How to Prepare Kazunoko - Easy Herring Roe Preparation

 

       Kazunoko, herring roe, is one of osechi (おせち), traditional Japanese New Year's food. Osechi is a collection of lucky foods such as kazunoko, chikuzenni and kuromame. 

       Surprisingly, I got salted kazunoko from my coworker last month, despite it not being the New Year season. Preparing kazunoko requires a minimum of 12 hours to properly desalinate and marinate before it’s ready to be savored. Preparing kazunoko is a straightforward process, yet it requires many hours to complete.Today, I'm going to share with you how to prepare kazunoko.    

Ingredients (5 Pieces)

100g (5 Pieces) of Kazunoko (Salted Herring Roe)

 

Salt Water 

     500ml of Water

     3g (1/2 Teaspoon) of Salt

Seasoning

　150 ml of Water

    1 Tablespoon of Sake

    1 Tablespoon of Mirin

    1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce

    1 Pack (2g) of Katusobushi (Dried Bonito Flakes)

1. Desalinate the Kazunoko

    Combine water and salt in a container and mix well. Soak the salted herring roe in the salt water in the refrigerator for 3 hours. Discard the salt water and prepare a fresh batch. Soak the herring roe in the new salt water in the refrigerator for another 3 hours. Finally, gently peel off the membrane from each piece of herring roe.

2.Prepare the Seasoning

     Put water, sake, mirin, and soy sauce in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and add dried bonito flakes. Let the mixture cool completely.

3. Marinate the Kazunoko

       Put the desalted herring roe in the seasoning mixture. Marinate it in the refrigerator overnight.

4. Enjoy!

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    My entries related to Japan can be seen here. 

    ★You can find my recipe entries through my Pinterest.

Learning Kanji Was Hard!

     Many people who study Japanese as a second language probably struggle with learning Japanese kanji. Even thought Japanese is my first language, learning kanji was not easy at all. When I was in the first grade at age 6 in Japan, I started learning kanji. There are numerous number of Japanese kanji, so students in Japan need to study it for many years. I studied kanji until I graduated from a high school. If truth be truth, even though I studied kanji for 12 years in Japan, I still find new kanji once in a while now. It's almost impossible to memorize all advanced Japanese kanji.

     When I was in elementary school, I didn't like studying. Students periodically needed to take kanji quizzes, but I really hated memorizing so many number of kanji. I thought it's impossible to memorize hundreds of kanji each time. My teacher told students that you needed to take a makeup quiz if you couldn't get a score of 80% and above. I always failed a kanji quiz and was required to take a makeup quiz. I thought it would be okay because I always got a very good score in a makeup quiz. :) I didn't really like memorizing studies such as kanji and history, but I was good at art, math and biology.

     Now, I don't think people should know all advanced kanji, but people must know all commonly used kanji like the ones at least Japanese high school level. It's because if you use only hiragana and katakana, you're Japanese level looks Japanese preschooler, but if you use more and more kanji, you look very smart. You will be capable of reading and writing in Japanese. You can truly enjoy more things in Japanese. :)


      My entries related to Japan can be seen here.
http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/search/label/Japan

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■Top 10 Products You Should Buy at Japanese Supermarkets (for Beginners!)

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Japanese and English Are Just Languages I Use Everyday

     In my yesterday's entry, I wrote that Japanese kanji is not cool to me at all. It's because I fully understand Japanese language. Kanji is just some of Japanese letters to me. Let's say if you are not Japanese, when you open up Japanese newspaper, you might have a wow moment. It's because these Japanese letters look beautiful design to you. How about English newspaper? When you open English newspaper, will you wow as well? No, I won't. However, about 8 years ago I didn't understand any English at all and thought English newspaper was very cool. Now, Japanese and English are just languages I use everyday, so I don't have any wow moment for both languages.

    These are just advertisements of my local supermarkets, but people who don't understand English might think these advertisements are so cool.

    Which language look cool to you?  

English: Organic Cucumber 99 cents each

Japanese : 無農薬　有機栽培 胡瓜　１本　９９円

English : Sweet Seedless Watermelon  $3.99 each

Japanese : 種なし西瓜  １玉　399円

      When I send packages to Japan, I always use L.A. Times newspapers as packing materials because reusing newspaper is environment-friendly and it's free (I pay annual subscription fee though). I've sometimes received comments, "Thanks! By the way, English newspaper was so cool!"  I was surprised at those comments and realized that I used to feel the same way.

     Tomorrow, I will write about my episodes of studying kanji.



     My entries related to Japan can be seen here.
http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/search/label/Japan

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Is a Japanese Kanji Cool?

     I've sometimes seen people who have Japanese kanji tattoos on their arms in the U.S. It's pretty surprising me because I have never seen people in Japan have a kanji tattoo. Only few young people in Japan have small tattoos (but not kanji ones) as a part of their fashion, but it's usually not acceptable to show tattoos in public places such as onsen (public baths) and work places in Japan. Traditional Japanese tattoo is called irezumi (刺青) in Japanese. Irezumi is associated with yakuza, which is a kind of Japanese mafias. Because I used to work at hospitals in Japan for many years, I have met some yakuza patients there. (You know yakuza people also get sick sometimes.) They had very beautiful irezumi on all over their backs and arms. These irezumi never scared me actually, but I thought they were living in a different world. Anyway, when I see people in the U.S. wear kanji tattoos, these don't look cool to me at all. It's because kanji is just kanji. I don't have any favorite kanji indeed. To me, languages other than Japanese and English look more attractive. Because I only understand Japanese and English, other languages look like symbol or design to me. I think that's why people in Japan never have Japanese kanji tattoos.

     I will write more about it tomorrow. (I am running out of time.)


     My entries related to Japan can be seen here.
http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/search/label/Japan

       These are my entries you might like.

■How to Make Tamago Kake Gohan - Raw Egg on Rice

■Top 10 Products You Should Buy at Japanese Supermarkets (for Beginners!)

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