Japan: Koyasan - shojin ryori at Rengejoin Temple

After Takayama, we headed to Koyasan. To get to our accommodation in Koyasan, it took us 7 hours, 7 trains, a cable car and a bus ride!

Rengejoin Temple

Koyasan, a small town located on Mount Koya, is the center of Shingon Buddhism in Japan. Shingon is a Buddhist sect which was introduced to Japan in 805 by Kobo Daishi. Kobo Daishi is one of the most significant personalities in Japan's religious history.

Koyasan is located in an 800m high valley amid the eight peaks of Mount Koya (the terrain is said to resemble a lotus plant, which is why the location was selected). With a population of about 4000, the town supports over one hundred temples, but in its glory days, Koyasan is said to have contained over 9,000 temples, shrines, and other buildings, with a monastic population of approximately 90,000. In 2004, UNESCO designated Mt. Koya as a World Heritage Site.

When walking through the small town, you can literally trip over temples. They are everywhere!


Rengejoin Temple

At Koyasan, we stayed for two nights in a Buddhist monastery, Rengejoin Temple, where we had the opportunity to participate in mediation and morning prayers.


Our room at Rengejoin Temple. There were paper screens between the rooms, so you could hear EVERYTHING.

After arriving at the temple and checking in, we joined the Head Monk for mediation. We had to sit still in a dim, incense filled room for forty minutes. Yes, we struggled!

After mediation it was time for dinner. We headed off to our dining room, where individual tables were set out for us. On offer was shōjin ryori, which is purely vegetarian food that is intended for monks. As well as no meat, no garlic and onions were used in the cooking.



We were served Koya tofu, which is a special preserved tofu that is attributed to the monks in Koyasan (in the middle of the photo above, above the beans). Historically, it was made by monks, who cut tofu into thin slices and put it outside to freeze. Then the tofu was brought back in, thawed and pressed, before being dried in warmed sheds. This preserved the tofu, ensuring that it could last a long time without refrigeration. When rehydrated, the tofu becomes very spongey, soaking up a great amount of liquid. It’s literally like biting into a sponge, with liquid gushing out! In the same bowl as the Koya tofu was seaweed that had been stewed with mushroom broth, soy sauce and sugar.

In addition, there was a small bowl of beans that I found too sweet for my liking, and a bowl of clear soup, inside of which was fu (wheat gluten). Naturally, there was rice, pickles and tea.



There was also goma tofu / sesame tofu. This is technically not tofu, as it is made out of ground sesame paste, water and a thickener (arrowroot powder). This had a very soft, jelly-like texture, similar to coconut pudding that you get in Chinese restaurants. It was topped with a dab of wasabi and sitting in soy sauce. The goma tofu didn’t have much flavour but it had a wonderful texture and I thought it was delicious.



We also had vegetable tempura – beans, carrot, seaweed, eggplant, pumpkin and sweet potato. As well as this, there was a bowl of somen in a mushroom broth. And finally there were a couple of slices of apple for dessert.

(You can see slightly more clearly the preserved tofu mentioned in the previous paragraph at the bottom right of the photo above.)



Breakfast was also served. It was just a small breakfast, with seaweed, miso soup with mushrooms and wakame, more Koya tofu, cucumber pickles and rice.

(There was a second dinner and breakfast at the monastery, but the food was very similar to the ones described, so I won’t go into details.)

I enjoyed the meals at Rengejoin Temple. They didn't reach the exquisite gluttony of Takayama, but they were simple and wholesome. It was probably exactly what we needed to detox after the excesses of the previous dinners!

Rengejoin Temple
700Koyasan, Koya-cho,
Ito-gun, Wakayama Prefecture 648-0211,
Japan

Japan: Takayama, Ryokan Asunaro, Part 2

Our room at ryokan Asunaro

See the previous post for more information about kaiseki dining and details about a previous dinner and breakfast.

Dinner #2



We were fortunate enough to have a second dinner at the ryokan in Takayama. Just like the previous night it was fantastic.



On offer again was Hilda beef, this time sukiyaki style with tofu, taro noodles and enoki. This was cooked at our table in a small burner.



It was so tasty - here it is cooked!



