After the rich indulgence of the holiday season I find myself craving simpler fair and enjoying my leafy greens with renewed gusto.  This is probably why Nanakusa no sekku (the “Festival of Seven Herbs”).  This is the tradition of eating nanakusa-gayu (seven-herb rice soup, pronounced “Naw-naw-koo-saw guy-yoo”) on January 7th (“jinjitsu“) of each year.   The soup is a variation of okayu, a rice soup/or porridge that is traditionally eaten in Japan when someone is sick.  It is a simple soup made with rice and water, or a light broth, seven different varieties of herbs (each chosen for their unique health promoting properties), and sometimes mochi.  The soup is meant to let the “overworked” stomach and digestive system rest and bring longevity and health in the coming year.

The traditional seven herbs are the seven edible wild herbs of spring in Japan:

• Water dropwort — seri (せり )
• Shepherd’s Purse — nazuna (なずな)
• Cudweed — gogyō (ごぎょう)
• Chickweed — hakobera (はこべら)
• Nipplewort — hotokenoza (ほとけのざ)
• Turnip — suzuna (すずな)
• Radish — suzushiro (すずしろ)

But it’s difficult, if not impossible, to find all seven herbs outside of Japan, and so I make my nanakusa-gayu with a variety of herbs that I can find locally, or with the aid of a Japanese market visit.  This year I made my nanakusa-gayu early so that I could share the recipe with you.  The herbs I included were mizuna, watercress, mitsuba, turnip greens, shungiku, cilantro, and basil.

You can choose whatever herbs you love or can find.  If you ever buy beets or daikon radish with the greens still attached, don’t let them go to waste—the flavor they add to nanakusa-gayu is wonderful.  Can’t find seven different herbs?  No worries, just double up on your favorites!

Making the soup is easy.  All you have to do is slowly simmer previously cooked rice in water or stock until the rice swells up and starts to lose its shape.  Then you add your herbs, cook for about a minute more so that they impart their flavor to the soup (but no longer, so they don’t lose their beautiful color!), and then serve!

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Nanakusa-Gayu (Seven-Herb Rice Soup)

Makes 6 servings

4 cups water
4-inch piece dried kombu (kelp)
1 1/2 cups steamed Japanese rice
1 teaspoon sea salt
6 pieces mochi
3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup herbs, rinsed and minced

1. Make the kombu dashi: The best way to make this stock is to soak the kombu in the water overnight, covered, in the refrigerator, then discard the kombu and use the stock. Quick method: Allow the kombu to soak in the water in a saucepan for 30 minutes. Then place the saucepan over medium-high heat. As soon as bubbles start to appear, remove the kombu from the water and remove the saucepan from the heat. Do not let the liquid come to a boil, as the kombu will then give the stock a bitter flavor.

2. Add the rice to the dashi and cook over low heat, stirring to break up any clumps of rice.

2. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the grains of rice swell and begin to lose their shape. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, the mochi, and then the boiling water and stir.

3. Continue cooking and stirring occasionally to prevent the soup from sticking to the pot. When the mochi has softened and has begun to lose its shape, add the herbs. Stir and cook for an additional minute, then remove from the heat and serve immediately.

Tagged as: Japanese New Year 2012, Japanese New Year recipes, nanakusa-gayu, okayu, rice porridge