2
醤油　40 ml
みりん　40 ml
（出汁、醤油、みりんの割合：　8:1:1）

Making Hatsuga Genmai (Germinated Brown Rice)/発芽玄米を作る

Making germinated brown rice is fairly easy.
Put brown rice in a container, and add 30-35C (86-95F) water. Keep the container in a warm place, uncovered, for 24-48 hours depending on the room temperature. Preferably, change water after every 5-6 hours during the soaking process.
発芽玄米を作るのはすごく簡単です。
玄米を容器に入れ、摂氏30～35度（華氏86～95度）の水を入れます。容器を暖かい場所で、蓋をせずに、室温により異なりますが24～48時間、置いておきます。できれば、漬けている間、５～６時間毎に水を換えます。

I put 2 go (2 x 180 ml = 360 ml) of brown rice in a container, and soaked it in 30C water for 36 hours (in a room at 22C (72F) during the daytime). I changed water three times in total. Then, I kept the container in the fridge overnight to delay the germination. I cooked the rice the next morning.
玄米を２合、容器に入れ、30Cの水に36時間（日中は22C（72F)の部屋で）漬けました。水は全部で３回換えました。次に、発芽を遅らせるため、冷蔵庫に一晩入れておきました。次の日の朝、炊きました。

As you can see, the sprouts are barely visible.
ご覧の通り、芽は殆ど見えません。

I cooked it in my IH rice cooker in exactly the same way as I cook white rice.
白米を炊くのとまったく同じ方法でIH炊飯器で炊きました。


Some people may say that germinated brown rice tastes better than brown rice, but I found mine to taste almost the same as brown rice.
発芽玄米は玄米より美味しいと言う人がいますが、私の発芽玄米は玄米と殆ど同じ味でした。

Cooking Brown Rice in an IH Rice Cooker/IH炊飯器で玄米を炊く

I finally cooked some brown rice yesterday. Instead of trying bikkuri daki, I decided to simply cook it in my IH (induction heating) rice cooker in exactly the same way as I cook white rice to check how well it could cook brown rice. The resultant cooked rice was more flavorful than I had anticipated. Both my wife and children said the rice was good. The brown rice that I cooked in a maikon (microcomputer-controlled) rice cooker more than a decade ago was much less flavorful.
昨日、やっと玄米を炊きました。びっくり炊きを試すのではなく、IH炊飯器がどれほどうまく玄米を炊けるかを調べるため、白米と炊くのとまったく同じ方法でIH炊飯器で玄米を炊くことにしました。出来上がったご飯は予想より美味しかったです。妻も子供たちも美味しいとのこと。10年以上前にマイコン炊飯器で炊いた玄米はずっと不味かったです。



I think I'll try to make hatsuga genmai and cook it in the near future.
近く発芽玄米を作って炊いてみようと思ってます。