This mayo looking sauce is actually made out of tofu. The yellow pieces are actually made out of fish, and there were a couple of different pickles in the bowl. It was all mixed up before eating.



Doesn't this look beautiful! Here we had a little plum lollipop, a piece of sweet potato, and at the back was some cold pork.



Inside this bowl is yuba. Yuba is made from boiled soy milk – thin films of tofu form at the top of the milk and are scooped off. Here it was served with a little soy sauce. It's quite interesting - it's soft and tastes faintly of soy.



There was a small bowl of fried whitebait.



And here was white fish with moss. Another interesting item, it was quite citrusy.



I have to be honest here and tell you that my notes on this bowl don't make much sense! From what I can make out, I believe the white objects are fu, and the yellow items are shrimp covered with egg. (You may remember from the last post that fu is wheat gluten, and is often used as a meat substitute.)



There was some rather salty smoked salmon.



On this plate was grilled saury (a type of fish), served with teriyaki sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Delicious. Apparently saury is a common autumn fish, and we saw it a lot during our trip.



At the back of this plate was a tempura prawn that was covered with shredded burdock root. At the front was a shrimp coated with mochi and yuba, and beside it was the teeniest, tiniest eggplant I've ever seen!



There was rice, clear soup, and pickles.



And finally, for dessert was persimmon and persimmon agar agar jelly.

Dinner was just incredible. Like the previous night, everything was delicious and beautifully, beautifully presented. Alastair and I only had a very small lunch, but even so couldn't manage to finish everything. We were still full from breakfast!

Breakfast #2



The following day, we were up early and had breakfast at the ryokan before we left Takayama. On this plate was (clockwise from the front) egg in deep fried bean curd, shredded ginger, potato salad, seaweed/hijiki, boiled squash and carrots, and sweet beans. In the middle was a bowl containing fu and deep fried soy bean curd.



In addition, there was a piece of fish that was seasoned with sake remains. This was surprisingly sweet and fishy, but very nice.



In another small bowl was pork with mushrooms. The pork was really tender and creamy.



Cooking away in a small burner, was a little plate of egg and ham.



And of course, there was rice, soup and pickles.

After the brilliant meals we had eaten, we were rather sad to be leaving Takayama. On the other hand, if we had stayed much longer we may have left several kilos heavier so it may have been a good thing. We certainly detoxed on our next stop..... coming up shortly!

Ryokan Asunaro
2-96-2 Hatsuda-cho
Takayama-shi
Gifu-ken 506-0008, Japan

Japan: Takayama, Ryokan Asunaro, Part 1

After Tokyo, our next stop was Takayama. Takayama is a small city located in the mountainous Hida region of Gifu Prefecture, west of Tokyo. Takayama was very isolated until about 50 years ago and has retained a traditional touch and well preserved old town. It is really very pretty.

In Takayama, we stayed at a ryokan (traditional inn) and included in our stay were two dinners, and two breakfasts. I’m going to spilt this post into two, as there are a lot of photos and details. Plus, as you'll see, the meals were pretty amazing!

One of the highlights about staying at a ryokan is kaiseki dining, a traditional, multi-course dinner. A kaiseki dinner can consist from 6 to 15 different kinds of food, and the food served changes according to the seasons and the area that the ryokan is located in. The design and display of the food is very important, as is the tableware, which is chosen to enhance the appearance of the food as well as the seasonal theme. We visited in early autumn.

Dinner #1

We arrived at the ryokan in the late afternoon and after checking in and a quick walk around the town, it was soon time for dinner. I had no idea what to expect of the dinners, and was pleasantly surprised when we walked into ryokan’s dining room. It was a large room with tatami mats, and individual tables set out for each guest. The tables already had some food laid out, but during the meal more courses were brought out to us. So many, in fact, that we had trouble fitting them all on the table!

Right, I'll get into it. Settle in, this will be a long one!

Underneath the house shaped cover above, were two layers of food.



The top layer held three items. At the front was tempura - soybeans, corn, and a leaf rolled around a meat filling. At the back we had angler fish liver and on the right was a mochi topped with sweet miso. I saved the mochi for last (dessert!). It was sweet and salty at the same time with the mochi having that lovely soft chewiness.



