糸瓜の土臭さを楽しむ和風アレンジ「へちまとかしわの吉野煮」A Japanese-style dish that lets you enjoy the earthy smell of loofah gourd: "Yoshino-ni with loofah and chicken"：おまかせ小品集 Chef's choice dishes collection
深夜食堂（ドラマの深夜食堂よりずっと前のお話）」でお出しした料理の小品集。材料がある限り何でも出してました。ほとんど即興だったので何百種類も作りましたが、お客様のエピソードを思い出せるものを少しづつ再現します（差し支えある話は多少脚色しています）。
A collection of small dishes served on "Midnight Diner" (a story that took place long before the TV drama "Midnight Diner"). We served anything as long as we had the ingredients. Since it was mostly improvisation, we made hundreds of dishes, but we will recreate little by little the ones that remind us of our customers' episodes (we have dramatized some of the more inappropriate stories).
おまかせの時間
The inspiration for the recipe
もう二十年以上前の話。深夜食堂の常連さんに、若い和食の料理人がいた。東京の割烹の仕事が終わると、毎晩終電で鎌倉に帰って来た。関西出身の彼が、職場から一時間もかかる鎌倉に越して来たのは、農協の直売所の存在がためだ。
実は僕もその口だ。未だ料理の仕事に本格的に関わる前から、海外や都内の仕事が多かったにも関わらず、鎌倉が気に入ってずっと本拠を移さなかった理由は、海のある保養地の風情に加えて、この直売所があったからだ。戦後、日本で一番最初にいわゆる「ファーマーズマーケット(農家の直売市場）」ができたのが鎌倉だった。日本全国には「朝市」と呼ばれる直売市場は沢山あったが、それらは観光客目当ての商売であり、地元の人間が毎日普段使いする市場では無かったし、値付けも観光客値段だった。ある宣教師の提案で戦後まもなく鎌倉にできた直売所は、鎌倉の数十軒の農家が運営する、安くて地元の人が毎日通える野菜市場だった。開場時間も早朝から夕方までで、主婦の行動時間に合わせてくれていた。出店の農家は四つの班を組み、交代で毎日運営されていた。当時の鎌倉は、井上ひさしやなだいなだといった多くの革新贔屓の文化人が住み、生協活動なども活発だったので、大企業の流通支配にあがなう直売市場の誕生は歓迎された（今の鎌倉は、政治的にはどちらかというとかなり保守的）。今ではマスコミのお陰もあって「鎌倉野菜ブランド」はすっかり有名になったので、ご存知の方も多いと思う。マスコミに取り上げられた当初は、全国からの見学も多く、この直売所を参考にした直売所が全国に沢山できている。
It's been more than twenty years since the story began. A young chef of a traditional Japanese restaurant was a regular at Midnight Diner. After finishing his work at a traditional restaurant in Tokyo, he returned to Kamakura every night on the last train. Originally from the Kansai region, he moved to Kamakura, an hour away from his workplace, because of the presence of a direct sales store run by an agricultural cooperative.
Actually, I am one of them. Even before I started working in the culinary industry, I had many jobs abroad and in Tokyo, but I liked Kamakura and never moved my base. The reason was that it had the atmosphere of a seaside resort, and this farmer's market was there. After the war, the first so-called "farmer's market" in Japan was established in Kamakura. There were many farmer's markets called "morning markets" all over Japan, but they were businesses aimed at tourists, not markets that local people used on a daily basis, and the prices were also tourist prices. The farmer's market that was established in Kamakura shortly after the war at the suggestion of a missionary was a cheap vegetable market run by dozens of farmers in Kamakura that locals could visit every day. The opening hours were from early morning to evening, which was in line with the active hours of housewives. The farmers who set up stalls were divided into four groups and took turns running the market every day. At that time, Kamakura was home to many progressive intellectuals such as Hisashi Inoue and Nada Inada, and co-op activities were also active, so the birth of a direct sales market that averted the control of distribution by large corporations was welcomed (Kamakura today is politically rather conservative). Now, thanks to the media, the "Kamakura Vegetable Brand" has become quite famous, so I think many people are familiar with it. When it was first featured in the media, many people came from all over the country to visit, and many direct sales stores based on this one have been opened all over the country.
