Monday, July 14, 2008

Unagi - eel

It is very hot in these days. Rainy season hasn't finished in Tokyo yet. So hot and humid in Japan now. And now is Bon week.
Unagi (eel) is eaten a lot by Japanese in especially summer. Japanese like Unagi. Unagi no Kabayaki (broiled eel) is one of foods to not suffering from summer heat, "Natsu bate". Unagi is grilled with sweet soy sauce (Tare) like Teriyaki souce. And this Kabayaki is put on rice ball. Yakumi is Japanese pepper (Sansho) . The smell is so savory. If you go to Unagi restaurant in Japan, transparent soup with liver of eel (Kimo sui) is served with Kabayaki. "Kimo" means liver and "sui" is soup (O-Suimono).
"Doyou-no-ushi-no-hi" is a day to eat Kabayaki. It is July 24 this year. Unagi is sold in supermarket near July 24. It is essential for summer. We import a lot of Unagi from China. Chinese unagi was sold as Japanese one. It was big topic recently.
The body is like a snake and it is a little grotesque to eat. However, we like it a lot.

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