2/3/2021 The Temple Kitchen | Sharing the insights and recipes of shojin cuisine from the temple chefs

om the temple chefs of Japan

The Temple Kitchen

Sharing the insights and recipes of shojin cuisine from the

temple chefs of Japan

Hijiki Inari Pockets

Posted: August 23, 2016 | Author: Cate Kodo Juno | Filed under: Recipes | Tags: abura-age, dashi,
Genbo Nishikawa, hijiki, kanpyo, momen tofu, yamato-imo | Leave a comment
This is a dish from Buddhist priest and shojin-ryori chef, Genbo Nishikawa, who is the abbot of Torin-in
temple in Kyoto. This recipe is a seasonal dish that is enjoyed during late spring when fresh hijiki is
available, but it works just fine if you use dried hijiki.

Hijiki no Inarizume

Ingredients (for full descriptions see “Ingredients“):

Momen tofu 120g
Yamato-imo (mountain potato) 30g
Hijiki seaweed 50g (reconstituted with water if dried hijiki is used)
Abura-age (tofu pockets) 4 pieces
Kanpyo 16 pieces 15cms long (calabash gourd shavings reconstituted with water)
Cooking liquid:
Water 2 cups
Dashi stock 1/2 cup (made with konbu and shiitake)
Usukuchi shoyu 2+1/2 Tbsp
Sugar 3 Tbsp

Preparation:
1) Wrap the tofu in a cloth and squeeze firmly, then place the tofu in a suribachi (earthenware mortar for
grinding).
2) Peel the yamato-imo, grate it and add it to the tofu. Mix well.
3) Chop up the hijiki and add it to the bowl with the yamato-imo and tofu. Mix lightly.
4) Using a wooden pestle or some such, roll over the abura-age several times, then cut the pieces in half
lengthwise.
5) Divide the mixture in the bowl into 8 portions and stuff each of the tofu pockets. Secure by tying the
kanpyo in two places. The yamato-imo tends to swell up, so don’t overstuff the pockets.

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6) Place the cooking liquid ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Carefully arrange the
rolls in the pot and simmer on a low heat for about 20 minutes
7) Turn off the heat and place the rolls in individual serving dishes. Cut the rolls in half to serve.

Source: Kyounoryouri

Soy Bean Meditation

Posted: January 29, 2015 | Author: Cate Kodo Juno | Filed under: Recipes, Teachings | Tags:
Bhaddekaratta, Buddha, Kakuho Aoe, meditation, Setsubun, shojin, soy beans | Leave a comment
Here is an extract from Kakuho Aoe‘s book “Food for the Buddha” about how to use soy beans to make dashi soup
stock and practice meditation at the same time…

Roasting soy beans with your ears and nose!

The kind of dashi that is most common to household cooking is the one made with konbu seaweed and
bonito flakes (katsuo-bushi). Small dried sardines, called niboshi, and shiitake mushrooms are also used. In
the temple, we don’t use any ingredients that come from animals, so katsuo-bushi and sardines are not
used; however, we do use a variety of other ingredients and so never lack variation. One particularly
useful ingredients for dashi is soy beans. Dashi made from soy beans has a full-bodied fragrant
sweetness.

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Fresh soy beans come into season in autumn, but because of the festival of Setsubun, you’ll find dried
soy beans in the shops early in February. But once the
festival is over, don’t waste those beans! Try and make
dashi with them instead.

It’s easy to prepare. First of all, simply roast the beans in a

frypan. Then put the roasted beans in boiling water and just
leave them there for 24 hours. Then the soy bean dashi is
ready to use – just sieve the beans and use the soaking
liquid. Although that’s all there is to making this dashi, in
fact if you pay careful attention with your eyes, with your
ears, and with your nose, this can become quite a profound
experience.

When you are roasting the soy beans, first you’ll hear a light
dry sound. After a little while, this changes to a more
substantial somewhat weightier sound as you hear the
beans rolling around; then, before long, it changes back to a
rather pleasing parching sound.

However, it’s not quite as simple as just “frying up a few soy beans”, so to speak: it depends on the room
temperature, as well as the temperature of the pan; also, the age and quality of the beans will affect the
result. But most of all, you need to use your ears! Looking at the clock won’t help: it’s crucial to listen for
that subtle change in sound. It’s difficult to explain, but when you try it for yourself, you’ll understand
what I mean. But if you pause too long to think about whether or not there was that slight shift in sound,
before you know it the beans are burnt!

Also, between the start and finish of roasting, the smell of

beans changes. The beans have a characteristic subtle scent
that becomes very fragrant as they are roasted; however, if
you relax your attention, the smell can become harsh and
bitter instead, which is another sign that the beans are
getting burnt. So, to create a rich and sweet dashi, it’s
essential to concentrate on roasting the beans.

In order to listen fully with your ears and utilise your nose
to track the smell of the beans, you need to pay close and
constant attention to that frypan for about 30 minutes. To
make soybean dashi, you’re literally going to use the whole of your body in an ongoing dialogue with
the beans.

