Summer Cooking in Kyoto


July is the month of the Gion Matsuri festival in Kyoto.
This festival has 1,200year's history.
The area around my house are starting to prepare the decorations
and special events and foods.

Recentely many summer ingredients are starting to show up
at the market. I am so excited!

Today I would like to introduce my favorite summer ingredeients and cooking.

Hamo(pike conger)

We have a custum to eat Hamo in Gion Matsuri festival(July) in Kyoto.
The best season are summer and autumn.
Hamo has many hard small bones so we need to cut them using
special heavy knife.This need high skill for cutting.

The popular cooking for Hamo are sashimi,broiled,teriyaki,sushi,tempura.



"Botanhamowan"

This elegant soup has a beautiful flavor using kombu&katsuobushi stock!
Hamo boiled with kuzu,Yuzu,Bainiku(pickled plum paste)



Junsai(water shield)





"Hamo to Kyuri no sunomono"

This salad is aslo one of my favorite.

Sliced cucumber,hamo,myoga(japanese summer ginger)

dressed with sour&sweet dressing

Kamonasu

Kamonasu is a one of the famous Kyo-yasai(kyoto traditional vegetables) in summer.
This round giant eggplant has a beatiful purple color and is called"Queen of eggplant".
We can find it between May and August at the market in kyoto.


"Kamonasu-Dengaku"

Kamonasu is a very good combination with oil.The skin becomes much more
vivid color by deep-frying in the oil.
2 different types of miso for topping,
which are Shiromiso(sweet type kyoto miso) andAkamiso(red type deep flavored miso).


Manganji tougarashi(Kyoto sweet pepper)






"Jako(dried young sardines)&Manganji Togarashi
( Kyoto sweet pepper) no Taitan"