I didn't know what this was at first - it's angler fish liver. It has a rich fattiness, with the texture similar to a firm pate. It's apparently a delicacy, and I really enjoyed it.



Underneath the tempura and angler fish liver, sat a tray of soba noodle sushi.



Also on the table, under the green leaf shaped cover, was Hilda beef with miso. It was cooked on a little burner that was lit at the beginning of the meal.



There were alternating layers of beef and pumpkin that cooked away while we ate other items. The beef was tender and delicious.



This little dish was eel with ginger. It was slightly pickled (the ginger?) so there was a bit of tanginess to it.



There was a little glass of plum wine (although apparently the fruit is closer to an apricot). It was a very sweet liqueur.



More Hilda beef - this one was topped with shabu shabu sauce. I loved the nuttiness of the sauce. I thought we were done at this stage, but no, the little old lady serving us kept bringing out food!



This was a taro dumpling sitting in a broth with mushrooms, chrysanthemum, ginger and dried citrus fruit rind. This was very fragrant with the citrus, and the taro dumpling had that soft, almost sticky taro texture (which I personally love about taro).



Everyone loved this one - tempura prawn covered with shredded potato. It was like a chip covered prawn. What a genius idea!



Beautifully presented tuna and seabass sashimi. The sashimi wasn't as good at the sashimi we had at the Tsukiji fish market but it was still pretty good!



There was a salty clear soup, inside of which was a bonito fish ball.



Tea, rice and pickles, natch. I ate the pickles before I took this photo - whoops!



And last but not least, there was some poached nashi and kiwi fruit.

As you can see, everything was beautifully presented and ohmy it was delicious. It was one of the best meals I've ever had..... until the following night, that is!

Breakfast #1



Breakfast the next day was another great meal. Fortunately for our stomachs, it wasn't as large as dinner!



Part of breakfast was hoba miso, which was cooked on top of the little burner at our tables. Hoba miso is a version of miso where sweet miso is grilled on a hoba (magnolia) leaf and served as a dip or for eating with rice as is. It sounds pretty simple, but it’s really tasty as the heat caramelises the miso and you end up with a soft, salty-sweet paste.



In this box we had cooked spinach like vegetables with shabu shabu sauce on the left. In the middle looks like vegetables with gingko nuts, and on the right is tamago (egg). In the middle of the box was a little umeboshi - a pickled plum that was very salty and sour.



At the back left was a little piece of grilled salmon.



And at the back on the right were a few different types of tofu. One was a preserved spongey tofu. The tofu soaked up so much liquid, that when I bit into it, liquid came sloshing out.



There was a wonderful steamed savoury egg custard – chawanmushi - at the bottom of which sat a prawn and gingko nuts. It was the best steamed egg custard I’ve ever had, with the silkiest, smoothest texture.



There was miso soup, with fu (wheat gluten). Fu is soft and spongey and doesn’t have much flavour on its own but soaks up the flavour of whatever its in. After this, we kept seeing fu everywhere, to the point where if I didn't know what something was, I just assumed it was fu!

Naturally, there was also rice and pickles, as well as some fruit to finish off.

Phew! I feel full just looking at those pictures. But coming up is part 2, where we had another amazing dinner and breakfast! To be continued...

Ryokan Asunaro
2-96-2 Hatsuda-cho
Takayama-shi
Gifu-ken 506-0008, Japan

Japan: Soba noodle making class

Note: Sorry, it's another photo heavy post!

While in Tokyo, Alastair and I took part in a soba noodle making class. Our teacher was Hashimoto-san, and he showed us how to make soba noodles by hand. After the demonstration, we then made our own batch of soba.

Soba noodles are made from buckwheat flour, wheat flour and water. The flour ratio varies, but in Tokyo they traditionally use 80% buckwheat flour and 20% wheat flour.

Hashimoto-san started off by pouring the wheat and buckwheat flour into a large bowl and then formed his hands in a "bear claws" shape. He looks very stern in this picture, but he had a fun sense of humour!



The fingers were then placed into the flours and mixed around quickly - "swimming through the flour - with turns at 50 metres!".



