How do Japanese people celebrate Mother’s Day ?

Mother’s Day was once combined with the celebration of the Empress’ Kojun birthday who was the mother of Akihito (Japan’s emperor at the time). Her birthday was celebrated on the 6th March 1931. It wasn’t until 1949 that the Japanese decided to align the holiday to be on the same date as other countries being on the second Sunday of May, which means this year, it will fall on Sunday 11th of May. Unlike the U.K. which has their Mother’s Day back in March.

In Japan, mother’s day is called ‘Haha no hi’ 母の日 the word ‘haha’ is the informal term for your own mother – much like we use the word ‘mum’! The formal term for mother in Japanese is ‘Okaasan’.

Japanese children use this day to show their love and appreciation, and to give presents to their mothers. It has now become one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants and shops.

The most common gift on Japanese Mother’s Day are carnations especially the red or pink variety. In Japan it is a symbol of a mother’s purity, sweetness and endurance.

Throughout Japan, businesses and well-known department stores decorate their window displays with carnations although the carnation is not native to Japan, their symbolism has become a popular choice for Mother’s Day.

Other gifts given on Mother’s Day could be carefully drawn kanji calligraphy, personalised arts and crafts, clothing or Lacquerware jewellery boxes.

On Mother’s Day children often rise early to greet their mothers with flowers and breakfast. Mother’s Day in Japan is symbolically associated with eggs, so whipping up an egg-based Japanese dish is a way  to celebrate! Some egg dishes include Oyakodon A chicken and egg rice dish which literally translates as ‘parent-and-child-donburi’. Chawanmushi (savory steamed egg custard) Tamagoyaki (Japanese egg omelette or Omurice ( omelette over rice). You can use the recipe for the omelette further down in this blog to make your own Omurice.

However if your vegan you could easily make something similar by substituting the eggs for tofu. There are now quite a few egg replacements on the market but I still like to use tofu and I think  it also makes it a little more authentic for a Japanese meal. My favourite brand is “Shizenno Megumi” tofu by dragonfly foods.

How about making a tofu scramble to surprise your mother for a special breakfast.

Or a special afternoon tea with vegan egg shokupan sandwiches.
Another meal could be something like chirashi sushi a scattered vegetable sushi that you could make pretty by using flower shaped vegetable cutters and adding vegan scrambled eggs.

Mothers are celebrated for their home cooking in Japan. The memory and uniqueness of one’s own mother’s food is encapsulated in the term ‘ofukuro-no-aji’ or ‘that unforgettable taste of one’s own mother’s cooking.’ Linked to family relationships these are Japanese home cooked meals that your mother used to make. Eating them later in life can bring back memories and comforts from home.

I asked the Managing Director of  Dragonfly Foods Ltd Shunzo Horikawa about what food brought back memories of his mothers cooking for him he answered “Sanshoku Gohan”.
I also asked what meals his wife cooked that his children might say the same of her. He answered “Hiroshima yaki”. With this in mind I decided to make easy recipes inspired by his answers that anyone can make at home.

Sanshoku Gohan 三色ご飯, three colour rice 

This japanese comfort meal is popular with children and adults. Sanshoku (三色) means “three colours”, gohan (ご飯) is cooked rice. Normally the toppings are ground meat, beef, pork or chicken and a scrambled egg in Japan known as “iritamago” (炒り卵), both are cooked through with out leaving moisture and have a crumbled consistency. The other topping is normally some kind of green vegetable peas, green beans or spinach. In my recipe I’m using the super firm Shizenno Megumi Tofu to create the crumbled beef and eggs that sit on top of the rice.

First make your vegan crumbled vegan meat topping.

You will need to drain and press the liquid out of one block of firm tofu, cut in half and place the other half aside for later. You will also need one or two large shiitake mushrooms, one small onion, x1 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger, x1 cup of walnuts, x1 teaspoon of tamari or soy sauce, x1 teaspoon of mirin, x1 teaspoon of vegan Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder, x1 tablespoon of white miso, x1 teaspoon of tomato purée and sesame oil for sautéing.

Method: First pulse the onions and walnuts in a blender then add the tofu and rest of the ingredients except for the sesame oil. It will be like a chunky paste. Add a little sesame oil to a pan and sauté until slightly browned and coated in oil.

Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and tip the mixture out spreading it out in a layer. Place this in a moderate oven to brown for 15-20 minutes. Take this out the oven and give it a mix then spread it out in a layer again and put it back in the oven. You are aiming for a dry crumbly mixture. You may have to do this a few times to get the desired consistency.When done take it out of the oven and put to one side.

Vegan Scrambled Egg.

Add to a bowl x1 teaspoon each of ground turmeric, onion granules and ground Kala namak (this is Indian black salt which will give you your eggy, umami rich flavour). You will also need 1/2 a teaspoon of ground paprika, x1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast, Himalayan pink salt and pepper to taste. 1/3 cup of soya milk and x1 teaspoon of sesame paste or tahini. Whisk all these ingredients together.

