Spring Yakuzen Medicinal Cuisine
春の薬膳料理

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Last October, I attended an Autumn Yakuzen Cooking Class and wrote about it in a post on 「薬膳教室 Yakuzen Cooking Class」(Japanese only). Had the chance to go for another class at Hills Yakuzen to learn more about medicinal cuisine for the Spring season! 

去年の10月ごろ、一旦薬膳料理の教室に行ってきました。その経験で、「薬膳教室 Yakuzen Cooking Class」について、書きました。健康に役立つ漢方の知恵を、手軽な薬膳料理で取り入れてみたかったので、薬膳料理教室にとても興味があります。そして、ヒルズ薬膳(http://hillsyakuzen.com/)の教室では、初心者にも嬉しい薬膳の基礎知識から、簡単な薬膳レシピや薬膳理論解説まで教えてくれました!

去年と同じように、薬膳教室では、台湾人の先生はとかく難しく思われがちな中医学を出来るだけ簡単に分かりやすく解説してくれました。お料理は手に入りにくい生薬よりも、身近で旬の食材の薬効を紹介しつつ、薬膳を日々の食生活に取り入れられるようにアドバイスしてくれました。

Yakuzen refers to Japanese cooking of Chinese herbal medicine dishes (药材 in Chinese). Traditional Chinese medicine and herbal ingredients are central to yakuzen meals, rather than any specific cooking styles. Emphasis is placed on the principle of yin and yang (阴阳), the two opposite forces in the universe that complement each other, and the five elements that reflect traditional Chinese philosophy – metal, water, wood, fire and earth (which interestingly, are also used to refer to the days of the week in Japanese and Korean). Additionally, five vital internal organs are linked with the five elements (and seasons): liver to wood (Spring), heart to fire (Summer), spleen to earth (late Summer), lungs to metal (Autumn) and kidneys to water (Winter). Meals are said to rebalance qi, blood and body fluids, which yakuzen promotes as being essential to maintaining the delicate equilibrium of yin and yang in our body.

Yakuzen Medicinal Cuisine prepared this lesson for the Spring season!
今回のレッスン試食は春らしいお料理となります。
*~* Did you know? *~* 

Traditional Chinese philosophy is evident in Japanese and Korean cultures in that the five elements and principle of yin and yang are used to refer to the days of the week! 

Monday (月曜日 – Day of the Moon/Yin 阴)
Tuesday (火曜日 – Day of Fire)
Wednesday (水曜日 – Day of Water)
Thursday 木曜日 (Day of Wood)
Friday (金曜日 – Day of Gold or Metal)
Saturday (土曜日 – Day of Earth)
Sunday (日曜日 – Day of the Sun/Yang 阳) 

With Spring around the corner, we must be more watchful of the liver. After a harsh winter, the body gets more active during Spring but the liver is easily affected by temperature fluctuations. A liver out of balance may result in a whole host of problems such as: irritability, fatigue, stress, hypertension, headache, insomnia, dizziness, loss of vision, etc.

Bitter Spring vegetables like bitter gourd, edible wild plants, celery, and shiso leaves have a detoxifying effect and sooth irritation of the liver, and is recommended during the Spring season. Moreover, sweet vegetables in season like pumpkin and carrots can help with digestion. 

レッスンはウエルカムドリンクや薬膳茶から始まりました。そして、レシピ解説(薬膳理論解説)とクッキングデモンストレーションを行いました。先生が季節の養生薬膳について色んな説明をしました:「冬は五臓の中で「腎」を保護する季節となります。 腎は先天の「精」、生まれ持ってのエネルギーが蓄えてあり、成長、生殖、水分代謝を司どっています。」

中医学(中国の伝統医学)では、春と密接な関係があるのは五臓の中の「肝」と考えます。春風に乱されやすいのが肝臓ですので、肝の気が上がるとイライラ、倦怠感、ストレスフルになり、自律神経失調状態になるということらしいです。春先は肝の熱が上がりがちなので、辛いものやお酒を控え、肝に負担をかけないようにするのが養生ですよね。

The menu for this Spring Yakuzen class was: Beef Tendon soup (牛筋汤), Spring vegetables salad (春菜沙拉), Chinese bing crackers with meat and vegetables (蘿蔔絲餅), Eight Treasures Rice (八宝饭)and raw chocolate dessert. <Check out photos below!>

今回は5つの料理を作りました:牛すじのスープ、蘿蔔絲餅(中華おやきで)、春野菜の豆そぼろがけ、八宝飯と創作チョコデザートです。

Chinese bing crackers with meat and vegetables 蘿蔔絲餅(中華おやきで)です~
My attempt at the Cooking Demonstration! ☆ 
私もクッキングデモンストレーションをやってみました!

Dessert with raw chocolate

Raw chocolate has been a latest health food trend. We used a special chocolate mixer to simply mix Cacao Beans with Coconut Oil, and managed to make some delicious raw chocolate dip for dessert! (Goes great with dried fruit and nuts – we used orange and ginger strips!)

最近の人気は生チョコレートですね。

レッスンの教室でチョコレート用ミキサーがありますので、カカオ豆をひき、ココナッツオイルをいれたりして程よい固さに仕上げていきました。ドライフルーツなどで創作チョコデザートを作ってみました。(^○^)

Making raw chocolate dip for dessert! 
私も生チョコレートのデザートを作ってみました!美味しかったですよ!

My favorite dish was Beef Tendon Soup. Since young, I have always liked soup and Beef Tendon Soup is a healthy and great dish to relieve the stress that may come along with the warmer Spring weather. Eye twitching and other involuntary muscle twitches are common during this season (especially those who get Spring allergies), and Beef Tendon Soup is perfect for warming the body after a cold winter and replenishing energy~  

In Tokyo, you will likely have to reserve the tendon from the butchers’ in advance (or request for it early in the morning) as they only bring in very little everyday. Often, they will also not have the tendon on display, so you will have to ask for it — 牛筋(牛すじ or gyu-suji in Japanese).  

私にとって、一番美味しかった料理は牛スジスープでした!

子供の頃、中国の上海でよく飲みました~ とても美味しくて、健康的な料理ですよ。春はワクワク楽しみが多い季節の反面、ストレスフルの季節でもありますね。目のピクピク、チックなどの不随意運動も多発する季節だと思います。
筋を強化するために良い牛スジスープに限ります。

お肉屋さんに頼んで牛スジをお取り置きしてもらわないと、量が少ないので1日ですぐ売り切れてしまうらしいです。

Beef tendon soup – you can dip the bing crackers in soup as a way of eating! Really yummy & lots of energy for breakfast! 
牛スジスープです!粉ものの餅ピンを焼いて、つけて頂くのもとても美味しいですよ!

Sitting down to eat our meal after cooking! 
料理を作っているうちに、とてもお腹が空いてきました! いただきます!

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About Rachel

Rachel Leng is COO and Co-Founder of SeiRogai, Inc., a Tokyo-based business consultancy & media production company. Previously, she was Leader of Business Development on the Investment Management team at a Japanese private equity fund, as well as Policy Analyst at a top think tank in Seoul, South Korea.

As an East Asia specialist and former Miss Singapore titleholder, Rachel is passionate about the potential of media to educate and raise awareness about history, culture, art, business, and societal issues to enhance mutual understanding.

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