SUSHI

I developed a taste for "sushi" when I re-visited Japan as a teacher on JET programme. My interest in the history of sushi deepened as I sampled and enjoyed various types of sushi during my stay there. That's when I realized that the world of sushi is so vast. Each prefecture has it's own kind of sushi. 

I particularly enjoyed "Tekone sushi", a speciality of Ise, Mie prefecture. It is fish piled on rice but is well-mixed. My Japanese friend's mother introduced me to this new kind of sushi as a part of my ongoing study of sushis.

Sushis have made traditional Japanese cuisine more famous worldwide. I have been reading about different types of sushis lately. "Nigiri-zushi" and "Maki-zushi" are quite popular everywhere and naturally I too enjoyed it's flavours. Nigiri-zushi as we all know it is basically a clump of sushi rice (folding vinegar into rice) pressed together and decorated with a topping of raw fish or cooked fish. I read that Nigiri means “press in the hand".It is best to have it at restaurants than at home.

The traditional sushi takes a long time to prepare. Funa-zushi from Shiga Prefecture is one of the oldest. Fish is pickled in rice and salt for about half a year and allowed to ferment. When it matures, you have a thin slice of the fish accompanied by hot water. It's quite delicious actually.

Maki-zushi reminds me of swiss rolls for some reason. Maki-zushi or Nori-Maki is rolled sushi and is again very popular in other countries too. A bamboo rolling mat is used here to wrap the sushi rice and various ingredients in nori (seaweed).It is then sliced.Maki-zushi can be easily prepared at home. 

Sushi doesn't always have raw fish. Some are just seasoned with sake, vinegar and soy sauce. Ingredients are at times just mixed in sushi rice and then seasoned with soy sauce and vinegar. Talking about raw fish, I love sashimi too ( raw fish served by itself ).  

For some, life is a bed of roses...For others a constant struggle...And for some life is a never ending pain… Life sure has difficulties but in spite of these challenges and problems we should be willing to try our best…

It is important to think positively and responsibly about every situation once the storm of anger, denial and tears have passed. Sometimes life is sweet and sometimes bitter. Life is sometimes happiness and sometimes sadness... " Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam " Such is the reality and truth of life ! 

There’s more to life than happy endings. Such is life !What is important is to live positively by living today to it's fullest. One life to live ! " Zindagi na milegi dobara..."



Taiko performance at Sake Matsuri (Festival)





Red chillies from Kalimpong...Was told that these are used in pickles.



Asi es La Vida !

Meet Life ! A child is first greeted by life at time of birth... Then Life is a series of introductions... Gradually  as time passes by , life introduces us to joys,laughter,sorrows,tears,pain and dreams...It introduces us to new emotions everyday. We meet expectations and disappointments through life and we have to live and accept each meeting. Some introductions of life are pleasant, some unpleasant. But we have to mingle with all aspects of life and we have to interact with all the experiences it introduces us to.Through the journey with life, one has to greet every chance and every opportunity that comes our way...There is no escape from these moments life makes us meet. Through people and places, life acquaints us with ourselves as well...It acquaints us with our strenghts  and weaknesses as well...It also gives us hope. Such is life. Asi es La Vida...Life continues as usual.   

KALIMPONG

INDIA

Famous Sakes& Shochus introduced at a Sake event recently ...

Recently I was honoured to assist a delegation of Presidents and owners of Sake & Shochu Brewers in introducing exclusive sakes and shochus at Wasabi restaurant, Taj Mahal Hotel. It was really nice interpreting for them and getting introduced to sake brewing process.

