Happy Konnyaku Day!

May 29th is Konnyaku no Hi (Konnyaku Day) in Japan, thanks to the habit of Japanese food manufacturers of making lame date-related puns with a food's name and declaring said date to be a Such-and-such Day. I already know about Niku no Hi (Meat Day) on February 9th: ni can mean 2 (as in February, the 2nd month) and ku can mean 9. And Tofu no Hi falls on October 10th: to is one pronunciation for 10, fu can mean 2. And so on. There are dozens, if not hundreds of these days, and now thanks to Jason at Pursuing my Passions I know about Konnyaku no Hi. The pun involved here really stretches the limits of wordplay, with the konnyaku people expecting us to think that 5 9 2 (go ni ku or go ni kyuu) sounds like konnyaku. Not quite, but whatever.

If you're not familiar with konnyaku, Jason does a good job of explaining it, so click the link and read all about it.

So this is how I celebrated. I made ito-konnyaku to sakura-ebi no itame (stringed konnyaku sauteed with dried baby shrimp). Very simple to make- boil the ito-konnyaku for a few minutes and drain. Meanwhile, saute a small hand full of sakura-ebi (chirimen-jako, or dried whitebait, would be good too) in sesame oil until fragrant, add the well-drained ito-konnyaku and saute for a few more minutes. Add a few tablespoons each of sake and soy sauce along with a tablespoon of sugar, cook until liquid is gone, and top with thickly sliced shiso (perilla).

I wasn't the only blogger cooking up konnyaku concoctions today- Jason has rounded up some others here.

Served with grilled hokke (a fish from Hokkaido that seems to have no English equivalent); pickled Chinese cabbage, steamed rice and hiya-yakko (cold silken tofu) topped with a sauce of mentaiko (spicy cod roe), sesame seeds, negi (green onions) sesame oil and soy sauce.

Comments

[carlyn]

Amy;
...looks delicious. I've really only had konnyaku a couple ways. Usually in oden. I enjoy it, but find it doesn't really have much taste on its own. Yours looks really tasty with the dried shrimp.

[Amy]

Actually, it's completely tasteless on its own! That's why it's so good in long-simmered or stewed dishes like oden, or strongly flavoured braises like the dish I made here.