Cooking Challenge: Fuki (Japanese Butterbur) Aoni
How’s your week so far? This week started with a rainy day. Rainy season is coming up. Speaking of season, I got fresh fuki (Japanese butterbur) from a friend, which is now in season. Maybe I had one before but I haven’t tried cooking it. My friend gave me a rough instruction how to prepare it. So before I forget and waste it, I immediately took the challenge to cook it!
Here’s how it went.
Contents
Ingredients
– fuki (Japanese butterbur stalks)
– 1 cup of dashi (I made dashi from katsuoboshi (bonito flakes))
– 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
– 1 tablespoon of mirin
– salt
Directions
*Aoni (青煮) is a Japanese method of cooking green vegetables without losing their color.
Boiling the Japanese Butterbur (Fuki)
1. Wash the Japanese butterbur and cut to a size that will fit in a pot. (I was told to use the stalks only since the leaves are already hard.)
2. Sprinkle some salt on it and rub by rolling over on a board. You’ll see more dirt coming off.
3. Boil water in a pot and throw in the Japanese butterbur with the salt, thicker ones first.
4. Cook for about 5 minutes. Then strain and soak in cold water.
6. Dry it clean and peel off the outer layer. (This will require time and patience. Since my nail isn’t that long, I used knife to make small cut at the edge.)
7. Once done, cut it into smaller size and set aside.
Preparing the Stock
Now let’s prepare the stock for marinating.
1. Mix the ingredients and pour into a pot.
2. Turn on the heat. Once it starts boiling immediately turn off the heat.
3. Pour the stock into the boiled Japanese butterbur while it’s still hot.
4. Let it cool down, marinate and it’s done!
I had it as it is. Crunchy with a tangy taste. You can add some bonito flakes on top, add it to miso soup, etc.
Ah! I think what I had before was celery not this Japanese butterbur, fuki. Maybe they have similar taste and smell? Maybe… I can’t really say for sure since I seldom have celery. Anyway, that’s my Japanese cooking challenge! Good thing, it didn’t go to waste. 🙂
And oh, I just happened to see Japanese butterbur plant nearby the road this morning. Now I can recognize you fuki when I see you. 🙂
So you don’t eat the leaves?
Actually, you can. But my friend told me that it wasn’t young and might be hard already. For young leaves, can be good for tempura, stir-fry, pickles, etc.