Mr. Hideharu Ohta (Pres. DAISHICHI Brewery, Fukushima-established in 1752), Mr. Ryuichiro Masuda (Masuizumi Junmai Daiginjo), Mr. Sudo (Pres. Sudohonke) & Mr. Watanabe (Pres. Kyoya Shochu Distillery founded in 1834) introduced their best sakes and shochus in India at the hotel and the Japanese Embassy Matsuri (festival). It was a great honour and pleasure to meet them.
I am looking forward to learning more about sakes and sharing my knowledge with you in the coming days. So I have decided to have a separate section that will talk about sakes and how best we can absorb it in our daily lifestyle and cooking. My mother has been using sake in Indian cooking since the 80s when she published a book on healthy Indian cooking in Tokyo which catered to Japanese tastes. Inspired by her, I would like to share some tips to acquaint you with Sake so that you could welcome it in your house too. Sakes complement a lot of Indian dishes too.

SHOCHU

Shochu is Japan's traditional distilled hard liquor. Authentic shochu is distilled once unlike beer. It is mainly made from sweet potatoes but it is also made from barley, rice, buckwheat, brown sugar, dates, sesame’s seeds and various vegetables.
It derives it's characteristics from sake and koji. Shochu is on par with Scotch/Whisky. Shochu can also be used for marinating and seasoning. It enhances the taste of ingredients and softens the smells of meat and seafood.
Shochu can be served chilled, warm, hot, and straight on the rocks .It can be added to cocktails. Sweet potato Shochu can be served tea ceremony style.

SAKE

Lately I have been reading a lot about how Sake (Sa-ke) is made. Sake is a Japanese alcoholic drink made from fermented rice. Sake is known as Japanese rice wine around the world. There is so much of information available on the internet regarding sake brewing. It was interesting to sharpen my knowledge about Sake.

In honorific Japanese it is referred to as O-sake. Actually sake refers to alcoholic drinks in general. In Japan, Japanese rice wine is known as 'nihonshu'.

It can be served cold, lukewarm or hot. Sake is usually drunk in small porcelain cups or wooden box like cups but now there are different ways of serving it. It can be served straight or can be used in cocktails now.

There are pasteurized sakes and those that are not.  Sake can also be used in cooking, sauces and marinades.There are various varieties of sake. For instance Junmai Diginjo-shu, Junmai Ginjo-shu, Junmai-shu etc. Junmai Daiginjo-shu is a very special brew of pure rice with rice polishing ratio of below 50 %.  Junmai Ginjo-shu's rice polishing ratio is below 60% and Junmai-shu's is below 70%.

 Sake is produced by a brewing process which may be similar to that of beer yet very different. Rice is used in case of sake instead of barley which is fermented to make beer.  Sake is called rice wine and is compared to beer at times. But Sake is a unique type of fermented alcohol. Sake would be the only beverage in the world using koji. Koji is one of the key ingredients in sake brewing.  Basically there are five elementsinvolved in brewing Sake-

Water, Rice, Yeast, Land, Weather and Technical Skill

I would like to talk about the Sake brewing process at length sometime. To summarize Sake is a result of brewing process that uses lots of water and rice-

1. Polished Rice is washed, soaked and steam cooked without water. Steam is brought through the bottom of the rice. The steaming method is called 'koshiki'.

2. Then the rice is mixed with yeast and 'koji' (rice cultivated with a mold).

3. The whole mix is allowed to ferment with more rice/koji/water added in 3 batches over 4 days.

Fermentation occurs in a large tank (the process is called 'shikomi'...the quality of rice, the degree to which koji mold has propagated, temperature variations and other factors are different for each shikomi) .There are different methods of fermentation.  

4. This mash ('moromi') is allowed to sit from 18-32 days after which it is pressed ('joso'), filtered ('roka') and blended.

[ SAKE BREWING PROCESS :  POLISHING  RICE (Seimai)-->  WASHING & SOAKING--> STEAMING (koshiki) & COOLING--> KOJI MAKING(seigiku)--> YEAST STARTER (moto)--> MASH (moromi)-rice/water/koji added in 3 stages over 4days --> PRESSING(joso)--> FILTRATION(roka)--> PASTEURIZATION--> AGING/MATURING ]

                                             Bunraku

In Japan, another traditional performing art Bunraku is delightful too. It’s a refined form of puppet theatre which involves music played on ‘shamisen’ (a three-stringed instrument… which I tried to play once).In Bunraku the story is narrated through singing. It has been popular and widely acclaimed since 16^th C.