However, regardless of how much you pay attention and commit yourself heart and soul to the task, you
won’t always end up with the same flavour. But that’s what makes the challenge of making this dashi is
so interesting!

There is a sutra that has come down to us, written in Pali, called the Bhaddekaratta Sutra. In this sutra,
Shakamuni Buddha explains some fundamental teachings to his disciples:

“You shouldn’t chase after the past or place expectations on the future… do what needs to be done
today with your full attention.”

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If you think about how good something was

yesterday, then that is nothing more than fixating on
the past, and likewise, if today you hold onto the idea
that it’s going to get better in the future, then you’re
deluding yourself by being fixated on a future that
hasn’t yet arrived.

And so it is when you first encounter the soy beans: be

fully aware and with a clear mind simply observe
carefull and work in silence. In doing this you will
draw out the best flavour.

Now then, after you’ve made dashi with the soy

beans, there are ways to further use them because
there is still plenty of flavour left in the beans. I
recommend “sweet and salty beans”. If you simmer
the beans with sugar, soy sauce and mirin it makes a
nice snack for the kids or to have with a drink or as an
appetizer.

If you
haven’t
soaked or
roasted
the beans long enough, then they will remain hard in the
middle and when you boil them like this they won’t soften.
On the other hand, if you roasted them too much, then the
burnt taste will permeate the dish and make it smell
unpleasant as well, so that’s no good either. But if you have
been fully attentive to the roasting the beans, then not only
will the dashi be delicious but anything else you make will
be delicious as well.

Source: 『ほとけごはん』青江覚峰

Introducing Kakuho Aoe

Posted: January 22, 2015 | Author: Cate Kodo Juno | Filed under: Teachers | Tags: Asakusa, Kakuho
Aoe, Ryokusenji | Leave a comment
 

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Kuroyami-gohan: eating dinner at Ryokusenji blindfolded in the dark

Kakuho Aoe is a Jodo Shin-shu Buddhist priest, who is revitalising Buddhism with his techno-savvy and
his passion for food, both of which he is using as tools for awakening. Aoe has helped to create a virtual
Buddhist temple that utilises social media techniques to bring Buddhism into the digital age. But it is his
interesting approach to food as meditation that interests us here: once a month he holds a special meal
event at his temple in Asakusa (Tokyo), Ryokusenji, in which the guests eat a beautifully
prepared shojin-ryori meal, but which they cannot see because they are wearing blindfolds (sleep
masks). This event is called “kurayami-gohan” 暗闇ごはん, “meal in the dark.”

Taking away your sense of sight, says Aoe, forces you pay more attention to
your other senses of taste, smell, hearing and touch, and so you experience
eating a meal in a completely different way. While sitting in the unusual
setting of a temple room surrounded by people you don’t know, your level of
awareness of everything involved in the act of eating a meal is significantly
raised. Rather than just eating in perfunctory way, you become completely
focussed on every moment of eating: the feel of the different textures of the
ingredients, the different sounds of the food as you bite into it, trying to
imagine what it is you are eating, etc, all contribute to experiencing the meal
on a completely new level of appreciation. Eating becomes a meditation.

Rev Aoe has also published several cookbooks about shojin-ryori.

Rev Kakuho Aoe

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THE STORY "OF MONK"

from EXIT FILM inc.

02:57

Source:
Ryokusenji

Azuki-kayu
Posted: January 15, 2015 | Author: Cate Kodo Juno | Filed under: Recipes | Tags: azuki, Genbo
Nishikawa, koshogatsu, okayu, Torinin | Leave a comment
Before the Meiji era, at which time Japan adopted the Western calendar, the old calendar was based on
the phases of the moon. The full moon always fell on the 15th day of the lunar month, and the full moon
of the first month of the year was celebrated as Koshogatsu ⼩正⽉. Today in Japan, this festival is often
celebrated on the 15th day of the 1st month, i.e. January 15th, although this now has no connection to the
full moon (what a pity!). Since the Heian era, on the morning of Koshogatsu, a special rice porridge
made with red azuki beans and mochi is eaten: In Japanese, this special dish is called azuki-kayu ⼩⾖粥,
but in Kyoto it is called azuki-no-okaisan.

At Torin-in, a sub-temple within the Myoshinji temple complex in Kyoto, from the 15th Jan to 31st Jan,
you can enjoy visit Torin-in and receive the azuki rice porridge with a beautiful tray of shojin cuisine, as
well as an amulet to take home that is for protection from illness and for the prosperity of the family.
(Torin-in is the home of Genbo Nishikawa, about whom I have written before. Details about how to
participate in this even are given at the bottom of this post.)

At Torin-in there is a special Buddhist ritual performed on the morning of January 15th, which the public
are welcome to join, where a little bit of the azuki-kayu is offered to all the trees in the garden of Torin-in,
while sutras are being chanted.