You will also need the other half of the tofu you put aside. Add a little oil to a pan and crumble the tofu into the pan and start to sauté the tofu then add your whisked liquid ingredients. Keep sautéing until all the liquid has gone. You now have your vegan meat and eggs.

You can now add this as a topping for rice adding any green vegetables of your choosing. Some times it is popular to add a little pickled ginger or gari  known as beni shoga as a refreshing palate cleanser.

The next recipe I decided to make was another egg dish called Niratama donburi ニラ玉丼ぶり. Niratama means garlic chive eggs and is a staple comforting Japanese home cooked meal . As it’s been the  season for wild garlic I decide to adapt the recipe using this as a replacement for the chives and using tofu for the egg replacement. You could also use regular chives or green onion or spinach or a mixture of all of these if you wish. Garlic chives may be hard to find but you could check your local Asian supermarket.

First make your egg mixture.
Add to a blender, 1 block of drained firm crumbled  “Shizenno Megumi” tofu, to this add 1/2 a teaspoon of turmeric, 1/2 a teaspoon of ground Kala Namak black salt, 1 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, x1 teaspoon of soy sauce or tamari, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 2 tablespoons spoons of dashi mixed with 1/2 a tablespoon of potato starch.

Chop and sauté your wild garlic in a little oil to wilt.

Remove from the pan and mix into your blended egg mixture.
Cut two circles of parchment paper and have a plate to hand. Place one sheet in a frying pan and pour in the wild garlic egg mixture and spread it out.

Doing it this way is my tried and tested method to never have a stuck tofu egg mixture. When the underside is cooked place the other piece of parchment paper on top and add a plate on top of this.

Turn your pan over so the omelette is now on the plate. Then slide the omelette with the uncooked side back onto the pan to cook the other side. When it is done on both side fold over and add to a bowl of cooked rice. You can make variations on this by scrambling the tofu mixture instead of making an omelette.

Shunzo Horikawa also mentioned his wife likes to cook Hiroshima yaki for their children. This is a style of Okonomiyaki savoury pancake that contains a variety of ingredients. “Okonomi” in Japanese means “as you like it”. You can use this same method to make your very own style of Okonomiyaki. I used chopped cabbage, bean sprouts, carrot ribbons, green onion and shungiku (chrysanthemum greens), chop all the vegetables and then put everything in a bowl, pour in your batter and mix everything together.

Make the Okonomiyaki the same way as the Niratama.

The Okonomiyaki has a special sauce that goes on top. There is a vegan one you can buy already made for ease just spread this over the top, then use vegan kewpie mayonnaise to make stripes along the top over the sauce.

Run a chop stick over the mayonnaise the opposite way to the lines to make that distinctive Okonomiyaki pattern.

Finish with a sprinkle of aonori dried seaweed powder. If you want to make your own Okonomiyaki sauce it is a blend of a tablespoon each of vegan Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, tamari, mirin and maple syrup. You can finish off with some pickled ginger again if you have some.

If you are in the U.K. you could surprise your mother with a Japanese Mother’s Day for an extra special gift. If you are celebrating this day on the same day as japan why not include some carnations in your gift or make a Japanese themed meal.

Greet her in the morning with

Ohayōgozaimasu Happī haha no hi

Good morning happy Mother’s Day.

Haha itsumo arigatou – Mum, thank you for everything.

It’s time for Gyaku chocolate 逆チョコwhich  means “reverse chocolate”.  If you read my Valentine Post you would know all about the different kinds of chocolate given by women on Valentines Day. One month later on March 14th is what’s known in Japan as “White Day”.

White Day is a specific Japanese concept, claimed to be invented by a Fukuoka based candy company Ishimura Manseido in 1976 for men to give something white back to the women who gifted them chocolate on Valentines Day. The owner got the idea when he read a letter in a women’s magazine where a reader pointed out the fact Japan has a custom of something called “okaeshi” or returned gift. At first the day was called “Marshmallow Day” as they created a new sweet with marshmallow paste stuffed chocolate for the occasion. Eventually the name was changed to White Day to be less restrictive but still referencing the fluffy marshmallows. By the 1980’s White Day had taken popularity all over Japan. Much like on Valentines Day the gifts are categorised depending on the romantic partner or returning gifter. Traditionally the gifts should be white maybe a gift of cookies or candy  or other white items.

Lately pudding has appeared to be the next must get item so with this in mind I decided to make these tofu vanilla and chocolate dessert pots with a popular Valentine fruit of the season strawberries. These I think would make the perfect finish to a romantic meal as they are light and not too filling.

White Day Tofu Pudding Pots 

Mousse Ingredients:
x2 250g packs of “Soft Shizenno Megumi Tofu”

x2 tablespoons of lemon juice

x1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

x2 tablespoons of vegan honey or maple syrup

x2 tablespoons of melted flavourless coconut butter

1/3 cup of soy milk

pinch of salt

Other ingredients:

1/3 cup of sifted cacao powder

Fresh strawberries & grated vegan chocolate to serve.