この二十代の料理人は仕事熱心で、夜遅くに僕のいる深夜食堂に寄っては、色んな野菜の料理を食べたがった。彼は酒場に通うタイプではなかったのだけど、ある時先輩格の料理人が僕のところに連れて来て以来、終電帰りの常連客の一人となった。深夜でも、僕は直売所で買った野菜を沢山出していたので、彼には嬉しかったようだ。彼はものすごく食材の発掘に熱心で、食べたことのない野菜を見つけると、料理法を熱心に訊いてきた。そのうち、早朝に僕が直売所に行くと彼が待っていて、食べたい野菜を買っては僕に託すようになった。ある夏に、僕が彼から託された「へちま」を使った「ナーベラーウンブシー（沖縄風へちまの味噌煮。前の記事にレシピがあります）」を出すと、その珍しい味に興奮したようだった。彼曰く「この土を食むような風味独特ですよね。牛蒡やツリガネニンジンにも通じるような独特の香りとエグ味が新鮮だなぁ！」。そして、彼は続けて、目をキラキラさせながら「日本料理でも、糸瓜を活かせないかなぁ？」とさらにこの野菜に興味を持って食いついて来たので、もう一品その場の材料で作ったのがこの料理だ。ちょうど、鶏つくねの焼き鳥を作ろうと思って、鶏胸肉をフードプロセッサーにかけたところだったので、これを組み合わせての一品となった。
This chef in his twenties was a hard worker and would drop by my Midnight Diner late at night, wanting to eat various vegetable dishes. He wasn't the type to frequent bars, but one day a senior chef brought him to me. Since then, he has been one of the regular customers on his way home from the last train. Even at midnight, I served him a lot of vegetables I bought at the farm shop, which made him happy. He was very enthusiastic about discovering new ingredients, and when he found a vegetable he had never eaten before, he eagerly asked me how to cook it. Soon, when I went to the farm shop early in the morning, he would be waiting for me, and he would buy the vegetables he wanted to eat and entrust them to me. One summer, I served him "Nabera Unbushi (Okinawan-style loofah miso stew. The recipe is in the previous article)" using the loofah he had entrusted to me, and he seemed excited by the unusual taste. He said, "It has a unique flavor that makes you feel like you're eating the soil. The unique aroma and bitter taste that is similar to that of burdock and bellflower is fresh!" He continued, his eyes sparkling, "I wonder if I can use it in Japanese cuisine?" He became even more interested in this vegetable, so I made this dish using the ingredients on the spot. I had just been thinking about making chicken meatballs yakitori, and had put some chicken breast in the food processor, so I combined it with this to create this dish.
