It's gotten a lot cooler and I can feel the autumn air.
The Meguro River sparkles in the clear air, and cherry blossom leaves flutter down.
Do the trees look a little lonely?
These days, I can feel the change of seasons.
Today, I would like to talk about salt, an essential seasoning in cooking, and the origin of the dish that uses it: onigiri.
I love salt so much that I always end up picking it up at the supermarket or anywhere else.
This may be because I have been surprised many times in the cooking I have done up until now by how much difference just salt can make.
Now I use 8 to 10 different types of salt.
There are many different uses for salt, such as for grilling meat, finishing meat, making rice balls, making pasta in a noodle pot, grilling fish, all-purpose salt 1, all-purpose salt 2, for the table, for purification, for massage, and many more, so it's fun to choose.
The flavors vary from sweet to spicy to savory, and the shapes vary from crispy to crunchy, fluffy to smooth, rough to moist, so I'm always thinking about which goes best with what.
This is some salt
Salt-free dishes...
You can't even imagine it.
If the salt is right, the flavor will almost always be right.
Sodium chloride is also an essential nutrient for the body.
Cleanse or purify...
It is hard to imagine how many roles salt plays, and it is full of fascinating things.
I'll save the deep talk for another time as it's a bit too much for enthusiasts.
Do you like onigiri?
There are hardly any people who dislike it.
Do you say "onigiri"?
Do you mean "Omusubi"?
Grasp... Tie...
We've been eating rice balls since we were little.
I believe that onigiri is the origin of cooking.
A delicious dish made with just rice and salt!
Although it only has two ingredients, the taste and shape of the dish can vary greatly depending on who makes it.
The only tools used are your hands, and the fact that the tools are responsible for the entire flavor is what makes it so appealing!
Of course, you can add your favorite ingredients,
You can also wrap it in seaweed,
There are those who prefer moist and those who prefer crispy.
And when you stuff your cheeks, you use your hands.
From "hand" to "hand"
Isn't this the food that best conveys your feelings?
When I was little, I saw my mother standing in the kitchen.
The memorable rhythm of rice washing
The aroma of cooked rice,
Small rice balls are skillfully made with salt and cracked, hardworking hands.
At sports days, field trips, after rice planting or harvesting, or for lunch on the weekends
Perhaps the origin of this is my mother's rice balls, which I can still vividly remember.
Outdoors, we cooked rice that a friend had lovingly and painstakingly grown over the course of a year without the use of herbicides, fertilizers, or pesticides.
I love the prayer-like moment of putting salt on my wet hands, then placing my hands together and letting the salt dissolve.
Eating rice balls outside is the best
There's even a song that goes, ♪On top of Mount Fuji♪.
Again, I'll talk about my friend.
I moved my base of operations to Iki Island in Nagasaki, where I live a life connected to my core while being surrounded by nature.
They make the rice balls from rice and tie them into balls according to the waxing and waning of the moon to entertain guests as "Muchiru Omusubi" (full rice balls), and they are so delicious!
The shiny, chewy rice is cooked in a clay pot and then lovingly seasoned with locally harvested salt.
The rice ball is slowly kneaded in a 1, 2, 3 pattern, and the moment you put it in your mouth, it comes undone softly.
The sweet aroma of rice spreads
I close my eyes and let out a long sigh...
I feel that the rice balls she ties have the power to provoke questions in the heart.
Omusubi
Rice balls, onigiri are amazing.