Tanabata and foods to fight the heat!
Tanabata is the Japanese star festival that celebrates the meeting of Orihime and Hikoboshi, the prince and princess who were separated by the milky way and can only meet once a year, July 7th (7/7). In Japan there are festivals during this time and one of the customs is to write your wishes on pieces of paper and tie them to a bamboo tree.
I have always liked this festival and this is the bamboo tree that we made in our home.
Tanabata (7/7) was a very hot day this year so I made some foods that help to cool off in the summer!
Steamed vegetables in bamboo basket: radish, goya (Japanese bitter melon), kabocha (not sure if this one helps to cool the body off but I love it), and beansprouts.
Dipping sauce: Goji berry ponzu, shio-koji and sesame oil
Goji berry ponzu dressing:
Dashi
Soy sauce
Goji berries
Squeezed orange and lemon
I basically just mixed all of the ingredients except for the orange and lemon and I heated them until they reached a boil. After the sauce cooled off, I added the juice from the orange and lemon.
Brown rice with millet
Miso soup with bitter melon and age-tofu
If Poto could eat goya maybe she wouldn’t be this hot…
Tanabata is my favorite event sine I was little. I love making decorations for the bamboo tree. This looks really healthy meal! 🙂 I’m supposed to eat millet every day and I always make okayu with it but did you just cook brown rice and millet in a rice cooker? Maybe I should try that next time.
Poto is adorable! 😀
Yeah, I just throw the millet in the rice cooker with the brown rice. I usually soak the brown rice over night but I don’t soak the millet because it get’s soft easily I think. I never tried making okayu, that sounds interesting too!
Poto says thank you by the way! 😛