速攻オクラ料理(Easy and fast okra cooking)

Easy cooking!
This is a popular and easy dish in Japan.

Ingredients for 1 person:

5 pieces of Okras
3g of かつおぶし(Katsuobushi : finely sliced dried bonito)
1 big spoon of soy sauce
1 big spoon of ground sesame

1. Put little bit of salt in a water and boil okra.

2. Mince okra, put it in a bowl along with katsuobushi, soy sauce and ground sesame, and mix them.
3. Eat with rice!

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柴葉漬け(Shibazuke)

(Picture borrowed from http://www.akaoya.jp/)

Shibazuke is a traditional 漬物(Tsukemono) in Kyoto. It's made by pickling eggplant and red perilla with salt. It's one of the famous Tsukemono in Kyoto along with すぐき(Suguki) and 千枚漬け(Senmaizuke).

Although, it's a traditional Tsukemono in Kyoto, it's so popular in Japan, so you can find it easily in a supermarket in almost all over Japan.

It takes about 1 year until it's properly aged. However, nowadays people don't usually make Shibazuke in an original way. People put cucumber or myoga aside from eggplant, and pickle with vinegar. Originally, it was lactic acid fermentation from lactic acid bacteria, but now the popular way is to use vinegar.
Of course, you can still find Shibazuke made by traditional way, but it's hard to get one and much more expensive.


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一味唐辛子(Ichimi tougarashi)&七味唐辛子(Shichimi tougarashi)

Ichimi that my friend gave me.


There are 2 types of popular red pepper in Japan.

一味唐辛子(Ichimi tougarashi)
七味唐辛子(Shichimi tougarashi)

一味(Ichimi) means 1 taste and 七味(Shichimi) means 7 tastes in Japanese.
As you can clearly see, ichimi is made from single kind red pepper. Based on ichimi, add 6 other spices or sometimes more, shichimi is made.

The spices that usually put in Shichimi are these:
芥子(Keshi : garden poppy)
陳皮(Chinpi : chenpi)
胡麻(Goma : sesame)
山椒(Sansyou : Japanese pepper)
麻の実(Asa no mi : hempseed)
紫蘇(Shiso : perilla)
海苔(Noli : dried seaweed)
青海苔(Aonoli : dried seaweed)
生姜(Syouga : ginger)
菜種(Natane : rapeseed)

Shichimi was first sold in 1625 by a person whose name was 徳右衛門(Tokuuemon) at 薬研堀(Yagenbori). Some people wanted to use herbal medicine for edible use and Shichimi was created.

We usually put Ichimi and Shichimi in Udon or Soba.

For your reference, you can see all the major Shichimi in Japan, and their feature of original-blended tastes in this website.
(Japanese only)
http://www.albsasa.com/sub1/sub103t_1.html


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