Horensou no Ohitashi

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Spinach is an Autumn Crop both in Harvest Moon and in Rune Factory and Boiled Spinach is a fairly common Recipe in both series.

Here is a traditional Recipe for Boiled Spinach.

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh spinach, washed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons dashi soup stock

Optional:
4 tablespoons katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)

Fill large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add salt. Place spinach in the boiling water from the stem side and boil for one minute. Drain the spinach, squeezing to remove excess water.

Cut spinach into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Arrange pieces in a bowl, mix dashi soup stock and soy sauce, then pour mixture on top of the Spinach. Garnish with katsuobushi if desired.

Photograph is courtesy of Setsuko Yoshizuka

Japanese Fried Potatoes

Japanese Fried Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 potatoes, cut into small pieces
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Vegetable oil

Wash and cut potatoes, then parboil for a few moments. You then can remove the skin if you wish.

Dry potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread flour over them. Beat egg with a whisk, then dip each potato piece into the egg and roll it in the bread crumbs. Heat oil in a deep pan and fry the potatoes for about a minute.

This may be the equivalent of Harvest Moon/Rune Factory 'French Fries'.

Vegetarian Japanese Curry Recipe

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Vegetarian Japanese Curry


Ingredients:

Oil
1 Japanese Eggplant/Aubergine (Autumn Crop in HM/RF) or 1 cup of Japanese Eggplant/Aubergine, peeled and cut
2 small Green/Bell Peppers or 1 cup of Green/Bell Peppers (another Autumn Crop in HM/RF games) cored and cut into small pieces
1 cup of sliced mushrooms (Shitake is the usual HM Mushroom, either grown or found in the wilds)
1 clove garlic, cut fine (can purchase this from Rita in RFF, or find it in Crates and Urns in Dungeons)
1 small onion or 1 cup onion, sliced thin (can be either a Spring or Summer Crop, depending on the game)
1 medium carrot or 1 cup carrot, peeled and cut small
4 cups water
1 small packet of Japanese curry Roux
salt and pepper to taste

A recipe for making your own Roux is included in another post on this site if you cannot find commercial Japanese curry roux at your local market.

Directions:
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat and saute the Eggplant/Aubergine with the Green/Bell Peppers until tender. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then set aside.

Now heat oil in a large, deep pot over medium heat and saute the garlic and onion in it, until onion is translucent and tender. Add carrot and stir-fry with onion mixture for about a minute, until the carrot is fully flavoured with the onion and garlic. Add the water, stir well and simmer for a quarter of an hour or so, until the carrot is fully cooked. Dissolve the Japanese Curry Roux into the soup and stir. Add the fried Eggplant/Aubergine and Green/Bell Pepper. Serve over steamed rice.

Photograph courtesy of Setsuko Yoshizuka

Pumpkin Festival Sweeties

In the world of Harvest Moon, the Pumpkin Festival is an opportunity for children and all others who love sweets to consume them to excess. In FoMT/MFoMT, in fact, if you enter the house at any point in the afternoon on 30 Autumn, your spouse will waylay you and force you to join your family for a feast of sweets. Your character will be so overcome with the effects of his/her gluttony that he/she will be unable to return to work afterwards! When a good friend (and fellow Harvest Moon/Rune Factory player) sent me a very generous portion of Fudge with his own Recipe for my Birthday, I knew I had to feature the Recipe somewhere on my Harvest Moon Cooking Site.

Initially, I could not think of a Fudge Dish in any Harvest Moon game. Then I remembered the Pumpkin Festival! Mars-Frog's Fudge is a perfect offering for the traditional Pumpkin Festival celebrations. Rich, sweet and delectably smooth, any one who loves sweets is certain to enjoy it. It is not Chocolate Fudge, but rather Peanut Butter Fudge.

The photograph shows the magnificent Fudge guarded rather appropriately by a Chipsqueek from Rune Factory 2, as Chipsqueeks love anything that contains nuts. The wonderful Birthday card from Mars is included in the picture.

Here are the ingredients:

Peanut Butter
Marshmallow
Milk
White Sugar
Brown Sugar
Vanilla

Thank you, Mars!

Egg Custard or Chawan-Mushi

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To me, Egg Custard conjures a sweet Western dish baked in the oven, similar to 'rice pudding'. In Harvest Moon and Rune Factory, however, it is a savoury dish with mushrooms. Here is a Recipe for Chawan-mushi, the real world equivalent to Harvest Moon/Rune Factory Egg Custard:

Ingredients:

3 eggs
2 3/4 cups chicken stock, seasoned with sake and soy sauce
4 slices of shitake mushroom
4 cilantro leaves

4 cups

Beat the egg gently with a fork, then gradually add the stock, stirring constantly.

Place one slice of shitake mushroom in each cup, then pour the egg/stock mixture into the cups. Garnish each with one piece of cilantro.

Boil water in a steamer, then reduce the heat to medium.

Place the four cups into the steamer and steam for about 12 minutes. Do not overcook!

Note that many Recipes include pieces of chicken as well as Mushrooms but as meat usually is not an ingredient in Harvest Moon or Rune Factory, the purist will eschew it and use only Mushrooms, an Autumn ingredient in most HM and RF games.

