Osechi

Name: Osechi
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 3 h 20 min
Total time: 4 h 5 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 25 g dried black soybeans (kuromame); 300 ml water; 55 g caster sugar; 20 ml soy sauce; 1 pinch bicarbonate of soda; 3 g fine salt; 15 g dried baby sardines (gomame); 25 ml mirin; 80 g daikon; 20 g carrot; 30 ml rice vinegar; 1 strip yuzu peel; 100 g sweet potato (satsumaimo); 2 candied chestnuts in syrup (kuri no kanroni); 1 gardenia pod (kuchinashi no mi); 2 head-on raw prawns; 30 ml sake; 100 ml dashi; 40 g kamaboko (red and white fish cake)

A one-person New Year's jubako box holding the classic auspicious dishes: glossy black soybeans, candied sardines, red-and-white daikon salad, sweet chestnut and sweet potato paste, simmered prawns and sliced fish cake.

Mains 8g+ fibre

245 min45 prep · 200 cookHard511 kcalper serving

Instructions

The night before, rinse 25 g of dried black soybeans. In a heavy, deep pan bring 300 ml of water to the boil with 30 g of caster sugar, 5 ml of soy sauce, 0.5 g of fine salt and 1 pinch of bicarbonate of soda, stir until dissolved and let it cool to lukewarm. Drop in the beans and leave them to swell, uncovered, for 8 hours or overnight.
Set the pan of soaked beans over medium heat without stirring. As it comes to the boil, skim the grey foam carefully, then lay a circle of baking parchment directly on the surface as a drop-lid, lower the heat until the liquid barely trembles and cook for 3 hours. Top up with boiling water whenever the beans threaten to break the surface, exposed beans wrinkle. They are ready when one crushes to a cream between finger and thumb; leave them to cool in their black syrup.
Dry-roast 15 g of dried baby sardines in a frying pan over low heat for 6-8 minutes, shaking often, until they snap cleanly when bent; tip them onto a plate. In the same pan boil 10 ml of soy sauce, 10 ml of mirin and 5 g of caster sugar for about 1 minute until glossy and syrupy, take off the heat, return the sardines and toss to coat. Spread them out on baking parchment, separating them with chopsticks so they set individually.