Untangling My Chopsticks (35 page)

Given the Buddhist proscription against eating animal products, the fish flakes in traditional dashi must be avoided. As a result, temple cooks use shiitake mushrooms to add robustness to the kelp base. To avoid wasting the soaked mushrooms and kelp after you have used them in the dashi, cut them into thin slices and add them to noodle, rice, or vegetable dishes.

• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
  

• One 4-inch-long piece konbu (kelp)
  

Combine 10 cups water with the shiitake mushrooms and the kelp in a stockpot. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to very low, and simmer the stock for an hour, or until the liquid has reduced to 5 cups. Let the mixture cool. Pour the stock through a cheesecloth-lined sieve, saving the solids for another use.

Makes 5 cups

Traditionally, this sesame custard is poured into a special shallow square metal container and left to set. The firm custard is then turned out, cut into squares, and served in small bowls in a pool of soy sauce. Since most Western cooks do not have such a mold, six 6-ounce ramekins have been substituted. You can serve the
goma dofu
as a first course or side dish.

• 1 cup hulled white sesame seeds
  

• 3 tablespoons crumbled kudzu
  

• ⅛ teaspoon coarse salt
  

• 12 teaspoons soy sauce
  

• Wasabi paste for garnish (available in tubes)
  

1. Place 2½ cups water and the sesame seeds in a blender. Cover and whip for 5 minutes to render the mixture as smooth as possible. Pour through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a medium saucepan, pushing on the sieve with the back of a spoon, and then squeeze the cheesecloth into a ball, pressing on the ball, until you have nothing more than a dryish paste in the cheesecloth. You should have about 2½ cups of sesame “milk.”
   

2. Whisk the kudzu and salt into the sesame milk until the kudzu is completely dissolved. Whisk the mixture constantly over low heat for 10 minutes. It will thicken and bubble. Remove from the heat and pour into six small ramekins that have been rinsed with cold water (this will prevent the custard from sticking). Let them rest until firm, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.
   

3. To serve, gently shake the ramekins, or run a sharp knife around the edges to loosen the “tofu.”Turn out onto small dishes (square if possible, since the Japanese like contrasting shapes). Spoon 2 teaspoons of soy sauce around the bottom of each “tofu” circle and top with a little squirt of wasabi.
   

Makes 6 servings

Author's Note

This book is a work of nonfiction. Everything that happened is true and the people, places, and situations are real. However, because I do not wish to invade people's privacy and portray them in a light different from how they possibly see themselves, I have changed the names of certain people and businesses to protect their identity. This does nothing to alter the story.

When it comes to chronicling the past, the question inevitably arises, “How did you remember so many details?” My answer is simple: e-mail did not exist, as we know it. If it had, I would not have written so many letters to my parents, siblings, friends, childhood pal Margaret, and John. They, in turn, would not have held on to my letters, nor written back so many, which I also saved. All our communications would have been deleted into a void.

Several other materials aided my memory, including the diaries I kept describing everyday life in Japan, as well as my feelings and thoughts. I also filled two notebooks with recipes and notes from my tea kaiseki classes at Mushanokoji. In addition, I took numerous photographs and saved scores of pamphlets, ticket stubs, brochures, booklets, and restaurant menus. For my return trip to Kyoto, I kept another diary and took dozens of rolls of film. I also met with several tea masters. These tangible reminders, combined with my own extensive research, enabled me to impart the flavors and details of what it was like to live in Kyoto and events and conversations that took place during my time there.

Below are the meanings of important Japanese words or terms, or those that are first defined in the text and then appear more than once.

amazake—a creamy, white, naturally sweet fermented rice drink made with a fermenting agent; usually served warm in winter

azukebachi—literally, “entrusted bowl”; the name of the tea kaiseki dish made from ingredients left over from preparing the various courses of a tea kaiseki meal

azuki (
also
adzuki)—small crimson-colored beans used occasionally in savory dishes but primarily in confections

bento—a compartmentalized boxed meal

bonito—skipjack tuna, also known as oceanic bonito; dried and shaved to make flakes for dashi, as well as eaten fresh

bonsai——miniature trees or plants that compose an arrangement or garden

chaji—a formal tea ceremony that includes a kaiseki meal

chakai——a tea ceremony where only thin tea is served (after a sweet)

chakaiseki (
see
tea kaiseki)

chanoyu—literally, “tea's hot water”; the formal practice of preparing and consuming whipped powdered green tea

daikon—a giant white radish with a crisp fresh flavor and juicy texture

daimyo—a samurai lord

dashi—a pale brown stock made from shaved bonito fish flakes and kelp (called konbu, or kombu), steeped in water

donburi—a pottery bowl that is approximately three times as big as a rice bowl; also the name of the dish served in such a bowl, composed of rice topped with broth and goodies, such as egg and chicken

edamame—fresh soybeans usually boiled in the pod, lightly salted, and gently pulled out of the pod with the teeth