After the flours were well mixed, he created a well in the middle, and poured in about 80% of the water. The water required varies depending on the humidity and the body temperature of the person making the soba. The water was pre-measured for us, so unfortunately I can't remember the amount!

Instead of touching the water, Hashimoto-san covered the water with the flour, and then pulled his hand through the flour from one side to the other. He kept repeating these two steps, alternating the direction that he would pull his hand through. This prevented the water from getting on his hands and making all sticky, and eventually all the water was mixed into the flour.



Then it was time for "fast swimming" until the mixture become like small breadcrumbs and was no longer sticky.



Most of the water (apart from a couple of teaspoons) was then poured in, and he kept mixing it together with his hands. At this point we could smell the soba scent - it was very nutty and fragrant. The soba mixture started to clump together into larger balls.



He added the rest of the water and started rolling the mixture under his palms.



It started to come together in large circular balls under his hands, until gradually it all came together in a dough.



The dough was kneaded about 40 times.



Then Hashimoto-san started making a chrysanthemum shape, by first rolling it into a disc, putting the disc on its side, placing the side of his right hand at 3 o'clock, turning the whole disc to 10 o'clock, and then pushing it down slightly with the side of his hand. There was a definite art to getting the chrysanthemum shape, and I have to confess that when it was our turn, I couldn’t quite figure out how to do it. Fortunately Alastair understood the steps!



Once he was satisfied with the shape, he started rolling it into a cone. He then squashed the cone down into a disc, pushing down with the heel of his hand until it was 20cm and resembled a big wheel of cheese.



He pulled out a long rolling pin and taught us how to do the rolling movement. The hands are shaped like cat claws, placed on the rolling pin, and then moved together or apart to move the rolling pin.



He kept rolling the disc until it was about 40cm across, turning the disc every now and again to make sure it was even and round.



Then it was time to make the soba dough square. He spread flour down the middle of the disc, and then rolled it up around the rolling pin.



He gently patted the dough down, in a forward rolling motion, about five times. He then unrolled it, turned it 180 degrees to the opposite side and re-rolled it around the rolling pin. He repeated the patting down movement 3 times.



He unrolled it again, and turned the dough around 90 degrees to repeat the previous two steps for the other side of the dough.



When he was finished, it was looking squarish!



Next he used the rolling pin to even out the angles.



And kept rolling the dough until it was about 45cm x 80cm big.



When he was happy with the size and the evenness, he rolled the dough on to the rolling pin.



He turned the dough around and unrolled most of it, leaving a small section still on the rolling pin. He scattered buckwheat flour over the top of the dough.



Lifting the rolling pin and the remaining dough that was still rolled up, he folded the dough widthwise.



Scattering more flour on top of the dough, he folded it over again.



It was almost time to cut the soba! He pulled out the chopping board and sprinkled on a lot of buckwheat flour.



The dough was placed on top of the chopping board, and more flour was scattered on top.



He showed us the large knife and taught us how to hold it. The Chinese characters were on the outside, and the hand holding the knife had the index finger pointing down towards the board. On top of the soba dough Hashimoto-san placed a wooden chopping guide. On the chopping guide, he placed his other hand, with the fingers in a "fox shape" - pinky and index finger pointing down, and the middle and ring finger folded in. He then taught us how to cut the soba.



The knife was placed hard up against the chopping guide - he tilted the knife a tiny amount (which moved the chopping guide slightly), pulled the knife back up and then pushed down to cut the soba.



After repeating this movement, the soba was cut into thin strips.



He cut the soba very quickly and thinly - it was very impressive!



And his noodles were beautiful.



After the demonstration, Alastair and I tried making soba noodles ourselves. We shared a bowl and made noodles together, which is a good thing because a batch of soba noodles makes enough to serve 5 people! The cutting of the noodle took a bit of practice, but I think we did really well, and our noodles turned out nice and thin (those are our noodles in the photo). We made the best ones – haha!



We then had the opportunity to eat the noodles we made. Hashimoto-san cooked our noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 60 seconds, and then rinsed them thoroughly in cold water before dunking them into ice water.



We ate them dipped in soba sauce - yum!



