Tag: summer

A Review of Kokoro Care Packages

I was thrilled when I heard about Kokoro Care Packages, who offers monthly and or seasonal Japanese care packages. I love that more companies are introducing Japanese foods and other products here in the U.S., and to other countries outside of Japan. So, I reached out to them and introduced them to Thanks for the Meal’s blog.

Kokoro Care Package Review

Here is what Kokoro says about their products:

“Every month and season, we curate unique care packages filled with premium-quality, all-natural Japanese food and deliver them straight from Japan to your home. Each item is carefully selected for its quality, purity, ease of use and of course, taste!”

In exchange for this review, I received the August Nourishing Essentials Care Package mailed directly from Japan. It was filled with seasonal summer foods and I invited my friend Nancy to come over for a taste test a few weeks ago on a very hot and sultry day.

Kokoro Care Package Recipes

First, I used the Izumo Soba and made Hiyashi Chuka. I used baby shrimp, simmered and sliced shiitake mushrooms, sliced Japanese cucumber, and tomato slices as our toppings. Sprinkled toasted sesame seeds over the top. These noodles were a big hit. Generous 2 person portion was included and we both loved the sprightly lemon soy sauce.

Izumo Soba

Hiyashi Chuka made with the Izumo Soba

Mixed Seaweed Salad

Next was the Mixed Seaweed Salad. I love seaweed salads, so was looking forward to tasting this mix which has five different seaweeds from Hokkaido. After soaking in water and rinsing, I added thinly sliced Japanese cucumbers, and mixed in Ponzu sauce and toasted sesame seeds. Another hit!

Japanese Summer Tonic

Japanese Summer Tonic using Yamanashi’s 5-year Aged Red Wine Vinegar

I’m a big fan of Japanese inspired cocktails, but even non-alcoholic drinks are a hit around my house! Because of the heat on our taste testing day, I made a summer tonic using Yamanashi’s 5 year Aged Red Wine Vinegar, sparkling water, and a touch of honey. Be sure to melt the honey before mixing in, otherwise you end up with a clump of it at the bottom of the drink which doesn’t dissolve.

We both loved this tangy, thirst-quenching and refreshing drink so much, that I made it again this week during the heat wave that the Bay area has been experiencing. It was wonderful!

Cooking with Furikake

I served freshly cooked Japanese white rice and we topped it with a sprinkling of Unagi Sansho Furikake. Of course Unagi (eel) is a summer favorite and I love it.

Nancy had never had Furikake, and we both really enjoyed this slightly sweet mixture with different textures, which included various seasonings such as sansho pepper and ginger along with unagi bits.

There were a few items that weren’t luminary, at least to us: The Blueberry Amazake, the Sweet Corn Rice Porridge, and the Ayu Furikake. We found them overall not as interesting or as tasty as the other products. But I have no doubt that Kokoro Cares, a company less than one year old will continue to improve and expand their offerings in terms of tastes and variety.

Would I try Kokoro’s Care Packages again? Absolutely. I am especially interested in The Seasonal Delights Care Package, which includes 7+ healthy and delicious Japanese foods. It also comes with a special artisanal gift made locally in Japan and is shipped once every three months to coincide with the four seasons.

Kokoro Care Package Discount

If you’re interested in trying a Kokoro care package, take advantage of a special offer! Use discount code THANKSFORTHEMEAL_10 and you’ll get 10% off your first order through the end of September. Order your care package today and be sure to comment below about which product you’re most excited to check out!

Description from the August 2019 Kokoro Care Package

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Sweet Summer Spoonful: Mizu-Yokan: A Cool, Traditional Japanese Dessert Jelly
What the Japanese originally called kashi first came to Japan from China during the Nara period (710-93) in the form of fresh or dried fruit. Although not our modern idea of what a sweet should be, fruit was still referred to as kashi right up until the Muromachi period (1333-1573). Later, sweets made of rice flour or wheat flour and steamed or fried in oil—the forerunners of modern-day Japanese confections—were eaten as a snack between the two daily meals most Japanese nobles consumed in ancient times.

The main sweetener employed in these confections was a syrup extracted from amazura, a tree-like vine. Although a primitive form of unrefined sugar appeared in Japan during the Nara period, it was almost exclusively employed as a cure-all by the aristocracy during the Nara and Heian (794-1185) periods; sugar didn’t come into general use as a sweetener in Japanese confections until the Muromachi period.

Traditionally Japanese confections are called wagashi. There are three main types; namagashi (raw confections), nerigashi (semi-raw confections), and higashi (dried confections). Most of these sweets were developed as a complement to the tea ceremony. Seasonally based, the two common denominators in many of these treats are a lot of sugar, which is used as a preservative, and the use of a red bean paste, called an, traditionally made from adzuki beans.