fu—wheat gluten; eaten fresh
(nama fu),
grilled
(yaki fu),
or dried (and hydrated)

furikake—a dry seasoning mix usually composed of nori flakes, sesame seeds, and freeze-dried granules of fish stock

fusuma—a removable sliding panel made from a wood frame grid covered on both sides by thick opaque paper or cloth, used to separate tatami rooms

futon—a cotton floor mattress

hana—flower

happi coats—traditional work jackets often made from soft cotton resembling short kimonos

hashiarai—literally, “chopstick wash”; a small portion of liquid (often hot water) flavored with a seasonal ingredient served at a tea kaiseki meant to clean the chopsticks and refresh the palate after the grilled course

hassun—several meanings, including square cedar tray upon which foods are served at a tea kaiseki; the name for the actual course of a tea kaiseki composed of something from the ocean and something from the mountains served on the cedar tray; the hors d'oeuvre course served during a restaurant kaiseki meal

herro—hello

honzen ryori—literally, “main-tray cooking”; formal court cuisine consisting of two or more soups and at least five side dishes distributed between one main legged tray and several smaller ones

iemoto—the male head of a particular house (or school) of traditional arts

jubako—stacked lacquer boxes usually used for holding special New Year's foods

kai—several meanings, including group; or bosom pocket, meaning the breast-pocket fold in a kimono

kaiseki (
see
restaurant kaiseki
or
tea kaiseki)

kanji—Chinese characters used in Japanese writing

Kansai—the area of Kyoto-Nara-Osaka-Kobe

kirei—beautiful

koji—a fermenting agent made by inoculating either beans or grains with the mold
Aspergillus

konbu (
also
kombu)—kelp; mainly used to make dashi (along with bonito flakes); also steeped in hot water to make vegetarian stock (primarily for temple cooking)

konomono—literally, “a thing for incense”; also pickled vegetables, as well as the name of the pickle course at a tea kaiseki

kudzu—a rocky white starch made from the tuberous root of the plant of the same name

matcha—a fine powder made from ground green tea leaves that is whipped with boiling water for the tea ceremony; also used to flavor foods, such as soba noodles, sweet dumplings, and ice cream

mirin—a sweet rice wine with a 14 percent alcohol content; it is usually used for cooking, although occasionally sipped as an alcoholic beverage (such as at New Year's when infused with an herbal-spice mixture)

mochi—pounded glutinous rice that is formed into cakes; eaten fresh or hard (in which case the mochi is either hydrated in water or stock until soft, or grilled and sauced or seasoned)

mukozuke—literally, “beyond attach”; the marinated raw seafood or vegetable dish at a tea kaiseki served on the first tray with the miso soup and rice

nigiri zushi (
also
nigiri sushi)—vinegar-seasoned rice ovals spread with a thin layer of wasabi and then topped with raw seafood or other ingredients, such as sliced omelet, cooked shrimp, or vegetables

nori—laver; usually dried and formed into dark green sheets

obi—the long wide sash worn around the waist with a kimono

oishii—delicious

okonomiyaki—literally, “cook what you like”; a Japanese-style egg-flour batter pancake filled with chopped vegetables and a choice of added seafood, poultry, and/or meat

osechi ryori—honorable seasonal cooking; currently refers to special foods prepared for the extended New Year's holiday and served in layered lacquer boxes

Oshogatsu—the New Year's holiday period beginning on the eve of December 31 and ending January 3

ozoni—a dashi-based New Year's Day breakfast soup containing mochi plus other regional ingredients

restaurant kaiseki—a formal restaurant meal that resembles aspects of a tea kaiseki but is based on sake instead of rice and aims to entertain versus spiritually enlighten

Rikyu-bashi—cedar chopsticks that are tapered at both ends and used exclusively for tea kaiseki

roji—a Zen term for “dewy path”; also the inner garden of the teahouse containing stepping stones, a waiting pavilion, and a stone basin; some teahouses have an inner roji and an outer roji

sabi—a complicated aesthetic concept that treasures the beauty in things that are rusted, aged, faded, and withered

sake—Japanese rice wine

samurai—a Japanese warrior (also known as
bushi
)

sansho—a tingly tongue-numbing green powder made from the ground dried seedpods of the prickly ash tree

sashimi—sliced raw fish or shellfish

seki—several meanings, including: gathering place; or stone

sekki—seasonal divisions derived from the old Chinese solar calendar

sensei—teacher

sento—public bath

shabu-shabu—a dashi broth–based dish, similar to fondue, in which thinly sliced beef and vegetables are dipped into the stock; the name of the dish is onomatopoeic for the sound the ingredients make when cooking

shiizakana—literally, “insisting fish”; an optional course, usually composed of seafood, served at a tea kaiseki if tea guests request more sake

shiso—also called perilla, it is a jagged-edged spicy green leaf from the mint family, often served with sashimi; red shiso, also referred to as beefsteak plant, is used to season pickled plums and various sweets