へちまは、江戸期から、ずっと日本人の身近にあった植物にも関わらず、九州の一部を除き、野菜として食用では定着しなかった。「へちま」という大和言葉の読みも、その身近さを感じさせる。「糸瓜（いとうり／とうり)」は、古いひらがなの手習歌「いろはにほへと、ちりぬるを」の「へ」と「ち」の間（ま）なので「へちま」と呼ばれたらしい。糸瓜には同じウリ科の苦瓜（ゴーヤ）以上に癖があり、へちま（ナーベラー）の本場沖縄でも、結構食べられない人がいたりする。この癖が日本人の口には合わなかったのかもしれない。
独特の香りを土臭さい不味さと感じるか野趣味のある大地の味と感じるかで、好みが極端に分かれる。味噌や甘辛でこの味をマスキングしてしまうのも一つの手だが、この時は研究熱心な彼のために、わざと土臭さを存分に味わってもらえるよう、薄味で「吉野煮」に仕立てた。吉野煮は、葛（澱粉）の産地の吉野をとって、澱粉でとろみをつけた煮物のことを言う。葛は高価なので、普通は片栗粉を使う。片栗粉も本来は片栗澱粉なのだけど、市販されているのはほぼ全部馬連署（じゃがいも）粉だ。
余談だけど、最近の日本料理はこう言う洒落っ気にある造語が出てこなくなった。日本料理の世界から新しい造語が出てこないということは、この業界の想像力が乏しくなって来ていることを意味するのかもしれない。クラッシックな日本料理は世界遺産だけど、世界遺産登録というのは、滅びゆく文化遺産を保護するための認定なので、喜んでばかりはいられないと思う（一流職人の方、これは場末の料理人の戯言です。もし偶然お目に留まることがあったら、聞き流してください！）。
僕のところに一年ほど通った後、彼は、良い仕事の縁があって、割烹職人としてカナダに旅立っていった。連絡先を聞きそびれてしまったので、彼のその後の消息はわからないが、きっとすっかり成長して、進化系の和食を向こうで欧米人に振る舞っているに違いない。
Although loofah has been familiar to Japanese people since the Edo period, it never became established as a vegetable to eat, except in parts of Kyushu. Even the reading of the Yamato word "hechima(loofah)" gives a sense of familiarity. It seems that “to” of "itouri/touri(糸瓜)” is between (ma) the "he" and "chi" in the old hiragana hand-learning song "I ro ha ni ho he to, chi ri nu ru wo", so it was called "he-chi ma". It has a stronger flavor than bitter melon (goya), which is also in the Cucurbitaceae family, and even in Okinawa, the home of loofah (hechima / nabera), there are quite a few people who cannot eat it. This flavor may not have been to the liking of the Japanese palate.
Tastes are divided on whether the unique aroma is an unpleasant earthy smell or a rustic taste of the land. One option is to mask the taste with miso or a sweet and spicy sauce, but for the sake of his dedication to research, I purposely made it into a light-flavored "Yoshino-ni" so he could fully enjoy the earthy smell. Yoshino-ni is a stew made with starch thickened from Yoshino, a region that produces kudzu(East Asian arrowroot) starch. Kudzu starch is expensive, so katakuri-ko is usually used. katakuri-ko is actually katakuri(dogtooth) starch, but almost all commercially available is potato starch.
As an aside, these kinds of witty neologisms have disappeared from Japanese cuisine recently. The lack of new neologisms in the world of Japanese cuisine may mean that the imagination of this industry is becoming scarce. Classic Japanese cuisine is a World Heritage Site, but World Heritage registration is a certification to protect a cultural heritage that is disappearing, so I don't think we can be too happy about it (To fellow chefs, this is just the ramblings of a low-class chef. Please ignore it!).
After visiting me for about a year, he got a good job opportunity and left for Canada as a Japanese cuisine chef. I forgot to ask for his contact information, so I don't know what he's been up to since then, but I'm sure he's grown up and is now serving evolved Japanese cuisine to Westerners over there.
それにしても、この暑さで、うちのプランターのへちまは大豊作だ。九月になっても苦瓜や糸瓜の料理ばかり作っている。
Even so, in this heat, the loofahs in my pot are producing a bumper crop. Even in September, I'm still making dishes using bitter melon and loofah.
Today's Ingredients:
今日の素材：
プランターで収穫したへちま（もちろん市販品でも良い）
鶏胸肉（鶏ひき肉でも良い）
卵
出汁（鰹昆布だし）※
自然塩
薄口醤油
※以前の記事にレシピがあります。
Loofahs harvested from a planter (store-bought ones are fine, of course)
Chicken breast (ground chicken is fine too)
Egg
Dashi broth(bonito kelp stock)*
Natural salt
Light type soy sauce
*There is a recipe in the previous post.