In Rune Factory Frontier, the Recipe for Egg Custard (made in the Steamer) is as follows:
Egg Custard:
Ingredients: Egg, Shrimp, Spinach, Mushroom

Skill Level Requirement is Level 29 and Energy Values are: HP 45, RP 225, FX 120 sec. Knock-back, Seal Attack 100%

In Island of Happiness, the Recipe is obtained from the Diner with the offering of a Shitake Mushroom and is as follows:

Steamed Egg Custard: 110G
Basic Steamed Egg Custard: Egg, Shitake
+25 SR +10 FL
Best Steamed Egg Custard: Egg, Shitake, Small Fish, Medium Fish, Large Fish,
Grilled Fish
+49 SR +24 FL

Potato Croquettes or Korokke

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'Croquettes' or Korokke is another dish with a French name that is popular in Japan. Here is a wonderful recipe for Potato Curry Croquettes:

Ingredients:

Croquette mixture:
1/4 lb. ground beef
1 lb. potatoes, boiled and mashed
1/2 onion, chopped fine
salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste
Optional: 1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon oil or butter

Coating:
1/2 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
2 cups bread crumbs

Cooking:
Oil for deep frying

Garnish:
8 cabbage leaves, thinly sliced, soaked in cold water

Cut 1 lb. of potatoes, boil and mash, then set aside while you cook the meat mixture as follows:

Heat oil/butter, then saute the chopped onion until it is transparent. Add ground meat, brown the meat, then add the spices. Remove meat mixture and add it to the mashed potatoes.

Place the flour on a plate or clean surface and do the same with the bread crumbs. The beaten egg should be in a separate bowl.

Now make 8 croquettes by shaping or rolling the mixture in your hands, dredge each first in the flour, dip it in the egg, then roll it in the bread crumbs until it is covered thoroughly.

Heat oil and deep-fry each croquette in the oil for about 3 minutes on each side until golden-brown. Drain and remove any excess oil from the croquettes, then wrap in the cabbage leaves and serve. (If you do not like raw cabbage, you can cook the cabbage leaves slightly before placing them in the cold water.)

Not as healthy as Natto perhaps...

A very simple Korokke recipe is:

3 or 4 cups mashed potatoes
1 cup corn
1/2 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
1 cup Japanese bread crumbs (panko)

Oil for frying

Place the flour on a plate or clean surface and place the bread crumps on another plate or bowl, while keeping the beaten egg in a separate bowl.

Mix the mashed potatoes and egg together, then shape into patties. Dredge first in flour, then dip in the egg and finally coat with the bread crumbs.

Deep fry each croquette in oil until golden. Drain and remove any excess oil. Serve with tonkatsu or any other favourite sauce.

Natto

Some one left a comment on my site with a link to a YouTube video about Natto, reminding me that this was another Dish that appears in Harvest Moon with many variations but which may be unknown territory in real life for many players.

Natto, as players of Island of Happiness may have realised from the basic ingredient, basically consists of fermented soybeans. You can purchase plain natto from most Asian or Japanese markets, but if you are courageous and enjoy experiments in the kitchen, you can make it yourself.

Even when you make Natto yourself, you actually have to purchase the 'starter culture' in the form of commercial Natto somewhere. As with homemade yoghurt, you need the culture in the form of plain yoghurt in order to 'infect' your own ingredients. The ingredients needed to make homemade Natto therefore are soybeans, commercial Natto and water. A pressure cooker always is recommended for cooking soybeans.

Here is a link to a site that describes the entire process very well:

How to Make Natto

One of the reasons I used 'courageous' in my description of the cook who is willing to try to make Natto 'from scratch' is the disclaimer given by Kazuo Shiroki on this site as follows: 'Disclaimer: As making natto involves food processing, there is a chance of food poisoning. Even at the best care it might happen.'

Fermentation involves the creation of bacteria and is akin in a sense to allowing food or drink to spoil. Wines, ales, cheeses, yoghurt and Natto all only a few examples of fine foods and beverages created when an edible ingredient became fermented or transformed by bacteria.

Soybeans are a wonderful source of nutrients and a mainstay of many cuisines.

Whether you make your own Natto or buy it ready-made from a market, you then can experiment with different Natto dishes.

Kazuo Shiroki gives a list of easy Natto dishes that require the addition of only one or two ingredients each: Add vinegar. Add mayonnaise. Add sliced apples or applesauce. Add soy sauce. Add yoghurt. Add avocado and soy sauce. Add mustard, chopped green onions and soy sauce. Add tabasco sauce. Add soy sauce and various cheeses.

The smell of Natto and its 'sliminess' are the two aspects of plain Natto that deter many people from eating it. The additives given above reduce the odour and improve the texture.

Evidently, whether or not you make it yourself or buy it in a package, Natto needs to be stirred thoroughly or 'whipped' before you use it. According to one Japanese programme, you need to stir Natto 424 times before it will be ready to use!

Natto can be served with hot rice, spread on bread or used in any way that takes your fancy.

Here is a video from YouTube about Natto, suggested by a visitor to my Harvest Moon site: