Hinamatsuri Recipes
Hinamatsuri - Girls' Day or Doll's Day is held on March 3rd (Momo no Sekku - one of the five festival days from Edo period) to pray for the healthy growth and overall health of girls. The dolls in the photo above are called Hinaningyo dolls. Many Japanese households with any girls own them and put them on display inside the house for Hinamatsuri. It's said that those dolls take away the bad luck of girls who own them and bless them with happiness in life.
People also eat traditional dishes like chirashi-zushi (sushi), clam soup, sweet rice crackers, and hishimochi (diamond-shaped rice cakes), and drink white sake on the day to celebrate it. However, if you live in the U.S., it's hard to get them or even the ingredients for those traditional dishes. Today, we'll suggest what you can serve on Hinamatsuri instead of those traditional dishes at your home.
These are traditional Hinamatsuri dishes in Japan.
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Recipes
Cooked Salmon Chirashi-Zushi (Sushi)
In Japan, the styles of sushi are not only nigiri, rolls, and donburi, but also mixed rice called chirashi-zushi. Chirashi-zushi with colorful ingredients is perfect for celebrations. The key is to arrange the ingredients evenly so that the color and volume are not uneven. If you use the salmon flakes that we offer, it's very easy to cook. You basically just cook the rice and eggs, slice the eggs and ohba leaves, and mix all the ingredients, then it's ready to go!
Ingredients (3-4 servings)
2 cups of rice
3 tbsp of sushi vinegar
2 eggs
6 tbsp of salmon flakes
5 ohba leaves
Masago fish roe as garnish
White roasted sesame seeds as garnish
Aosako seaweed as garnish
(Masago and Aosako aren't used in the photo.)
Tip: You can also use your favorite ingredients such as pickled plum and nori seaweed.
You can get all the ingredients at Maido!
Directions
1. Cook the rice.
2. Thinly cook eggs and thinly slice them on a cutting board.
3. Thinly slice the ohba leaves and drain.
4. Mix the rice with sushi vinegar.
5. Mix the salmon flakes, eggs, ohba leaves into the sushi rice.
6. Sprinkle the masago fish roe, roasted white sesame seeds, and aosako seaweed to your liking.
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Yuzu Marinated Madai Sea Bream Carpaccio
Madai Sea bream is known as an auspicious fish and is often used for celebrations. Madai sea bream sashimi is new in stock at the store! It's finished with yuzu citrus, which gives it a yuzu aroma and a fresh flavor. It's recommended for carpaccio - an Italian appetizer of thinly sliced raw fish/meat drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil. Since this sashimi is already marinated with yuzu, you don't need any lemons to marinate it.
Ingredients (3-4 servings)
2 leaves of lettuce
1 pack of yuzu marinated madai sea bream
olive oil to your liking
Pepper to your liking
Kaiware sprout or scallion as garnish
Tip: You can use sliced onion instead of lettuce. Make sure to soak it in the water for a while to remove the bitterness of the onion.
Directions
Cut the lettuce into small pieces and put them on a plate.
Slice the madai sea bream and decorate them on top of the lettuce.
Drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle the pepper to your liking.
Put some kaiware daikon or scallion as garnish.
You can add more vegetables to make it like a salad as well!
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Hishimochi Colored Japanese Pancakes
Here is the westernized hishimochi looking dessert with pancakes. Did you know that pancakes are called hot cakes in Japan? We offer Japanese "hot cake" mix at the store! They come out thick and fluffy.
Ingredients (2 servings)
5.3 oz. / 150g of pancake mix
15.3 oz. / 50g of plain yogurt
1 egg
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of red food coloring
1 tsp of green tea powder
100g of whipped cream
1 tbsp of sugar
Sweet red bean paste as topping
Directions
1. Mix yogurt, egg, and olive oil with a whisk.
2. Add pancake mix and mix without kneading with a rubber spatula.
3. Cook the dough. Cook two small pieces on low heat for a griddle or a frying pan.
4. When the surface becomes fluffy, turn it over.
5. After turning over, turn off the heat and remove the pancakes from the griddle or frying pan after 20-30 seconds.
6. Divide the remaining dough in half and color each half with *red food coloring and **matcha powder.
*Add a small amount of food coloring dissolved in water, using a bamboo skewer or the like, and watch the coloring as you add it.
**Mix about 1 teaspoon of matcha and see how it goes, and add more to your liking.
7. Cook pink and green dough in the same way as plain, two pieces at a time.
8. While the dough is cooling, whip the cream and sugar and place in a squeeze bag.
9. Layer the pancakes on a plate with whipped cream in between in the following order from the bottom: green, white, pink.
10. Put some whipped cream and red bean paste on top to finish.
Tip: Cook pancakes slowly on low heat to prevent browning.
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Amazake
In the old days, there was a custom of drinking white sake to ward off evil spirits. For the modern Hinamatsuri which is celebrated for children, amazake (sweet sake), which doesn't contain alcohol, is easy to drink and digest, has come to be used as a substitute. It's a traditional Japanese nutritious fermented sweet beverage made from rice malt, sake lees, etc., known as a drinkable IV drip/serum. It's recommended for your health and beauty. It can be drunk both hot & cold. We offer freeze-dried amazake at the store. Freeze-drying helps retain nutrients in foods. Therefore, freeze-dried foods are a healthy food choice.
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There is a lot of food items, housewares, stationery, and gifts available at the store and our online store, Maido! Kairashi Shop, where you can place your order for shipping or store pickup!
Happy shopping. :)