                                                        Monsoon Trip

                                   Darling Darjeeling...         

 In August 2011, I went on a Monsoon trip as I call it. I visited Darjeeling, Gangtok and Kalimpong with my parents. While this may not have been an ideal time to visit the East because of monsoons, we enjoyed ourselves even in the rain. I have a lot to say about these places but I would like to begin with Darjeeling (West Bengal, India) .

We travelled via Mirik where we stopped for a revitalizing hot cup of Darjeeling tea and delicious pakoras. I loved this picturesque route . It was such a pleasure to finally see the lush green tea gardens and I thoroughly enjoyed the drive on the winding roads in such pleasant weather. Mist was gradually descending on us in patches on our drive and that added to the mood and delighted us.   

When we first arrived in Darjeeling, fog greeted us and yet in patches of visibility we could catch a quick glimpse of the mountains, impressive architecture of one of the schools and illuminated lamps along the pavement which left a lasting impression on our minds. Darjeeling was enveloped in thick mist that night on our arrival but the energy and positive aura of the place reached me even though the place was hidden from the eye.

My trip to the zoo and Himalayan Mountaineering Institute the next day in Darjeeling was interesting. Reading about the magnificent mountaineering stories at the museum in HMI inspired me to reach new heights in life. That afternoon I went shopping in the busy streets and visited some nice cafes like Glenary Cafe as well. We made a quick trip to Keventers restaurant and the famous Das Studio too which brought back fond memories for my father. I wanted to visit the famous club too but unfortunately I couldn’t because of the constraints of time. My parents had a lot to tell me about all these places as they’d visited Darjeeling in their youth. It was a trip down memory lane for them.

On my second and last day there we went up to Tiger Hill early in the morning to experience the beautiful view of the Kanchanjunga mountains (the third highest peak in the world) but the weather conditions prevented us from witnessing the sunrise in those mountains. On our way back, we stopped at the small Ghum Station of the Darjeeling Himalayan  Railway to take photographs of the Toy train.It is the highest railway station in India.  I could not visit the Gompa nearby but took a wonderful snap of the Gompa from a distance. That picture will inspire me to visit it someday.

I could not leave Darjeeling without buying Darjeeling tea. I bought tea at Golden Point where they were kind enough to make us taste samples of various teas before buying. Walking along the “chaurastha” (chowrasta)was fun. We visited some of the gift shops there and I liked that the shop owners did not coerce us into buying things but instead told us the history of the place and offered to guide us to make our trip more interesting. 

   

The generosity of  the people of Darjeeling touched me and the imposing British architecture of some schools impressed me a lot. Everything there left a lasting impression on my travel memories. Everyone there offered me knowledge and served affection with flowing generosity. I felt a part of them.

The permanent mist in Darjeeling at the time actually refreshed my senses and calmed my tired city mind. The rain washed streets cleared my mind and opened my heart to new possibilities. Rightly Darjeeling mesmerized and charmed me completely. Two days was too short a visit and I’m thirsty for more experiences that Darjeeling invites me to.

The atmosphere there relaxes your mind and lures you to dream. The students walking on the road encourage you to pursue paths of knowledge again. There is something about the atmosphere there that makes you a poet. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder but give it a chance and Darjeeling will embrace you with all it’s beauty, energy and warmth. It will transport you to a serene world of peace and caring.

I fell in love with Darjeeling right away- The misty weather, the people and streets bustling with energy and positivity, the streets lined with benches, the roads alive with students, toy train, cafés beckoning you to piping hot cup of tea and mouth-watering delicious confectionary can never be forgotten.The romance with darling Darjeeling has just begun and it will reach greater heights in times 2 come as and when I visit it time and again. I fondly refer to Darjeeling as “Darling Darjeeling” as this place in just two days made me fall for it easily and took a place in my heart immediately.