Natto Obsession

If I have Japanese breakfast,  typical, but one of my favourite is like this.

These are a bowl of Japanese rice, Miso soup with tofu and wakame seaweed, Natto (fermented soy beans), Tamagoyaki (omelette), Daikon oroshi (grated Daikon (mooli)) and pickles. A piece of grilled fish would be a plus.

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I met up with my Japanese friend today and went to this newly opened Ramen (Highly Japanised Chinese noodle soup) shop on Brewer Street. When I read about this new Ramen shop on a Japanese classified magazine a while ago, I immediately figured out where it was, because it was right next to my favourite Japanese grocery shop.

After we had Ramen, we went into this Japanese grocery shop almost by default. We can't just skip this shop when we were right next to it.

My usual shopping is Tofu and Natto (fermented soy beans) and some bits and pieces. I knew that I had a few Natto packs in my freezer but as I don't know when I can come back to this grocery shop next, I bought a few more. I actually do this every time I come to this shop and the last time I was there was not long ago, at least within a month. Besides, I don't eat Natto all that often so now I have got plenty. But I am so afraid of running out of Natto!

Result of shopping today

Natto is often sold as a set of 3 or 4 packs. Each is in a Styrofoam pack and contains about 30g to 50g of Natto soy beans. In Japan, they are refrigerated and usually should be consumed within one week. Here in London, they are frozen and good for - I don't know how long but quite long, more than 6 months.

When I was in Tokyo, I used to let Natto go bad in the fridge. The sign of when Natto goes bad is when it starts catching tiny white dots around beans. I think at this stage it is still edible but not very pleasant. It gets slightly smellier and stickier. I think I knew I could freeze Natto to retain its flavour back in those days. But I couldn't be bothered. Natto is super cheap food and available not only at supermarkets but also at "convenience shops" for 24 hours a day such as at Seven Eleven. Well, good old day for me.

"More" smelly? Yes. In case you don't know what Natto is, it is in fact smelly. And gooey. It is popular mainly in Eastern Japan. It has been a flagship product of Ibaraki prefecture but Fukushima prefecture consumes the most. I heard that people in Kansai area (Osaka etc.) are not big fans of it. It is known to be good for health and it seems to be eaten widely in Japan now. 

When we eat Natto, we usually stir it and make it even more gooey as much as Natto gets slightly cloudy with its strings. Some toppings can be added, such as thinly chopped spring onions and mustard. Some people put sugar, mayonnaise or raw egg (I nearly fell sick when I tried it.)

We are fully aware that it is smelly. I sometimes think it smells like someone's foot (hopefully not mine.) That's why things like spring onion or mustard are good to kill the bad smell.

Then keep stir and pour soy sauce (traditional) or Natto sauce. Then keep stirring to make it gooey but more fluffy. Now it is done and pour all or little by little onto rice and eat with rice.

Natto done.

In London, I usually take one pack out of the freezer and move it into the fridge section the night before I intend to eat. It gets defrosted nicely in the next morning. When I don't have time, I put it in a microwave to defrost it but this way the taste slightly deteriorates and becomes slightly smellier.

Just to avoid any doubt, since I might have been talking too much of the unpleasant part of Natto, it doesn't mean that Natto is something disgusting and hard to eat. All of my friends from Eastern Japan (Tokyo and up on main land) except one like it. Some foreigners I knew from Tokyo like it, too. I would be happy to eat Natto every morning too if possible. As an objective proof, a half of a freezer box at this Japanese grocery shop is filled up with Natto and sometimes the stock is low. I am not the only one in London.

Daikon ~ Mooli 大根

Daikon

When I came to the UK to live, I swore to live (or rather survive?) without Japanese food. Simply because I didn't think I could get hold of necessary ingredients here in London.

Soon after I arrived in the UK, a friend of mine who had been here a couple of years before myself took me to a tour around Piccadilly Circus and showed me some Japanese grocery shops as well as teaching me some tips of living in London including how to pronounce Leicester Square correctly.

My worry of not having Japanese ingredients was immediately gone but I didn't jump into Japanese food regime because yet some things seemed still wrong I thought.

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Several years have past since then, going through the time dealing with a couple of cravings of food I used to eat, I grew to become a happy Japanesey food cook and eater.

Although my old colleagues in Tokyo were half-jokingly asked if I could survive with notorious "awful English food" (and I was seriously worried), I actually like it and found that ingredients themselves here are very good and flavourful.

For example, super market chicken tastes almost as flavourful as some famous branded chicken in Japan. Carrots are rather fruity and fragrant like Yuzu citron. Pork tastes lovely, Lamb is sold everywhere (not easy to find in a normal Japanese super market or at a butcher.) Downside of it is only when I want to cook some subtle flavoured Japanese dish with a couple of different ingredients, each flavour stands out too independently and doesn't create a good harmony each other, however this is a minor issue as long as I don't cook such dishes. Besides, organic food is rather cheap and more available comparing to Japan and more tasty.

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OK, coming back to Daikon (大根)...

 

As it's often sold as Mooli, when I saw this vegetable at a suburban Tesco for the first time, I was so surprised but also quite happy because I thought it was very Japanese and didn't think just a normal Tesco would have it. Today I still feel quite happy and excited whenever I buy it. Now that I live in London, Tesco Express nearby doesn't sell Daikon unfortunately and I go to Borough Market just to buy one of them.

I like Daikon. Because Daikon is very useful. There is a variety of way of eating Daikon, cooked, raw or pickled.

One of my favourite way of cooking (if this is yet considered cooking) is Daikon Oroshi, grated Daikon. I just need to peel the skin and grate it. That's all. It will never be a main dish but nice side dish to eat with Tamago-yaki (ommlette) or with rice or by itself as a nibble.

For example, something like this. Daikon Oroshi in a flowery bowl. The front is Tamago-yaki.






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By the way, Daikon sometimes go outside the kitchen, too - in idioms:

"Daikon  Ashi" (Daikon (looking) Legs)
This might be dead word by now but it refers to fat legs, usually of women. Clearly this is not used as a compliment.

"Daikon Yakusha" (Daikon Actor)
This refers to "bad actor".  According to Wikipedia, the origin of Daikon Yakusha seems to be simply to do with a pun. One origin considered is that Daikon is highly disinfectant and never causes food poisoning no matter how it's cooked, thus doesn't "hit". Oh well.