Original Article
Feature article crafted from the perspective of Luntan
Fun Baby Recipes Vol.08
Osechi (Japanese traditional New Year’s dish)
Osechi is a traditional Japanese New Year’s dish, and assortments of small dishes are filled in tiered boxes. For your baby’s first New Year, let’s prepare a special osechi especially for your baby! We’ve put together time saving secret tricks and special New Year’s baby food recipes, including sekihan* cooked with polished rice, potage cooked with baby’s favorites, apples and sweet potatoes, etc. Enjoy sharing New Year’s special dishes with your baby.
sekihan: steamed glutinous rice with boiled adzuki beans. The recipe introduced here uses polished rice instead of glutinous rice.
For New Year’s table decorations, here is Luntan’s free downloadable placemat that can be printed on A4 paper. New Year’s osechi will look charming with an illustration of a cute dog which is the sign of the year 2018 in Chinese Zodiac.
■Osechi Recipes for Babies
1:Sekihan with Polished Rice
2:Potage with Apples and Sweet Potatoes
3:Mashed Chestnut with Pumpkin (Kurikinton)
4:Sweet Rolled Omelet (Datemaki)
5:Black Soybeans (Kuro-mame)
6:Red and White Pickled Vegetables (Kohaku-namasu)
1:Sekihan with Polished Rice
【Ingredients】
・ 110g (1 go) polished rice
・ 20g adzuki beans
・ 350cc water
・ A pinch of salt (as you like)
・ A pinch of black sesames
【Things to Prepare】
・ A container bigger than 500cc
【Directions】
(1) Boil water. Pour boiled water and adzuki beans in the container and let it sit overnight. This is the secret trick to soften beans while you’re sleeping.
(2) On the next day, prepare rice with regular amount of water in the rice cooker. Then pour the Step 1 (both beans and water) into the rice cooker as well.
(3) Cook rice in the rice cooker.
(4) Sprinkle salt and black sesames if you like.
※This recipe uses polished rice instead of glutinous rice. Glutinous rice can choke babies, so it’s not suitable for babies. Please do not give sekihan made with glutinous rice while your baby is still on baby food.
※With the amount of water in this recipe, the rice will be soft. Depending on your baby’s baby food progress, please adjust the amount of water.
2:Potage with Apples and Sweet Potatoes
【Ingredients】
・ 80g sweet potatoes
・ 30g apples
・ 150cc milk or processed milk
・ Unsalted butter (if you like)
【Things to Prepare】
・ A blender or a food processor
【Directions】
(1) Peel sweet potatoes and chop finely. Peel apples and remove seeds, then chop finely.
(2) Cook sweet potatoes until tender.
(3) Once the Step 2 is ready, blend it with milk or processed milk and apples in a blender or a food processor until smooth.
(4)Pour the Step 3 into a pan and cook until thickened.
※Depending on your baby’s baby food progress, add little unsalted butter for extra flavor.
3:Mashed Chestnut with Pumpkin (Kurikinton)
【Ingredients】
・ 50g~100g pumpkin
・ 1 chestnut
・ Little bit of water
・ Small amount of green vegetables (canola flower, spinach, Japanese mustard spinach, etc)
【Directions】
(1) Cook the pumpkin and the chestnut until tender. Boil the small amount of green vegetables.
(2) When the pumpkin and the chestnut are cooked, peel skins.
(3) Mash the pumpkin. Mince the chestnut and green vegetables.
(4)Spread the Step 3 pumpkin on the plastic wrap, put the minced chestnut in the center, and wrap it to shape a ball form. Open the plastic wrap, add green vegetables on top and wrap it again to shape a ball form.
※Babies who have just started baby food cannot produce enough saliva so they may require more liquid. Please adjust the amount of liquid depending on your baby’s baby food progress.
※The chestnut is categorized under nuts and is one of food allergens. If your baby has no food allergies, you may give it from the middle stage of the baby food progress. If you have never given the chestnut to your baby, we recommend making this recipe without it.
4:Sweet Rolled Omelet (Datemaki)
【Ingredients】
・ 40g hanpen (boiled flat fish cake)
・ 1 egg
・ A pinch of sugar (if you like)
・ 2tsp dashi (Japanese soup stock usually made from fish and kelp)
【Things to Prepare】
・ A blender or a food processor
・ A frying pan or a frying pan for making rolled egg
・ A rolling mat
【Directions】
(1) Boil the hanpen well, and then mince.
(2) Combine the Step 1, an egg, and dashi, in a blender or a food processor and make it blend well.
(3) In the frying pan, add little bit of oil and warm it up on low heat. Pour the Step 2 into the frying pan and shake it to let the air out. Cover the frying pan with the aluminum foil sheet and cook it for about 15 minutes on low heat.
(4) Spread the rolling mat line with the plastic wrap and put the Step 3 on it. Roll the egg while it’s still hot and secure it with rubber bands (be careful, it’s hot!).
(5) After the egg is cool, store in the refrigerator from three hours to overnight.
※The rolled shape is firmly made when you slice it after storing in the refrigerator overnight.
※The hanpen often contains additives, so please boil it well. It also includes egg white, so please do not use it for the baby with allergies.
5:Black Soybeans (Kuro-mame)
【Ingredients】
・100g black soybeans
・30g brown sugar
・2tsp soy sauce
・600c water
【Things to Prepare】
・ Thermos or flask (1L size)
【Directions】
(1) Boil water.
(2) Wash black beans well. Pour hot water and black beans in the thermos and let it sit overnight. This is the secret trick to soften beans while you’re sleeping.
(3) On the next day, put the contents into a pan and cook with brown sugar and soy sauce.
※Please mash beans in order to avoid choking when you serve your baby.
※Please adjust the amount of sugar for your taste.
6:Red and White Pickled Vegetables (Kohaku-namasu)
【Ingredients】
・10cm carrot
・10cm Japanese white radish (daikon)
・1tbsp vinegar
・2tsp sugar
・A pinch of salt
・4tbsp water
【Things to Prepare】
・ Heat resistant Ziploc bag
【Directions】
(1) Put vinegar, sugar, salt, and water into the microwave-safe bowl and warm it up in a microwave. (Be careful not to cook too long. It’s easy to burn because the content is very little.)
(2) Cut out carrots and Japanese white radish with a flower-shaped cookie mold.
(3) Put the Step 1 and the Step 2 into the Ziploc bag and mix well. Leave it in the refrigerator until the flavor soak in.
※Please cut in pieces when you serve your baby.