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News
05.05.2009
May 5 – Children's Day (Kodomo-no Hi)
 Initially this day was called Boy's day and girls had another holiday called Hina Matsuri (March 3). However in 1948 it was decided to rename this holiday Children's Day and unite two public holidays into one national. However some beliefs typical of Boy's Day remained until now. For example houses are decorated with bright fabric banners and toylike samurai helmets.
This day kashiwa-mochi and timaki are cooked.
Timaki came to Japan from China along with Boy's Day. These are balls prepared of sticky (mochi gome) and not sticky (uruchi) rice and wrapped in bamboo or reed leafs. Bamboo is good for intestinal track and ball wrapped in it are good for health. Also if you unfold a bamboo leaf painted green rice looks beautiful. Kashiwa-mochi is rice flat cakes wrapped in oak leafs. Oak is a symbol of longevity. It is said that oak leafs do not fall ("do not separate from father's house") until new sprouts appear. That's why the process of inheritance does not stop.
A traditional beverage for this day is amazake, which contains a lot of useful amino acids.
AMAZAKE Preparation:
Put a cup of boiled rice in sakekasu (a pomace that left after preparation of sake from rice, rice yeast and water) and fill up with warm water (50-55° C). Wrap a vessel in a blanket to prevent its cooling down. Drink is ready in 6-8 hours.
KASHIWA-MOCHI Ingredients (5 it.):
Jyoshinko (rice flour) - 100 g
Shiratamako (adhesive rice flour) - 30 g
Sugar - 20 g
Kudzuko (or potato starch) - 10 g
Sweet haricot paste - 200 g
Boiled water (about 40° C) - 120 ml
Oak leaves (salted a bit) - 5 items
Absinth (if you wish) - 1 tbsp
Preparation:
1. Divide haricot paste into 5 equal portions and shape balls.
2. Mix in cup rice flour, adhesive rice flour and sugar. Mix by hands and add water. Make dough.
3. Divide dough into 5-6 pieces. Lay a towel on the steamer's bottom. Put the pieces in steamer. Cook 20 minutes on strong fire.
4. While the dough is hot pound it by wooden pestle till it becomes smooth, nubbinless.
5. If you cook kashiwa-mochi with absinth, put it in boiling water, leave for 5 minutes, pour water out and add absenth in the dough. Mix thoroughly.
6. Wrap the dough in towel or parchment, squash superfluous moisture and work the douth in the shape of a roll right in towel. Then unwrap the douth and cut on 5 pieces.
7. At first flatten each piece out by the sharp of the palm. Then shape round cakes 8 cm in diameter. It's better to roll out thin cakes to make filling easier.
8. Put some haricot paste on the cake and roll the dough in the shape of ball. Thoroughly fasten cake's edges together.
9. After that you can eat mochi. But if you steam them for about 2-3 minutes they'll be more delicious.
10. Wash oak leaves and dry. Cool ready mochi and wrap them into oak leaves. Then you can steam them again for a while.
11. If you use oak leaves from a tree, at first boil them for some minutes and then wipe with a towel.
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