I love cold soba, and the noodles were doubly delicious because we had made them ourselves. It was fascinating to learn the process in making soba noodles by hand - I hadn't realised it was that labour intensive. But it was good fun and we got to eat our work. What’s better than that?

Japan: Tsukiji fish market + sashimi breakfast

Note: This is a photo heavy post! And a warning to anyone who may be squeamish or who doesn’t like to see dead animals, there’s lots of pictures of dead fish ahead.

While in Tokyo, we visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market / Tsukiji fish market to see the tuna auction. We left our ryokan (inn) at the insane time of 4.50am to get there in time, as the tuna auctions start at 5.20am and finish around 7am.



I had heard lots about this market - that it is the largest seafood market in the world and that it handles over 2,000 tons of seafood per day and more than 400 different types of seafood. Well, I knew the market was busy, but I didn't know just how busy. And no one had ever said to keep an eye out for the death barrels!



What’s a death barrel, you say? That thing up there is a death barrel. There were hundreds and hundreds of these things, whizzing around at top speed, barely slowing for other oncoming death barrels and hapless tourists. There was a ban on tourists visiting the tuna auction between Dec 08 and Jan 09, and after being there, I’m kinda surprised that they lifted the ban. I'm surprised that they let tourists visit at all! The market is REALLY busy and I felt like I was constantly in the way (and about to be run over by a death barrel).





Nevertheless, we made it to the tuna auction area safely. One of the changes the market made after lifting the ban is that tourists can only view the auction in a designated observation area and no flash photography is allowed. Well, the observation area is a skinny little area of the floor that has been cordoned off, and it’s pretty tiny. We managed to just squeeze ourselves in to get a look at the action. It was fairly difficult to stay there for long as there were so many people – most people just seemed to content themselves in taking a couple of photos and then leaving.



Buyers checking the quality of the fish

After being in the tuna auction area for a while, we left and had a wander around the seafood stalls. So much seafood!














There was lots of interesting seafood for sale. I wish I knew what everything was!




Fresh wasabi - so amazing!

We also had a walk around the vegetable and fruit section. This was MUCH more sedate than the seafood area.



Afterwards, we stopped at one of the small restaurants inside the market for a sashimi breakfast. The tiny shop seated 10 people along a counter. During our breakfast, the owner gave us Japanese lessons. He was a real character!



On the plate we had tuna, bonito, octopus, a raw prawn/shrimp, and a cooked prawn. I particularly loved the bonito. It had a melt in the mouth texture and was delicious. The raw prawn/shrimp was also a revelation – it was very sweet and creamy. We were told that they were a specific kind called sweet shrimp.

Along with the sashimi, there was also rice, miso soup and pickles. They barely got a look in - it was all about the sashimi. Gosh it was a memorable meal, it was some of the best sashimi I’ve ever eaten, and definitely the best sashimi we ate on our trip!

Plane food: Cathay Pacific

And we are back! We had a fantastic time in Japan and I have many, many food tales and a gazillion photos.

We flew to Japan on Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong, mostly so I could stop there and hang out with my mum on the way back. It was really nice to have that time there (even though it was stinking hot and busy).

On our first flight, from Melbourne to Hong Kong, we were served dinner and breakfast.

Dinner was a choice between braised shredded pork with preserved vegetables in light soya sauce and steamed rice or pan-fried basa with tomato, parsley and lemon myrtle sauce, mashed poatoes with green peas. There was also a vegetarian pasta choice.

I had the pork. It was okay. Nothing amazing but still edible.



Alastair had the fish. His meal looked like it was the better choice.



There was also coleslaw with salami and a little lamington for dessert.





There was no choice for breakfast – it was a croissant, a pastry, a muffin, fruit, and yoghurt. A bit too much sugar for my liking.



It was a short flight from Hong Kong to Japan, and we were served lunch. Thank goodness too, because we hadn’t eaten. This was Alastair's lunch, and for the life of me I cannot remember what it was. Chicken? With rice?



And my lunch - fish with rice. It was fine.



On our way home, from Japan to Hong Kong, Alastair and I both choose the chicken (with rice, natch!). Note the little Tim Tam for dessert!



