- Seri - water dropwort
- Nazuna - shepherd's purse
- Gogyo - cudweed
- Hakobera - chickweed
- Hotokenoza - nipplewort
- Suzuna - turnip
- Suzushiro - daikon
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| Image curtesy of: theydrawandcook.com |
Nanakusa Gayu is believed to protect the person from evil as well as prevent illnesses and diseases. It is eaten on January 7th as the official end to the New Year celebrations.
Today my husband made his family's version of Nanakusa Gayu. His family doesn't make the traditional rice porridge, instead they make a soup featuring the same herbs and mochi.
He started by buying a little herb set at the grocery store that had a small amount of each of the seven herbs. While he made the broth for the soup by simmering the turnip, daikon, and dashi (fish broth granuals), I toasted the mochi under the broiler in our stovetop. I made sure that the mochi was toasted on the outside, but gooey on the inside. When I was done toasting the mochi, I put one or two pieces in each bowl and my husband topped them with the broth and herbs. That's it! The soup was ready to eat.
We chose to eat our Nanakusa Gayu for breakfast. It was a really great way to start the day. The broth was light, the mochi filling, and the herbs felt so healthy.
I was just thinking the other day about how healthy Japanese holiday food is compared to American holiday food. In the US, we pile on the calorie laden foods and desserts at the holidays. My stuffing has 2 sticks of butter in it for just one recipe! According to Calorie Control Council, a person consumes 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving day alone! On the opposite end of the spectrum, in the last week, we've indulged in pounded rice, fish, osechi, soba, and soup featuring vegetables and white miso. No butter, excessive amounts of fat or sugar, etcetera. It really is quite different.
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