Osechi (datemaki, red-and-white namasu, decorated kamaboko)

Each osechi dish carries a wish. Datemaki resembles the pattern of a kimono, so it stands for never lacking clothes, and black beans for working diligently. Tazukuri, made from anchovies once used to fertilize the fields, prays for a good harvest, and nishime is said to combine auspicious ingredients whose names contain the sound n, for good luck (un). This time I tried the shortcut of making datemaki with mashed hanpen, and used red-and-white kamaboko from Izuman in Gion.

Ingredients

• Hanpen (soft fish cake)
• Eggs
• Carrot
• Daikon radish
• Yuzu
• Red-and-white kamaboko
• Nishime (lotus root, carrot, shiitake, snow peas)
• Black beans and tazukuri (store-bought)

How I made it

1. Mix mashed hanpen with eggs, pour into a frying pan and cook under a lid
2. Roll the cooked omelet tightly in a bamboo mat and slice it
3. Halve a yuzu and scoop it out to make a cup
4. Cut carrot and daikon into fine strips for namasu and fill the yuzu cup
5. Slide the kamaboko off its board, slice it, score the red skin and curl it into a loop
6. Pack the boxes with datemaki, kamaboko, namasu, black beans, tazukuri and nishime

Sources: maff.go.jp