Osechi-Ryori is traditional Japanese New Year’s food eaten during the first three days of the New Year. Each dishes that make up Osechi-Ryori has a special meaning celebrating the New Year (such as good health, fertility, good harvest, happiness, long life, etc…) and those dishes can last for a couple of days in the refrigerator or at cool room temperature in winter. Usually, they are served in jyubako (重箱: three-tiered bento boxes). In the first tier, we serve colorful festive dishes such as shrimp, black beans, sweet chestnuts, etc… In the second tier we serve sunomono (pickled dishes) and yakimono (grilled dishes). And in the third tier, we serve nimono (simmered dish) called Nishime (simmered Japanese vegetables).
Traditionally, we spend few days to prepare Osechi but I always spend few hours to complete mine. I use ready-made dishes for sweet dishes since my darling doesn’t eat a lot and cook the non-sweet ones at home.
So, this is my darling’s favorite Nishime recipe for the third tier 🙂 I use frozen Japanese vegetables to save time and money.
For the seasoning, I used Yamasa’s Konbu Tsuyu (3 times concentrated Konbu kelp seaweed soup stock) which is tasty and convenient. I’m sure it is available overseas at Asian grocery stores.
With just a little extra effort decoratively cutting vegetables, it become gorgeous, so try to make it fancy 😉
In the end of the video, I will show you my Osechi-Ryori from past years! Don’t miss them!
I hope you all enjoy 😀
———————————
Easy Nishime (Simmered Japanese Vegetables)
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 1hour
Number of servings: 5
Necessary Equipment:
1 large deep pot
1 medium pot
1 small pot
1 otoshi buta (drop-lid – you can use aluminum foil)
Ingredients:
1 large chicken thigh
250g (8.8oz.) konjac
400g (0.9lb.) 1 bag of frozen Japanese vegetables (includes: taro potato, lotus root, carrot, shiitake, green beans, bamboo shoot, burdock root)
5 decorative cut shitake mushrooms
1 yurine (lily bulb)
5 decorative cut carrots
A
* 3 tbsp. soy sauce
* 1 tbsp. mirin (sweet sake)
* 1 tbsp. sake
* 1 tbsp. sugar
B
* 20cc 3 times concentrated Yamasa’s Konbu Tsuyu
* 80cc water
C
* 30cc 3 times concentrated Yamasa’s Konbu Tsuyu
* 120cc water
Directions:
1. Thinly slice or make decorative cut konjac and boil 2-3 minutes in order to skim the scum.
2. Cut chicken thigh into bite-sized pieces, parboil (to remove the scum and fat), drain, and set aside.
3. Separate frozen vegetables and keep frozen until just before you use. NOTE: not going to use carrot and shiitake if you prepare decorative cut ones.
4. In a large deep pot, put konjac, chicken and mushrooms, cover with water above the layer of ingredients, bring to boil, add A, cover with otoshi buta (drop-lid – you can use aluminum foil) and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.
5. Add lotus root, bamboo shoot, burdock root, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.
6. Wash yurine and separate into pieces. In a small pot, bring water to boil, cook yurine pieces for a minute, quickly rinse with cold water, and drain. Bring B to boil, cook yurine pieces for 3 minutes.
7. In a medium pot, bring C to boil, add taro potato and cook for 5 minutes. Add decorative cut carrots and cook for 5 minutes. Add green beans and cook for 2 minutes.
8. In the third tier, nicely arrange 5, 6, and 7 (drain excess liquid).
Product:
Yamasa Konbu Tsuyu ヤマサ 昆布つゆ *available overseas
3 times concentrated Konbu kelp seaweed soup stock
http://www.yamasa.com/konbutsuyu/product/index.html
レシピ（日本語）
http://cooklabo.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post_09.html
———————————
Best wishes for a happy new year and see you in 2012 😀
Mummy Ebi (Shrimp) Tempura Udon is nominated for YouTube Video Awards Japan 2011
Voting starts from 12/23/2011
http://www.youtube.com/VideoAwardsJP2011
YouTube ビデオアワード２０１１ にノミネートされました！
投票は以下URLの画面右上の「投票」タブをクリックし、動画を見つけたら右の「いいね」ボタンをクリックをして完了です！
http://www.youtube.com/VideoAwardsJP2011
Music by
Hungry Lucy
Just Imagine
Wandering
http://www.jamendo.com/en/
♥Please Subscribe♥
http://www.youtube.com/ochikeron
♥Facebook Fan Page♥ Please “Like” me 😉
http://www.facebook.com/Ochikeron/
♥Google+♥
https://plus.google.com/u/0/116260125265266627000/about
♥Visit my Blog for more Recipes♥
http://createeathappy.blogspot.com/
♥My Recipe Posts♥
http://cookeatshare.com/chefs/ochikeron-137433
http://cookpad.com/ami (Japanese)
♥Follow me on twitter♥
http://twitter.com/ochikeron
http://twitter.com/alohaforever (Japanese)