TANUKI, ODANUKI, MUJINA

Reprinted here courtesy of No Reservations Magazine

Imagine being in Japan, walking through the woods, hungry (possibly drunk) and stumbling upon a huge plate of delicious looking food, sitting untouched in a clearing…what would you do?

Back in the day, before learning about my new favorite god, I would have attacked the plate of food and gorged myself silly and praised my luck. Now, I would stay clear of the food and try to convince a friend to eat it.

You see, Tanuki, the Japanese God of Gluttony, Boozing and Restauranteurs (funny how all those things go together so well), is said to like kicking it in the forest, getting wasted on sake and waiting for hungry travelers to pass him, so he can take a bunch of horse shit and using his powers, transform it to look like a huge tasty meal. As soon as some sucker starts getting down with the meal, Tanuki lifts the spell and laughs his ass off at the moron eating horse shit.

Tanuki is a ne'er-do-well monk, a notorious drunk, a braggart, a practical joker, a stumblebum, and a womanizer: all the endearing traits of reprobates everywhere. He is usually depicted as a badger-like animal, wearing a straw hat, carrying a 40 of sake in one hand and some fake money in the other hand (most likely due to his propensity, in many folktales, to get wasted, pay in fake cash and break out before 5.0 rolls up on him). He also has enormous testicles, that he beats like a drum (I don’t care how wasted you are, that hurts…trust me).

Most of the legends involving Tanuki have a striking similarity to Adam Sandler and Chris Farley movies:
Tanuki gets in a bragging contest with his drinking partner, Fox, and one of them suffers some Rabelaisean indignity at the other's hands. Tanuki takes it into his head to do some stupid thing that seemed like a good idea at the time, and causes hysterically catastrophic chaos and destruction. Tanuki gets ticked off at a land developer and pulls a con game that puts the guy out of business. Tanuki dresses as a Buddhist monk, visits a house of ill repute and tricks the prostitutes into hooking him up for free.

Despite his questionable morals, Tanuki statues can be found all around Japan (and if you pay close attention, in some places here in NYC as well), especially outside restaurants and bars, where the Tanuki beckons drinkers and dinners to enter (similar to the role played by Maneki Neko, the Beckoning Cat, who stands outside retail establishments).

Tanuki also has the honor of having a food named after him, Tanuki Soba. In this dish, Tempura batter flakes are sprinkled on top of a simple Soba soup dish, and melt into a jellylike sauce. The dish is named after the Tanuki, because the tempura flakes don't contain vegetables, fish, or more hearty substances. The batter flakes are just another "illusion" cast by the mischievous Tanuki, for when you bite into the tempura, you don't get any substantial food, as you would probably expect based on how it looks.

Next time you are in the woods and are confronted by a delicious looking meal, think of Tanuki, take a swig from your flask and let your friend eat first.

TANUKI SOBA (for 6)

For the tempura batter:

1 egg yolk
1 cup ice water (preferably Soda Water, but normal will do)
1 cup rice flour
Da Batter: In a mixing bowl, lightly beat egg yolk and pour in ice water, mix slightly. Add the flour all at once, stroke a few times with a fork just until ingredients are loosely combined. The batter should be somewhat lumpy, but coat the back of a spoon. Heat about 2 inches of vegetable oil to 375 degrees F in a wok or deep-fryer. Flavor with sesame oil.

Add drops of tempura batter to the oil and fry until golden brown. If you have vegetables or shrimp (or other fryable foodstuffs) you can use this batter and tempura them, just dust them with flour, dip in the batter and fry until golden brown.

For the broth:

7 cups water
1 tablespoon instant dashi
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 pound dried soba (buckwheat noodles)
3 to 4 tablespoons miso* (fermented bean paste), or to taste, if desired (optional)
2 scallions, minced

Da Broth: In a saucepan bring the water to a boil. Stir in the dashi and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce and the sugar and simmer the broth for 5 minutes.

In a kettle of salted boiling water cook the noodles for 3 to 5 minutes, or until they are al dente, being careful not to overcook them, drain them in a colander, and rinse them under cold water.

In a small bowl stir together well 1/2 cup of the soup broth and the miso and pour the mixture back into the pan. Divide the noodles among 6 large bowls, ladle the soup over them, and sprinkle each serving with some of the scallions and the Tempura batter crispies.

Eat and enjoy…peferably with a 40 of sake…Tanuki would have wanted it that way.

www.noresmag.com