It’s also delicious served over freshly cooked rice.

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For the hot summer months, we also suggest frying it, making a crispy and refreshing tempura dish.

In addition, below we introduce a recipe for fish carpaccio using Aosa seaweed, recommended by the producer, Maruri Foods.

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In Japan, there is a custom of eating so-called “chirashi sushi” during the Doll’s Festival (March 3rd), known in Japan as “Hinamatsuri”. My colleague Boris asked me, “What is Hinamatsuri anyway?” so we decided to look into the origin of Hinamatsuri and how we came to eat chirashi-sushi on Doll’s Festival:

In the Heian period (794-1185), during the “Joushi no Sekku” (March 3rd of the lunar calendar), which is one of the five moments on the Chinese calendar marking a change of seasons, it became a custom to float paper dolls down the river to exorcise disease and impurity and pray for good health.

This custom was linked to playing with dolls (Hiina Asobi), which was a popular past time among the daughters of aristocrats, and eventually became established as an event where Hina dolls were displayed to pray for the healthy growth of girls.

Also in Japan there is a custom of eating sushi for celebrations. Chirashi sushi, which has lots of toppings scattered around, looks gorgeous and is perfect for girls’ celebrations! That’s why it is now eaten during Hinamatsuri.

The word “chirashi” refers to the scattering of various ingredients on top of sushi rice. There also exist regional variations such as “bara sushi” and “gomoku sushi”, in which various ingredients are mixed into sushi rice. The name and method of the preparation are unique to every region and era.

This time, we will introduce an easy recipe for making chirashi sushi that gives you a spring feel using Hokkai Suisan products.
Get a taste of spring early with chirashi sushi sprinkled with colorful ingredients!

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Mochi (Japanese rice cake) is hard to find in regular supermarkets, but you can make it yourself with tofu and potato starch. (Search with the words “Mochi, tofu and starch”)
Although salmon roe sinks to the bottom of the bowl while you eat ozoni, once you’ve finished eating the other ingredients and all you have to do is drink the soup, the unique flavor and saltiness of salmon roe becomes a nice accent. That makes an ozoni you can enjoy till the last sip.
I happened to have “Mitsuba leaves” on hand, but if you don’t have them, you can add some color with spring onions or spinach.
I’m sure many Japanese households already have their own traditional ozoni recipe, but please try using this recipe as well.

In Japan, Ozoni is a standard New Year’s dish, enjoyed all over the country. While I was wondering about this, my colleague Saki kindly looked up the following information about ozoni.

There are over 100 types of Japanese ozoni, and there are many different types and recipes depending on each region and family.
Ozoni can be roughly divided into three parts: soup, mochi, and toppings, and there are the following types of each.
Soup: clear soup, miso soup, sweet red bean soup
Mochi: square mochi, round mochi, sweet red beans filled round mochi, baked or cooked
Toppings: seafood such as yellowtail, Spanish mackerel, salmon roe, and fish cakes, meat (chicken), grilled tofu, vegetables such as radish, carrot, burdock, shiitake mushroom, Japanese mustard spinach, mitsuba, and taro.

These are typical examples, but the combinations vary depending on the area you live in or family. The local culture, specialties, recipes and tastes that have been passed down in families for generations, may be reflected in ozoni.
Reference source:
https://www.maff.go.jp/j/pr/aff/2001/spe2_03.html
https://www.ozoni-zukan.jp/

Please welcome the new year with delicious ozoni recipes using Hokkai Suisan products!

The post Cooking diary of Hokkai staff: <br>Let’s have a wonderful new year with gorgeous ozoni made with Hokkai products! appeared first on Hokkai Suisan.

I tried this time to make yukhoe with our Honmaguro Nakaochi.

It would be easiest if you have gochujang, but it’s hard to find in the Netherlands… So, based on the advice of head chef Otawara, I tried making it by using Sriracha Sauce and Hokkai Kioke Miso. Since I have small children, I kept the spiciness fairly low, but if you like spicy food, you can double or triple the amount of Sriracha sauce!

If you can’t get gochujang or sriracha sauce, there are even more ways to substitute gochujang, such as miso + soy sauce + sugar + bean sauce (or chili pepper). In that case, please taste and adjust accordingly.

Nakaochi Yukhoe also goes very well on top of hot rice. That makes it into a Yukhoe-Don♪ (That’s how I had it this time.)
If you add salmonella-free raw egg on top of that, you can enjoy the melty Yukhoe-Don even more!

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Usually you may use anchovies for Bagna Cauda sauce, but this time I used our Saba Misozuke. The sweetness of miso, milk, and cheese creates a delicious sauce!
Since garlic is small, it was difficult for me to mash it with a fork, even after it was boiled and softened. It may be a good idea to grate it and put it in the pan from the beginning.

You can enjoy this Bagna Cauda sauce with anything you like, such as bread or vegetables. I especially recommend vegetables that are not watery, such as raw carrots and paprika cut into sticks! !

This recipe makes about 4 times the amount of sauce shown in the photo.
As time passes, the mackerel will absorb the liquid, so you are left with just tasty mackerel. You can use it as a salad topping (and dressing) the next day.

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