The other day, several days ago, I was going to cook Oden, a japanese traditional dish for ordinary people in winter. There are various materials put into the pot. One of them is always radish. It could hardly be soaked in flavor if it is put at the same time as the ther materials. That is why it is necessary to preprocess with boiling until it gets softened.
I was doing that that day. I don't know why but have forgotten setting the timer. I was leaving kitchen for a while. When I came back to the gas range, the water has all evaporated. Pieces of the poor radish were almost starting to get dried and burnt.
I thought it should not be used in Oden but should be seasoned with something and be tried as a dish. The radish was a homegrown one and a vegetable I was proud of. Before cooking it further, I timidly tried it without any seasoning. Um, sweet and delicious! Not so directly sweet as sugar itself but deeply as well as gently sweet. I have never expected of that good taste. I learned, having grown in the cold climate, the radish had accumulated sugar to deal with that cold weather as the other winter vegetables like spinach had. Sugar must have been condensed while being cooked for a long time. I was a kind moved at that probable cause of this good taste. It is a kind of heavenly gift to us.
Another radish was put in the pot of Oden while we enjoyed that accidentally cooked sweet radish without any seasoning.
This was not intended at all. I told to myself not to forget setting the timer of gas range when I leave there. Or it could have been a disaster.
No comments:
Post a Comment