You will also need some small glass cups or pots to display the mousse

Method:

Drain the tofu from the packaging and add to a blender. To that add all the mousse ingredients and blend until thick and creamy. Pour half the mousse into a bowl and set aside. To the remaining mousse add to the blender the cacao powder and blend again until combined.

Wash, pat dry and slice your strawberry relatively thinly and place them on the sides of your glass pots. Fill the pots with the vanilla tofu mousse and then top with the chocolate tofu mousse. Finish with some more strawberries and grated chocolate then put them in the fridge for at least a few hours to set.

These pudding pots are great any time of the day for a delicious treat or are perfect to serve at the end of a meal.

Valentine’s Day バレンタインデー is a relatively new custom in Japan. Celebrated on February the 14th, while its origins are in Christianity the custom was taken on in a unique way by Japan a bit like Halloween or Christmas with a Japanese twist.

Although the tradition of giving chocolate started in the 1930’s it wasn’t until the 1970’s when Japan had an economic boom and more women started to enter the work place that giving chocolates by women to men started to become a custom. These chocolates are known as honmei-choco 本命チョコ, “true feeling chocolate”. This was a way for women to express their emotions and wasn’t something that was done before. The practice of giving chocolate occurred because women expressing their love to men was considered disgraceful, and confectioneries capitalized on chocolate as a way for them to profess their love. This custom then over time changed to not only giving chocolates to love interests but to work colleagues and teachers to show appreciation these chocolates are called giri choco. There are chocolates to friends (tomo choco 友チョコ) where no romantic feelings are involved in gifting the chocolate. Tomo choco is meant to celebrate platonic love between friends male or female so as to not alienate those who do not celebrate Valentine’s Day or have no romantic partner. 

Tomo choco comes from the word tomodachi, meaning ‘friend’ in Japanese. Tomo choco is the exception to the rule when it comes to male-only gift-giving. These are basically chocolates or baked goods that women give to their female friends as an expression of their friendship.

Fami Choco (ファミチョコ): Family Chocolate. This is a chocolate gift for male family members: father, husband, son. Mothers and daughters tend to make baked goods or chocolate or buy sweets that can be enjoyed together at home.

It is also now popular to even just make yourself a gift as an act of self love this is called jibun-choco 自分チョコ“my chocolate”.

It is also popular to hand make or bake gifts showing that you have put even more thought and care into a gift.

Why not trying making a treat for a friend or loved ones or even just yourself.

I decided to share with you my recipe for these delicious tofu baked donuts dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with freeze dried strawberries using Shizenno Megumi Organic Soft Tofu. True authentic soft textured Tofu called “Kinughosi Tofu” in Japan. This soft tofu warrants itself well to making desserts and is often used in Japan as an egg replacement. I got the idea of using tofu in a donut recipe after seeing some unusual yuba donuts for sale when visiting Arashiyama Kyoto.

Let’s make fudgy chocolate brownie tofu donuts for Valentines Day.

You will need:

x1 pack of “Soft Shizenno Megumi Tofu”

x2 cups of plain flour

1/3 cup of cacao powder

x1 Bar of vegan chocolate of choice

x1 tablespoon of melted odourless oil (I always use Tiana coconut cooking butter)

x2 teaspoons of baking powder & x1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 cup of coconut palm sugar

x2 teaspoons of brown rice vinegar

1/3 cup of soy milk

Something to decorate the donuts like sprinkles, freeze dried strawberries, coconut etc.

Method:

In one bowl sift the flour, cacao powder baking powder and baking soda then mix to combine.

( preheat your oven to a moderate temperature around 150 degrees centigrade.)

Drain the “Soft Shizenno Megumi Tofu” and add to a blender or food processor. To the tofu add the coconut butter, brown rice vinegar and coconut palm sugar. Blend until smooth.

Add the tofu mixture to the flour mixture and fold in gently to combine. Add the soy milk to make a thick batter, adding extra soy milk if needed.

Brush your donut pan with some melted coconut butter and spoon the mixture into the donut moulds, I find it easy to use two small spoons to do this one to scoop up the batter and one to push it off the spoon into the moulds. Smooth the top as best you can.

Place in the oven for 20 minutes.

Remove from the Oven and with a tooth pick make the hole for your donut, as they will likely cover over in the baking process.

Leave to cool and then remove carefully by using a knife gently on the edges to ease them out of the mould. Turn them over to reveal a smooth side.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water.

Take each donut and turn it to dip the donut on the smooth side.

Do this to all the donuts. Placing them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Decorate each donut with whatever you wish, I used a sprinkle of coconut and freeze dried strawberries.

Now pop them in the fridge for an hour to set the chocolate and you’re done.

After this time you can store them in an airtight container out of the fridge in a cool place.
Serve to a loved one for Valentines Day or box them individually as gifts.

I used 85% dark chocolate for my donut coating but you could use what ever chocolate you like to your preference. For an extra decadent donut why not slice in half an add a layer of strawberry jam.


Don’t forget White Day on March 14th when the women will get returned gifts.