Here is the recipe for azuki-no-okaisan from Kyokarashi, a website dedicated to Kyoto obanzai (home-style

cooking)
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Azuki-no-okaisan at Torin-in

Ingredients:

Some azuki beans*

Water as needed
Rice ~ 1/5 cup per person
Round mochi ~ 1 per person
Salt

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1. Soak the azuki beans overnight and then rinse.

2. Fill a pot with plenty of water and simmer the beans
3. While the mixture is still hot, transfer it to a thermos flask and leave it overnight
4. Make okayu with the rice.
5. Add boiled mochi to the okayu, then add a suitable quantity of the now-softened azuki beans from the
thermos.
6. Add salt to taste
With the leftover beans and water remaining in the flask you can make ozenzai by adding sugar, salt, and
grilled mochi

*Not giving clear measurements is very typical of Japanese recipes: there is always leeway given for you
to experiment and decide how much of an ingredient is to your own taste. Also, where you live affects
the ingredients, especially the quality of your water, so the quantity of ingredients will vary according to
where it is grown, how old it is, where you live, etc. It is up to you to refine your own sense of taste.
However, that’s all well and good if you are an experienced cook! But if you would like a recipe with
more concrete details, you can read about how to make red bean okayu (in English) at Just Bento

Sources:
Photo: Oagaritei

Shogoin-daikon
Posted: January 11, 2015 | Author: Cate Kodo Juno | Filed under: Recipes | Tags: daikon, Kitcho,
shogoin daikon, Tokuoka Kunio | Leave a comment

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Shōgoin Daikon 聖護院⼤根

Shōgoin daikon 聖護院⼤根 is one of the traditional vegetables of Kyoto and is sometimes referred to as
Kyo-daikon. It is said that during the early 19th century, a farmer moved to Kyoto from Owari province
(present-day Aichi-ken) and started cultivating ordinary long daikon radishes in the vicinity of the
temple Shōgoin. It seems that some of the daikon seeds produced a mutant round daikon, but the farmer
was so intrigued with this new vegetable that he continued to cultivate the variation instead of the
regular-shaped daikon. Since then it has become one of Kyoto’s unique vegetables, valued for its shape
and its very fine white flesh with a mild flavour, much suited to the delicacy of Kyoto cuisine. When
boiled it keeps its firm texture and doesn’t break apart like regular daikon.

The shōgoin daikon is mostly now grown in the northern part of Kyoto prefecture in the Tango area,
where the heavy snowfalls in winter produce the best flavour. It is also dried and shipped all over Japan.
It is sometimes called vegetarian dried squid because of its resemblance to the squid which are cut and
dried on racks in a similar way.

Shōgoin daikon can be prepared in much the same ways as standard daikon, but the flavour is milder
and slightly sweeter, with a firmer texture; however, it is rarely used as “oroshi” (finely grated).

Kunio Tokuoka, owner-chef of the famous Kitcho restaurant, has this to say about daikon:

“Even though daikon is most well known as an accompaniment to other foods, such as finely grated
and served with whitebait or grated with a dash of shoyu (soy sauce) served with mackerel and so
on, at Kitcho we like to serve our customers something with a little element of surprise, so daikon is
prepared in a more unpredictable way such as grilled or as tempura. Unlike turnips, in which all
parts can be used, only the very middle part of the daikon is used, where the flavour is at its best.”

Here is Chef Tokuoka’s recipe for Furofuki Daikon – Simmered Daikon with Miso

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Daikon
Konbu dashi
First lot of rinse water that was used to clean the rice for dinner (this water contains rice starch that
keeps the daikon from discolouring and maintains a bright whiteness)
Awase-miso (miso sauce):
100 gms hatcho-miso: the most highly regarded miso, a rich dark brown, made only from soybeans
135 mls sake
100 gms sugar
Yoke of one small egg

How to make the awase-miso:

Firstly, mix the egg yolk and sugar well, then blend in the sake. Warm the hatcho miso in bain marie.
When it’s cooled, add it to the egg and sake. Keep aside.

1. Under the skin of the daikon is rather tough layer that should be removed. If you don’t peel it enough
then the daikon won’t have soft texture and will be too hard. So peel the skin quite thickly – up to 2 cms
deep (alternatively, cut the daikon into slices and then cut around each slice). Using the water that has

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been left after first rinsing the rice for dinner, parboil the daikon. Parboiling in this way takes away the
bitterness of the daikon and helps bring out its sweetness.

2. Using a good amount of konbu dashi, lightly simmer the daikon until tender; in this way, the umami
of the konbu gradually penetrates the daikon. The key point here is that in order for the heat to draw out
the daikon’s natural sweetness, the deciding factor is the quality of the konbu dashi that you use. And in
order to make the most effective dashi, please use the best quality konbu that is marketed for use in
dashi.

3. Place the daikon in a bowl, spoon a little of the awase-miso over the daikon, and garnish with grated
yuzu zest (or other citrus zest) and pinch of togarashi or shichimi (or similar types of chilli powder).

Sources:
JA Kyoto
「嵐⼭吉兆冬の⾷卓」徳岡邦夫

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