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One of the most popular semi-raw confections is yokan—sweet red bean paste jelly. Yokan has an intriguing history. During the Nara and Heian periods, the term yokan referred to lamb stew (yo meaning “lamb” and kan meaning “soup” or “stew”), a savory banquet delicacy for the upper classes. There was also a type of sweet rice cake from China called yokan mocha, shaped and colored red like lamb liver, that was apparently developed so Buddhist priests, who were ostensibly vegetarians, could vicariously sample the lamb dish. One of the few sweets made using sugar during this time, yokan mocha was considered quite exotic. Teikin orai, a book written anonymously in the early Muromachi period, tells of 48 differently shaped types of yokan, all steamed.

In the Kansei era (1789-1800), an unsteamed version called neri-yokan was developed that used agar-agar as the setting agent. Since then, many variations of yokan have appeared, using chestnuts, sesame seeds, different types of beans in place of adzuki, and so on. Mizu-yokan, so delicate and soft it is eaten with a spoon, is the summer variation.

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Mizu-Yokan: A Cool, Traditional Dessert Jelly

Lucy Seligman

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Ingredients

1 stick kanten agar-agar*
2 ¾ cups water
2 cups neri-an smooth red bean paste
Additional white sugar to taste optional
1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Soak the agar-agar in cold water for one hour. Squeeze out excess water and tear into small pieces. Place the agar-agar in a saucepan along with two cups of water and bring to a slow boil. Stir with a wooden spoon until the agar-agar completely dissolves. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Place the red bean paste in a bowl and slowly add the strained agar-agar liquid. Mix until fully combined. Return the mixture to a clean saucepan and cook over low heat for five minutes. Add sugar to taste and the salt. Remove from heat and add remaining ¾ cup of water. Stir well. Cool down to lukewarm by placing the saucepan in a larger bowl of ice water. Continue stirring to lessen lumps.
When the mixture is lukewarm, slowly pour it into a square baking pan (9-inch or 23 cm). If there are any bubbles on the surface, price them with a toothpick. Cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator until fully set and chilled.
To serve, run a wet knife around the edges of the pan and cut into squares. Mizu-yokan is best eaten with dessert spoons.

Notes
*Agar-agar is gelatin made from seaweed. Used in many Japanese sweets, it is available at Asian markets and health food stores.

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Photo © Jun Seita via Flickr
Somen Time: When the Slurpin’ Is Easy
THERE IS NOTHING MORE RESTORATIVE in summer than a slurp of cold somen, Japan’s thinnest noodle, made from wheat. As a hot dish, somen is known as nyumen; cold, it’s called hiya-somen or hiya-mugi, and is traditionally eaten from early July to mid-August.

The word “somen” is derived from the Chinese sakumen, meaning “cable noodles” – most forms of noodles came to Japan from China. Somen are traditionally made the Chinese way, by pulling the dough rather than cutting it.

Little is known of the origins of somen in Japan. In the Nara era (710-93), wheat was already being grown in Miwa, Nara Prefecture; the people of Miwa made a dough of wheat flour and salt water similar to somen dough, but we don’t know whether somen was made.

The first written mention of somen appears in Engikishi, a tenth-century record of royal ceremonies. By 1205, it was being eaten in Kyoto by monks who had travelled in China. It didn’t become widely popular, however, until the Edo period (1603-1867), as wheat was initially reserved for nobles and priests.

Somen is best made in winter, dried slowly, and eaten after the June-July rainy season. Unlike rice, it improves with age and can be kept for a year or so in a dry, cool place. These days, most somen is machine-made, but Miwa hand-made somen is still available, and said to be the tastiest in Japan.
SOMEN TIME: When the Slurpin’ Is Easy

Lucy Seligman

5 from 1 vote

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Ingredients

7 oz. dried somen 4 bundles
Dipping sauce:
1 ½ cups dashi fish stock use 1 teaspoon of granules
2 ½ tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon sake
2 tablespoons mirin sweet sake
Somen garnishes:
1 ½ small unwaxed cucumbers semi-peeled and cut diagonally into thin slices
1 ½ medium tomatoes peeled and cut into thick slices
A bunch of kaiware radish sprouts, stemmed and cut in half
Seasonal fruits such as peaches cherries, or apples, peeled and cut into slices

Instructions

Cook the somen according to instructions on the package. Drain immediately and wash with your hands in cold water to cool completely and get rid of starch. Keep in cold water until ready to eat.
Make the dipping sauce by combining the dashi stock, soy sauce, sake, and mirin in a small saucepan over a low heat. Taste and adjust seasonings: for a saltier sauce, add more soy sauce, for a sweeter one, more mirin. Chill before using; if made in advance, refrigerate until ready to use.
To serve, place cubed ice in a large glass bowl or individual ones. Drain the somen and place it on the ice. Arrange the garnishes on top. Pour the dipping sauce into four small glass bowls and arrange mounds of condiments on a large dish or several small ones so that guests can mix whichever condiments they like into their sauce and use it as a dip for mouthfuls of somen, vegetables, and fruit

Notes
Condiments:
1 ½ – 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3-4 tablespoons green onions, rinsed in cold water, patted dry, and minced
4 perilla leaves, cut into slivers (optional)
1-2 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)
Myoga, a Japanese ginger (optional)

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