December 2022

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[Red Rice with Ama-Natto]

As we enter the second half of December, the end of the year is approaching. Many of you may be busy with full-scale preparations for the year-end and New Year holidays.

As the year comes to a close, Japan will celebrate New Year's Day and Coming-of-Age Day. We also have festive events such as Sekku (seasonal festivals), graduation, and entrance into school in the spring. Sekihan (red rice) is often served at such festive occasions. There are various theories as to how it came to be eaten on Hare no Hi, but in Japan, the color red has been thought to have the power to purge evil spirits since ancient times, and it is said to have come to be eaten to ward off evil spirits and avoid misfortune.

Generally, azuki beans or "sasage-mame" beans are used to make sekihan, but in Hokkaido, where the Otaru Showroom is located, sweet sekihan made with ama-natto (sweet natto) is often eaten. Convenience stores also sell "sekihan onigiri" (red rice balls) containing ama-natto.

Why did sekihan with ama-natto become popular in Hokkaido? Akiko Nambu, the founder of Koen Gakuen Educational Corporation, founded Nambu Apparel Institute in 1949 and was busy in running the school teaching western-style dressmaking, Japanese dressmaking, cooking, and general education. During those days, she wished to make sekihan more easily by using ama-natto instead of the time-consuming preparation of boiling azuki beans and sugar beans until soft, cooling them, and then cooking them with glutinous rice. She introduced this recipe at lectures and on TV cooking shows, and it became widely known among Hokkaido residents, eventually becoming the standard for sekihan in Hokkaido.

The beautiful pink color, sweet beans, and rice around the beans are slightly sweet and a little salty. Such rich flavor is probably the reason why it is widely loved by both children and adults.

If you are too busy to prepare sekihan, why don't you try Hokkaido's way of making ama-natto sekihan before you give up on making it? Packing it in a stacked box and arranging it on the dining table will add to the festive mood. It has a sweet and comforting taste that makes you want to eat it even on days other than the most important ones.

Yamaichi's Chinese Seiro
https://www.shokunin.com/en/yamaichi/seiro.html
Kiya's Steamer Cloth S
https://www.shokunin.com/en/kiya/fukashi.html
Matsuya Shikkiten's Shirakinuri Lunch Box
https://www.shokunin.com/en/matsuya/
Appi Urushi Studio's Flat Bowl
https://www.shokunin.com/en/appi/bowl.html
Otaru Showroom
https://www.shokunin.com/en/showroom/otaru.html

References
https://hokkaidofan.com/amanatto-sekihan/
https://www.maff.go.en/j/keikaku/syokubunka/k_ryouri/search_menu/menu/sekihan_hokkaido.html

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[A Quick Japanese-Style Curry and Rice in 10 Minutes]

While 1 cup of rice is cooking quickly, stir-fry the meat to release the fat, add onions cut perpendicular to the fibers, lightly season with salt and pepper, when the onions turn brown, add tomatoes, stir-fry together for 30 seconds, add 1 cup of water, bring to a boil, turn off the heat, add 1 curry roux, let it melt and let it come to a boil. Once it dissolves, it is ready to serve. It is easy to make and delicious.

Seiryugama's Shallow Bowl
https://www.shokunin.com/en/seiryu/asabachi.html

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[Kiya's Set of 12 Seasonal Cutting Dies]

Small dieboards representing the 12 months in a paulownia wood box, like a treasure box of your own that you carefully picked up and collected one by one when you were little. They are like your own treasure box that you carefully picked up and collected one by one when you were little: pine tree in January, daffodil in February, plum in March, cherry blossom in April, green leaves in May, bellflower in June, bamboo in July, gourd in August, chrysanthemum in September, gingko in October, red leaves in November, and suehiro in December.

Of course, you can use it for New Year's osechi dishes and ozoni, but it can also be used as a cookie mold, and we recommend using a larger cookie mold to cut out the dough and stamping it without cutting it out with this mold, leaving only the die-cut lines. Since the mold is long, you can enjoy punching out pancakes, sandwich bread, etc. with your children. You can also use it for various occasions depending on your ideas, such as cutting out a thinly fried egg or fish paste to serve with lunch boxes, or cutting out a small piece of ham and wrapping it around the visible part of a spring roll.

And even a single shape can look different from different angles. Because it is a pine tree! Try holding it in your hand like a puzzle piece, turning it around and changing its direction, or matching it with other shapes... you see! You may come up with an interesting idea.

Kiya's Set of 12 Seasonal Cutting Dies (Restocked today)
https://www.shokunin.com/en/kiya/nukigata.html