procedure:
つくり方:
へちまは、ピーラーなどで皮を剥いて、輪切りにしておく。
鶏胸肉は皮を外して、適当な大きさにカットする。皮は別に湯がいて、刻んでおく。
鶏肉と皮をフードプロセッサーに入れてミンチにする。そこに、片栗粉と卵、自然塩を入れ、さらにかき混ぜる。
水を鍋に入れ、軽く沸騰したら火を弱め、作ったミンチをスプーンなどで掬って、出汁の中に落としていく。つくねは、茹だると上に浮いてくるので、取り出す。
つくねが茹で上がったら、鰹昆布だしを鍋に入れ、へちまを入れる。
へちまに透明感が出て来たら、つくねを戻し入れ、塩でほとんど味を決め、少量の薄口醤油を入れる。片栗粉を溶いた水が入るので、その分、多少塩辛めの調味をしておく。
最後に水溶き片栗粉を回し入れ、とろみが付いたら、火を止める。
温かいまま食べても、冷やして食べても美味しい。
Peel the skin of the loofah using a peeler and cut into rings.
Remove the skin from the chicken breast and cut into bite-sized pieces. Boil the skin separately and chop it.
Put the chicken and skin into a food processor and process it into a mince. Add the potato starch, eggs and salt and stir again.
Put water into a pot and bring it to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and scoop out the mince with a spoon and drop it into the broth. The meatballs will float to the top when boiled, so scoop them out from the boiled ones.
Once the meatballs are cooked, reduce the cooking water a little, add the bonito and kelp stock, and then add the loofah.
Once the loofah has become translucent, put the meatballs back in, season with salt and add a small amount of light soy sauce. Since the water with the potato starch dissolved in it will be added, make it a little saltier to compensate.
Finally, add the water-dissolved potato starch and when it thickens, turn off the heat.
It's delicious whether you eat it warm or chilled.
ヒントとバリエーション
Recipe tips and variation
へちまは、開花後二週間以内くらいの、若い実を使う。さもないと繊維が形成されて食べられなくなる。
皮は普通に包丁で剥いても良いが、柔らかいので、ピーラーで剥くと便利。
へちまの種は、柔らかいので、ワタを取る必要はない。
鶏のミンチには皮も入れている。皮を一緒にミンチすると、歯応えが出てぱさぱさせず美味しいので、おすすめ。卵はフワッと仕上げるために入れているが、なくても良い。もも肉を使っても良い。
出汁を精進出汁（以前の記事にレシピがあります）にし、きのこや厚揚げ豆腐を肉団子の代わりに使い、ベジタリアン向けの仕上げにしても良い。
鶏の代わりに、魚のつみれを使っても良い。
ご飯に乗せて、丼スタイルで食べても美味しい。
ここでは、割烹の一品で出すことを想定して薄味にしているが、濃口醤油と味醂や砂糖で、家庭料理風に仕上げても良い。
Use young loofah fruits, about two weeks after flowering. Otherwise, fibers will form and they will become inedible.
You can peel the skin with a regular knife, but it is convenient to use a peeler to peel it because it is soft.
Loofah seeds are soft, so there is no need to remove the pith.
The chicken skin is also included in the mince. I recommend mincing the skin together with the meat, as it gives it a chewy texture and prevents it from becoming dry. Eggs are added to make the dish fluffy, but they are optional. You can also use chicken thighs.
You can make a vegetarian version of this dish by using a vegetarian broth(there is a recipe in a previous article) and using mushrooms or deep-fried tofu instead of meatballs.
You can also use fish meatballs instead of chicken.
It is also delicious served on rice in a bowl style.
Here, the seasoning is light, assuming it will be served as a dish at a traditional Japanese restaurant, but you can also make it more home-cooked by adding dark soy sauce, mirin, and sugar.
Guide to where to get ingredients and equipment 材料と機材の入手先ガイド
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*I participate in Amazon affiliate programs. If you purchase this product by clicking here, it will help pay for my coffee, so I would be very happy. By the way, I am addicted to coffee.
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