yomogi kitsune udon

Today is Tanabata, I wrote about this Japanese festivity last year, here. It is a dreary overcast day. In other parts of Japan (mainly in Kyushu) they are having heavy rains and major flooding. The day is so dreary that I haven't even changed out of my pj's yet.

For lunch, I made yomogi (mugwort)kitsune udon...from scratch. I got the recipe from "Soshoku no susume: Spring recipes".

The first batch was bad...really bad. I put the ingredients into a bowl and mixed it. Then put everything into a plastic bag and started kneading it with my feet. After letting the dough rest in the refrig for about 2 hours, we rolled it out and cooked it. All the yomogi was falling out from the noodles and it was salty in some places...bad. I guess it will be my lunch for the next couple of days.

The second batch was so-so. I put the flour into a bowl and mixed the yomogi with salt and water. I think I need to use yomogi powder for the next time, since this yomogi takes a REALLY long time to reconstitute. The dough was good and there were nice specks of yomogi throughout the dough, but it wasn't the green color that I imagined it to be. After letting the dough rest for 2 hours, we rolled it out and cooked it. It really puffed up and was a nice texture.

I also made some seasoned aburage. I've made this before for kitsune udon and posted a recipe here.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try making this. Serves 4
500g flour
5 or 6 tablespoons of yomogi
salt water (2-1/3 tablespoons salt & 1-1/4 cup water)

Soup: 6 cups stock (fish/kelp)
2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
3/4 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, mix the flour, yomogi and salt water.
When the dough starts to fall apart, put everything into a plastic bag and step on it to knead. Knead until the dough is quite smooth.
Put the dough into the refrig for about 2 hours.
After 2 hours, take out the dough and roll out to 3mm thin. Cut noodles to 5mm wide.
Boil for 10 minutes, rinse and serve with soup and your favorite toppings.

NOTES: use yomogi powder if you can, I didn't have any and the yomogi didn't reconstitute very nicely, so it was quite clumpy in some places. I would also cut back the amount of salt, as it tends to be quite salty after it is cooked. To get the noodles the same size and thickness takes practice, so be prepared for funny looking noodles on your first try, which is how ours turned out. They also puff up a bit, so cutting them thin is better. Still it tasted good and was a good experience.

tanabata

Today is Tanabata or the Star Festival. This festival is based on a Chinese legend in which Hikoboshi (Altair), a herdsman fell in love with Orihime (Vega), a weaver princess. Since they were from different status classes, their love was not approved of. Orihime's father split the two of them apart and sent each to the extreme ends of the Milky Way. It is said that only on the 7th of the 7th month can they meet.

In Japan, children write their wishes on colorful strips of paper which are then hung from the branches of bamboo trees. This festival is elaborately celebrated every year Sendai.

This is a photo that I took when we visited an outer island of Okinawa called Iriomote. This was a sunset taken from the hotel that we were staying at called, Niraikanai.

Happy Friday!