New Year's feasting , evening of day 3 正月３日目の夕

On day 3 of the New Year, we are still enjoying the osechi box. Here I show a few of the highlights or our favorites.

This is "ankimo tofu" あん肝豆腐 or "monk fish liver terrine". It has smooth creamy texture bursting with ankimo flavor.

This is new item this year; "Ebo-dai koji-zuke" えぼ鯛麹漬.  "Kabura" white radish and white fish meat (butter fish) marinated in koji 麹 (malted rice). This dish evokes a childhood memory for me of "ii-zushi or izushi" 飯寿司 of Hokkaido where I grew up. It is a dish similar in which koji-rice, vegetable and fish (in Hokkaido, herring, anchovies, and salmon were popular) fermented together. It appears that this is a type of izushi that is a New Year's dish in the Kanazawa 金沢 area called "kabura-zushi" かぶら寿司. In any case, it has a nice gentle sweetness from the koji. The subtle sourness and crunchy vegetable in contrast with the savory and soft fish meat are a great combination.

This is the last of steamed sea urchin. Although fresh raw sea urchin is the best, this is really good in its own right. It was steamed on a sheet of cedar which renders a subtle flavor/smell. Come to think of it, this is a good way to preserve the sea urchin so that it will last through New Year's cerebration.

On the left is miso-marinated (and dehydrated) egg yolk with walnuts. All of these items are perfect with cold sake. We can really get used to this.