Osechi

Japanese New Year's tradition

Osechi ingredients are symbolic foods for Japanese New Year, each representing a wish for the coming year, like good health (black beans - kuromame), prosperity/fertility (herring roe - kazunoko), wealth (sweet chestnuts/potatoes - kuri-kinton), long life (shrimp - ebi), and clear future (lotus root - renkon). These foods are prepared in advance and packed in lacquered boxes (jūbako) to allow families to rest and celebrate together, honoring traditions dating back centuries for good fortune and a fresh start. 

1. Datemaki (scroll shaped egg) : Scholarship

2. Kuri-kinton: (boiled and mashed chestnut)Wealth

3. Kohaku Kamaboko: Sunrise

4. Kobu-maki: (kombu seaweed) Happiness

5. Kazunoko: (fish roe) Fertility

6. Ebi: (shrimp looks like an old man with his back bent) Longevity

7. Kuromame: (black soybean) Health

8. Tatsukuri: (candied dry sardine) Bounty

9. Renkon: (lotus root with holes) Foreseeable, Good Future

10. Kikuka-Kabu: (turnip in the shape of cyrsanthemum) Celebration & Promotion

11. Gobo: (burdock root) Strength & Stability

12. Tai: (red snapper) Auspiciousness & Celebration

My Osechi includes;

• Tazukuri

• Datemaki

• Kuromame

• Shrimp

• Grilled fish

• Matsukazeyaki (meatloaf cut in the shape of a fan)

• Daikon namasu (thinly cut daikon and carrot, red and white are the color of celebration)

• Kikka kabu  

• Kamaboko

• Tataki gobo

• Kombu maki (shishamo inside)

• Nishime (lotus, gobo, carrot, green bean, shiitake, chikuwa, takenoko, konnyaku, etc..)