A special soup
On Tuesday I was wondering what to make for dinner, when I remembered there is a special dish that Japanese people eat on the 7th day of the new year! It’s called the "Feast of Seven Herbs" — a healing rice soup called nanakusa-gayu (“seven-herb porridge”). The porridge is consumed to ensure good health and to ward off evil spirits in the coming new year. It is also considered a day of rest (as in resting the digestive system after an indulgent New Year’s celebration!)
When I looked up a recipe I found a list of the seven herbs…none of which I had ever heard of (even in English 😂): nazuna (shepard’s purse), seri (water dropwort), gogyo (cudweed), hotokenza (nipplewort), suzushiro (daikon radish), suzuna (turnip), and hakobe (chickweed). Fortunately I found them all in one convenient package right at the entrance of the local grocery store! It took me a little longer to find the appropriate toppings, but I think these tsukemono (various pickles) are acceptable. Plus I was able to use this local “new rice” I snagged at the farm market a few weeks ago.
I followed this recipe… (apparently there is a little chant that goes along with the chopping, but the food blogger didn’t say anything about that, so I think I’m off the hook for that part.)
Overall I think the porridge came out like it was supposed to: mild and light. I loved the simplicity of it… the rest of the family was looking for something hardier, so we broke out the new yakiniku (table top grill) that E got us for Christmas and made some more food!
P.S. Last weekend G and I did a workshop at a local art gallery where we made our own fabric with lotus root stamps 😍
The instructor did not speak English, so there was a lot of miming, but we figure out it out. Although, we expected to make a tea towel, but ended up making something called a haneri (half collar) to wear under the collar of a kimono (to keep the collar clean) 🤷♀️
What a fun week you’ve had! & I love the table top grilled- so amazing.
Yummy 🤗