Sasamaki ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

1. Wash Glutinous rice, soak overnight in water, drain in a colander.

2. Select large bamboo leaves from a mountain or riverbank. Wash them, put them in a pan, add plenty of water, cover with a lid and simmer over a fire for about 1 hour. (If the leaves have been frozen or dried and stored from the previous year, soak them in boiling water and leave them to cool before washing and draining one by one.) The weeds to be used for tying strings (suge and migo) are also boiled together to soften them.

3. Roll one Bamboo leaf ,into a cone shape and add a heaped tablespoon or a cupful of Glutinous rice. (Adjust the amount according to the size of the bamboo leaf.)

4. Fold over the third Bamboo leaf, to form a lid, fold the edges into a triangle, and tie the” Igusa,” to the corners of the triangle so that it does not come undone. The shape of the Bamboos, and the way the strings are tied vary from region to region.

5. Put 4 into a large pot, add plenty of water and simmer over a fire for 1 hour. When simmering in lye water: Place 100 g of ash from Burnt oak, Beech or Cherry trees, in a “Sarashi”(cotton) cloth bag, add 900 mL of Water, bring to the boil for 10 minutes, leave to simmer for one day and night and take the clear liquid. Soak the Glutinous rice in this Lye water overnight and wrap in Bamboo grass, in the same way as above, simmering for 2-3 hours longer. Baking soda, may also be used.

6. Turn off the heat and leave to cool before removing. Unwrap the Bamboo leaves, and dip them in a mixture of “Kinako”(soybean flour), and sugar. Alternatively, dissolveBbrown sugar in a little water and pour over the”Sasamaki,” then eat.