Sticky foods help you in summer

Today is Tanabata. For two loving stars, we hope it will not rain tonight. Right now it is fine outside, but a weather report says it will be rain later tonight. In the rainy season the weather and temperature are unstable, and the difference in temperature between day and night, outside and inside make us physically tired. Before the hot summer arrives, people have to have summer blahs.

To prevent summer weariness, we say "do not turn AC cool so much, do not drink cold drinks so much, rest and sleep well, eat food in good balance" and then? Then we say "eat stamina food". In summer season the best stamina food is eels in Japan. Actually is called "doyou no ushi no hi", we have a custom to eel"Kabayaki" .(ah do you remember this?) Anything else but eel? It is a sticky food!!

I strongly recommend eating Natto in my food theme part. But not only Natto, there are more sticky foods, such as Japanese Yam, Gumbo, Mozuku (Nemacystus decipiens) or Mekabu. I suppose you would have such sticky food on your own country. Most viscous component works for your body very good. They are rich in vitamins, pectin, and protect your stomach wall etc,. We call such sticky food "Neba Neba food".

One of my favourite recipes is "Neba Neba Zanmai"...I will name it "Sticky Heaven" in English he he he. Put all sticky foods together and mix them all. Looks delicious? Yes plus a raw egg is a good idea!! Nori strips, sesame, grated Japanese radish (that recipe is close) will be nice for the topping. With Ponzu (check here too) or Soy sauce, would you try?

Comments

[dovie]

hi nice blog...

[huang]

The Malays have a natto equivalent called 'tempei". It looks white bec covered in mould and wrapped in banana leaf, then brown paper and sold at wet markets. Usually eaten deep fried and has no natto smell.

[Gwen]

Yucks .... unagi ... yucks >_< I can't stand the taste, it's like mud to me everytime I've tried it.

[Mari]

My friend add tomato to Neba Neba Zanmai. Freshness of tomato can sticky easiler to eat she said.

[クレア (Claire)]

I love these sticky foods, especially unagi. I like unagi any time, not just for natsubame.

Natto and okra are very good together. Both are "neba neba" foods. Okra is considered a Southern American food, and I grew up in the urban North. I had not eaten it before I went to Japan and had it together with natto, in Kyoto of all places!

I have heard that natto is not popular in Kansai, but my host father and brother really like natto. They kindly introduced me to this wonderful food, although I have never seen my host mother eat it. They still think it's funny that I like it...gaijin aren't supposed to like it.

I am not familiar with mekabu, although it looks to be a sea vegetable. The link to mozoku is not working, but most of what I can find about it is that it is also a sea vegetable. ("Sea vegetable" is an American euphemism for seaweed...how our silly country rationalizes why anyone would eat things like nori or hijiki or wakame that are very tasty and good for you! Looking at the stuff Americans do eat and don't eat is pretty interesting...)

Tororo imo is really good, too. You will know it if you have ever had yamakake. Yamakake is really delicious and also another neba neba dish.

This neba neba discussion makes me wish I were in Gifu-ken now, at the izakaya with my friend Fujiko-san, drinking http://www.hyotan.co.jp/cnt/shochu/tantakatan.html>
shiso shochu, eating yamakake.

But I'll have to make do with a trip to Mitsuwa to pick up a tororo imo and some maguro, and maybe I'll be able to get something close to the taste, but nothing like the atmosphere. すみません、懐かしいく話でしょ。

[wm.]

Natto! That's the best. With raw quail egg...or with ika soumen...or with thinnly sliced white onion. I like the small-bean type but the large-bean type for...

Natto-spa! What a brilliant dish:
spaghetti with a sauce made of tuna, natto, tokyo negi, nori, karashi, shoyu....delicious, sticky....yum.

[Azim]

My Beautiful Wife Loves Natto. I, however, cannot stand it. I must persevere and learn to like it... Gambarimasu!

[stan]

I went to the Tanabata festival at Hiratsuka which was awesome (until it rained later on). There are also tons of food booths which have really tasty food. Anyways, I'll probably give natto another chance someday (perhaps as part of my Pepsi detoxification program). Last time I tried it, I couldn't finish it.

[robert]

MMMM Sticky Heaven!! *drool*..unagi? natto? yes! these are good foods anyway..but I would love to eat them this summer. I like eating the kimchee natto..and yes you have to do the raw egg thing (with Yebisu?..yes). I know, I know, now I am a true oyaji. But I have to ask. How come when Mari mentions "decipiens" it sounds as if she is talking about a type of seaweed, but when Tokio-kun mentions it..it sounds like a hallucinogenic? "Follow the wide rabbit Neo?" well..that's a loose translation I think..but just what do you mean exactly Tokio-kun? Oh great where did he go?...gone again apparently. invisible rabbits kowai :0

[AzianBrewer]

As much as I love Japanese food and the culture. One thing that I can never come around is natto. It is definitely an acquired taste!!

[Charles]

I could go for some some ika and somen.

[BlogPetの「tokiokun」]

ネットで広いこうさぎなどをdecipiensしたかも。

[Cath]

Haha... your site has become my morning newspapers!
I've eaten nato before and wanted to bring some back to Singapore but I couldn't find it in the store! Nato has a very strange smell but my Japanese friend said it's health food.
I LOVE UNAGI!!!!