Shojin Ryori – Japanese Vegetarian Cooking
At the Zazen Experience at Kenchoji Temple in Kamakura, the temple prepared shojin ryori (精進料理) for us to eat after the meditation. Shojin ryori is a type of vegetarian cooking which was brought to Japan together with Buddhism. The students especially loved the kenchinjiru (けんちん汁), a vegetable soup that originated from Kenchoji Temple. Here is the recipe for those of you who are interested:
How to Make Kenchin Soup
Ingredients:
1. 1/3 firm tofu
2. 20-30 grams of radish, carrot, burdock root, and lotus root
3. 10 grams of dried shiitake mushrooms (The mushrooms must be rehydrated by soaking in water and drained before using—if it is hard to get it at supermarket, regular mushroom can substituted)
4. 50 grams of Chinese cabbage (regular cabbage can be substituted)
5. 1/4 sheet of konnyaku
6. 2 teaspoon sesame oil
7. 400ml water
Seasoning
1. 2 Tablespoon Sake
2. 1 1/3 Tablespoon (20 ml) soy sauce
Directions:
1. Wrap the tofu with paper towels, place on a cutting board with a light weight on top, let stand about 30mins to allow water to drain from tofu.
2. Peel the radish, carrot, lotus root and cut them in 4 pieces. Cut again into cut them into 5 mm quarter-round fan shapes.
3. Soak the fan shape lotus root in vinegar water for 5 minutes then rinse.
4. Scrub the burdock well and cut in slants. Soak the pieces of the burdock in a bowl of vinegar water to remove bitterness.
5. Cut Konnyaku and Chinese radish
6. Cut komatsuna into 4-5mm slices
7. Put the tofu into a bowl, mash, and put a little bit of salt into it. Heat a pan over medium heat. Roast the tofu until it gets dried out then transfer onto a plate.
8. Clean the pan out, heat the sesame oil in the pan. Drain all the vegetables and konnyaku and put into the pan and fry them over medium heat.
9. After the veggies and konnyaku brown, add water and seasoning.
11. After all of the ingredients are heated, turn off the heat. Put komatsuna in pan, cover with lid and steam it with the retained heat.
12. Enjoy!!