After a busy stop over in HK, we then headed home to Melbourne. On the flight back home, we were served dinner and breakfast. For dinner, Alastair choose the fish with potatoes. This looked pretty good. Better than my choice...



Which was pork strips with rice. It was okay, but it was pretty similar to all the other meals on Cathay Pacific thus far!



There was an ice cream for dessert. No lamingtons this time.



And breakfast was similar to when we flew out to Japan. There was a warm bread roll thingie with mushrooms and cheese, a muffin and a little pastry. The bread thing was quite nice but I found the muffin too sweet and couldn't stomach more than a bite of the pastry.

All in all, economy food on Cathay Pacific? Pretty average, with the meals being mostly uninspired. The price of being in cattle class, I suppose! Ho hum. Fortunately the food we ate in Japan was a million times better - stay tuned for more!

Bagels

Note: This is a scheduled post - Alastair and I are currently in Hong Kong and will be back home soon. Normal programming will resume shortly!

At my old job, I had a terrible habit of not taking breakfast to work, and buying breakfast at the cafe in our building. I also had a bad habit of taking breakfast into work, not eating it, and buying something instead. Gaaah.

Finally, something clicked, and I realised I was doing this because I didn’t like what I had planned for breakfast! I kept buying bagels for breakfast, and "ding ding" I realised that I could just make my own.

So I did! And they were awesome. They were very chewy, which I do like, but due to the chewiness I preferred them toasted rather than fresh. I stashed several in the freezer for future breakfasts.

The recipe says that when the bagels are put into the water for boiling, they should sink first and then rise back to the surface. Mine all floated – and rather annoying, there was nothing to indicate how to make them more “bagely” so they would sink. And for some reason, when they came out of the water, they were all lumpy! So not very attractive, but I managed to hide the lumpiness with sesame seeds and poppy seeds.



Bagels

The recipe is from here. I have rewritten it to make it easier to follow, but I recommend you read it through because it has some useful tips.

6-8 cups bread flour
4 tablespoons instant yeast
6 tablespoons sugar or light honey
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups hot water
Vegetable oil
Water for boiling
3-5 tablespoons malt syrup or sugar
A few handfuls of cornmeal (I used fine polenta)

Pour 3 cups of warm water in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar or honey. Sprinkle the yeast over and stir to dissolve. Set it aside for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, the yeast should be nice and foamy (if this doesn’t happen, start again with new yeast!). Add 3 cups of flour as well as the salt to the yeast mixture and start mixing it in. Add more flour, half a cup at a time, mixing each addition thoroughly before adding more. Eventually, it will become a stiff dough (you may not need all the flour).

Turn out on to a clean, dry countertop and knead until it is smooth and elastic. It should be heavy and stiffer than a normal bread dough.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover it with a damp kitchen towel. Leave the bowl in a dry, warm place and leave it to rise until it is doubled in volume (I left mine for a couple of hours).

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. When the dough has risen, get the boiling water ready. Get a large pot and fill it with a generous amount of water. Put it on high heat and let the water come to the boil. When it reaches a boil, add the syrup or sugar and turn down the heat so the water barely simmers.

Turn out your dough on to a clean work surface, punch it down, and divide into about 16 even-sized pieces. To form the bagels, shape the dough into a long cylindrical snake shape. Wrap it around a rolling pin, push the two ends together to join, and then roll the bagel up and down the rolling pin to smooth out the sides.

When all the bagels are formed, let them rest for 10 minutes. They will rise slightly, ideally by about 1/4th volume.

One by one, drop the bagels into the pot of simmering water. Only have two or three bagels in the water at a time – and they will puff up so watch out for it. The bagels should sink first and then flat to the top. Let the bagel simmer for three minutes then turn it over and simmer for another three minutes.

Lift the bagel out of the water and set on to a clean kitchen towel. The bagels should be shiny, due to the malt syrup/sugar in the boiling water.

When all the bagels have been boiled, sprinkle baking trays with cornmeal. Arrange the bagels on top, put them in the oven, and bake for about 25 minutes. Turn them over and bake for another 10 minutes. This helps to prevent flat bottomed bagels.

Remove from the oven and let them cool completely on wire racks before slicing.