Japanese New Year's Dish (2005-01-03)
Japanese New Year Dish is called Osechi Ryori. It is eaten on New Year's morning and supposed to last till the third day of the new year. The food is presented in pretty boxes in one to three tiers. Each layer contains a variety of items arranged neatly and meticulously. Housewives spend long hours on New Year's Eve preparing food to fill the boxes using some common ingredients such as prawns, fish cakes and salted and dried fish roe (to signify many future generations). Nowadays people who want to have Osechi but don't want the hassle of making it can just order it from department stores and grocery stores. There are different choices of menu to fit different budget even though it is still a pretty pricey food item.
The idea of making Osechi is that housewives, who have been busy in
the kitchen all year round, make a lot of food for the family on the last
day of the year so they can take the time off from
cooking for the next few days to enjoy their much-deserved rest.
I don't make Osechi Ryori. I don't like the thought of eating the same left-overs three days in a row.
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