10th January – 睦月

鏡開き　Kagami-biraki

Breaking the Oshougatsu decoration rice cake (Kagami-mochi) and eating it on 11th January.

Do you still remember the Kagami-mochi from the first blog?

As it is already explained, Kagami-mochi is believed to have the soul of god inside and eating it will bring the god into the body. When Oshougatsu comes close to the end, people break the Kagami-mochi and eat it to wish for the good health brought by the 年神様(Toshigmi-sama). It was started from Edo-period and it is prohibited to cut it with knife. This is because cutting it with knife reminds of 切腹 (Seppuku: Suicide by cutting the belly with short knife). Therefore, it is broken by using hands or hammer. Moreover, saying ‘Break’ in Japanese =(割る Waru) is considered as not a nice word, so it has changed to be called as ‘Open’ = (開く Hiraku) … Kagami- BIRAKI = Open the Kagami-mochi.

There are typical Oshougatsu mochi recipes. Here are some brief recipes for you;

焼き餅　‐　Yakimochi

Grill the rice cake and dip in the favorite sauce. Roll with sea weed will give great tastes. One of the common sauce can be soy sauce and mixed soy sauce and sugar 1:1

お雑煮　‐　Ozouni

For 2 people

*Water: 800ml / * Dashi: 10g / *Sake: 1big spoon / *Soy sauce: 2big spoon / mochi: 2pieces / veges and meats you like

Toast the rice cake in the oven and make a base soup with * , put all the ingredients and boil.

お汁粉　‐　Oshiruko

For 1 person

Water: 100ml / Salt: Few pinch / Red Beans paste or smashed: 150g / Rice cake: 2pieces

Toast the rice cake in the oven and mix all the ingredients and boil.

いただきます！　（Itadakimasu!）