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November 22, 2006

why we don't share chopsticks

The crack of splitting waribashi, wooden disposable chopsticks, has marked the beginning of restaurant meals in Japan since the eighteenth century. Considering Japan now tosses out 25 billion pairs of waribashi every year, that's a mind-boggling history of what seems to be unnecessary waste.

Even the most elegant, expensive restaurants use waribashi, which seems a bit incongruous to non-Japanese eyes, like a fancy French restaurant handing out plastic-wrapped spork, knife and napkin sets. But the rampant use of waribashi is actually based on a deep-rooted religious belief which prevents the sharing of chopsticks with another person. Shinto has among its many concepts of defilement and purification the belief that anything which touches a person's mouth carries with it a bit of that person's character and if used by another person, could pass on a spiritual contamination that no amount of Listerine could ever wash away. Even within families, each person has their personal pair of chopsticks. You might say sharing chopsticks is like sharing underwear; no matter how thoroughly washed they were by the previous owner, it would never feel quite right.

So how to avoid contributing to the growing mountain of trashed waribashi every year while maintaining a spiritually pristine mouth? Carry your own chopsticks in a chopstick case! The one I use is small and imprinted with rabbits, but there are other, less girly versions available, like this slide-top box.

A final note about waribashi etiquette: it is considered somewhat rude to rub the freshly-broken chopsticks together because it implies that the waribashi are cheap and, therefore, that the restaurant is cheap. But a final note about chopstick etiquette: there are approximately one thousand ways to handle chopsticks in a way that is considered rude.

Posted by anjali at 9:28 AM | Comments (1) | Categories: Tools

November 10, 2006

gomoku takikomi gohan

The supermarket shelves in Japan are stocked with instant gomoku takikomi gohan (five-ingredient-boiled-together rice), but little do the Japanese housewives know it's so easy to make from scratch! Actually, they probably know, so I don't know what the problem is.

Besides being an easy, one-pot meal, this dish just reeks of autumn. Literally. Every time I open my rice cooker after making it, the steamy scent just makes me think, Autumn. Mushrooms. Crunching leaves. Gobō. Mmm...

The orginal recipe I followed (from the half-Japanese, half-English Recipes of Japanese Cooking) calls for chicken thighs as one of the five ingredients, but I have successfully made a vegetarian version with abura-age (deep-fried tofu). And even if you have an aversion to konnyaku, that gelatinous, flavorless devil's tongue jelly, it is an essential part of the dish, providing occasional chewy mouthfuls that liven things up.

Gomoku takikomi-gohan (5-Ingredients Mixed Rice)

Makes 3 servings

1 1/2 cups Japanese rice, washed and drained
3 oz/80 g chicken thighs
2-inch piece of carrot
1/3 gobō
2 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 package konnyaku strips
1 cup dashi or chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons, plus 1 teaspoon sake
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, preferably usukuchi shōyu (light soy sauce)
1/2 teaspoon salt
mitsuba or other leafy green herb, for garnish

Put the chicken in a bowl, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sake and let stand while you prepare the other ingredients.

Put the mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with 1 cup water to soften. Cut the carrot into matchstick-sized pieces. Scrape the gobō with the back of a knife under running water to clean it, then cut into thin shavings. Rinse if desired. Drain the mushrooms, reserving 1/2 cup of the soaking water, then remove the stems and cut into strips.

Pour the stock and reserved mushroom-soaking water in a medium-size pot and add the mushrooms, carrots, gobō, konnyaku and chicken (with sake and accumulated juices). When it begins to simmer, add the sugar and sake and continue cooking for 1 or 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and salt and simmer for another minute.

Drain the ingredients into a sieve over a bowl, keeping the solids and liquids separate. Put the washed rice in a rice cooker or pot and add the solid ingredients. Measure the strained liquid; add water or pour off some of the liquid so it measures 1 1/2 cups. (Use slightly more liquid if you are cooking in a pot rather than a rice cooker.) Pour the liquid into the rice cooker or pot and cook as usual. (See these instructions for cooking Japanese rice on the stove.)

When the rice has finished cooking, stir to distribute the ingredients. Garnish each serving with a few mitsuba or other herb leaves.

Posted by anjali at 8:16 PM | Comments (4) | Categories: Autumn | Recipe | Rice