Angelove Estate

There is a growing resurgence in countries trying to reclaimed their cultural food heritage, it is happening in the US, where there is a growing interest in regional foods sourced from local farms, and also in Bulgaria, where young chefs are exploring traditional dishes and local ingredients that have often been neglected in high-end restaurants in favor of more western flavors. Japan is also looking to its cultural heritage and trying to bring older and maybe less well known ingredients back to the forefront of the modern culinary traditions. Kanpyo is one of those ingredients that has received little attention in Japan outside of Edo-style restaurants or the Tochigi prefecture. As the food world is growing smaller, it is not only international gourmands that are drawn to such ingredients, but locals are revitalizing their menus with long forgotten culinary components.

It was a brief stint as a vegetarian, in the early 2000’s that lead me to find kanpyo sushi. I had discovered sushi and Japanese food while working in New York City. I grew bored quite quickly with the standard cucumber, carrot and avocado sushi options, so at one outing, when I asked about other vegetarian offerings, the server suggested kanpyo, a the sweetened shavings of a dried gourd from the calabash family; I was instantly hooked. It was sweet, salty and savory and my taste buds were exuberant. While living in New York, it was always easy to find kanpyo maki, but that changed once I moved to Bulgaria in 2006.

My penchant for cooking went into overdrive once I had to learn to make all the foods that I missed from New York from scratch. Sushi was practically non existent in Bulgaria in 2006, needless to say, there wasn’t a dried gourd shaving in sight. It was through the help of a Japanese expat in Sofia that I managed to procure some kanpyo. Having some basic sushi skills in my repertoire, I started researching how to cook and marinate the kanpyo. There were very limited recipes in english about kanpyo, but it was simple enough, soy sauce, sugar and some salt. I wrote about my experience for my blog in 2010 and hadn’t thought much about that post till 2019, when TV Tokyo wanted to interview and film me about my love of kanpyo. It sounded like an interesting opportunity, little did I know it would lead to me spending a week in Japan filming with TV Tokyo and learning about kanpyo and its history in a life changing farm to table experience.

On my trip, I would be learning how to prepare kanpyo from a notable sushi chef in Tokyo and spend a few days at a yugao or fukube farm in the Tochigi prefecture. Kanpyo is often served at the end of a omakase meal, which is where the sushi chef chooses the menu and you happily sit and enjoy each bite. If you watch the documentary film Jiro Dreams of Sushi, kanpyo is one of the final pieces. For anyone that has enjoyed omakase, it is like a symphony of flavors in each mouthful.

My sushi journey began at Sushi Kiyoshi, located in the fashionable Ginza district. Chef Sakai Kiyoshi, has over 37 years of experience. He spent 25 of those years at Kyubey, a world renowned sushi establishment. He left in 2020 to start his restaurant. Kiyoshi-san is a warm-hearted person that was excited to meet a westerner that loved kanpyo, which is a lesser-known ingredient, even amongst the Japanese. He welcomed me to his restaurant and he served me an multiple course omakase meal. Every single piece was an explosion of flavors. With the help of my translator Akiko-san, he explained all about his sushi style. Kiyoshi-san is notable for using different vinegars in his shari-su and pairing each with a special selected rice variety, grown in different prefectures. His rices are seasoned with a the traditional rice wine vinegars, as well as red wine vinegars and his own special rosé blend. The rice that Kiyoshi-san uses are selected from small farmers in different prefectures in Japan are paired with different sea creatures and seasoned, not just with wasabi, but also with a yuzu kosho, a spicy pepper paste with yuzu citrus zest on certain pieces. The colors on his palette were endless.

As we neared the end, he announced that my favorite was coming. He pulled out a small ceramic jar filled with thinly sliced pieces of glistening kanpyo. This was the first roll that he had served and I was quivering with anticipation. He served me 4 pieces, 2 without wasabi and 2 with… The unadulterated roll with just kanpyo was by far the best. The wasabi and heat detracted from the subtle flavors of the marinated and season rehydrated gourd. I had never experienced kanpyo on such a visceral level and Kiyoshi-san was going to teach me his secrets.

Ingredients:

500g of dried kanpyo, cut into sections about the width of your fist. Once rehydrated, they will be about the length of a sheet of nori, Coarse sea salt

Marinade:

1 – 180ml ladle of soy sauce ichi, 1 180ml ladle of dry saké, ichi, 2 – 180ml ladles of Tamazato sugar, (you can substitute raw or brown sugar) 1 – 180ml ladle of Kuruzato sugar (you can substitute dark brown sugar), 500ml – 1 liter of Mirin

Method:

Bring a very large pot of water to a boil, the pot, ideally should be wider, rather than taller. More of a rondeau shape. I will use my Le Creuset Dutch oven Add the cut pieces of the dried gourd to the pot. Stir to separate the strands. Remove from heat and place a plate or lid on top of the kanpyo to keep all the pieces submerged, so they rehydrate evenly. Let stand at room temperature for 12 hours. The soaking helps to remove any impurities.

Drain the rehydrated kanpyo in a colander, then return to the pot. Add two handfuls of the coarse sea salt to the kanpyo and massage the salt gently into each piece, taking care not the damage the strands.

After 5-10 minutes, rinse thoroughly under cool running water to remove the excess salt. Continue rinsing for another 5-10 minutes, taste the kanpyo to be certain of the level of salinity. Drain in a colander and return to the pot.

Bring the pot to the stove top filled to the brim with water, leaving about 3cm (1″). Over high heat, bring to a boil. Stirring to make sure the strands are separated. Once lazy bubbles begin to appear breaking through the surface cover it again with a plate or lid to keep everything submerged. Lower the heat and let cook gently for 30 minutes, you know it is ready when your nail can easily penetrate the flesh.

Drain the kanpyo into a colander, and place the colander into the pot to catch the excess liquid. Set up your cutting board, a sharp knife and two bowl, with strainers. Once it is cool enough to handle, begin arranging the kanpyo flat on the cutting board about 4-5 strands, slightly overlapping and begin slicing lengthwise to a width of approximately 1mm. At this point you want to separate the kanpyo into two piles, one of for the softer inner fleshy pieces, and the other bowl is for the tougher outer pieces that are usually cut closer to rind. This step is very time consuming. Most kanpyo you find commercially is not sliced, but the thinner pieces occupy less space in the roll, which will give you more kanpyo per bite.

The next step you will take small handfuls of thinly sliced kanpyo, about a small handful and gently squeeze out the excess moisture. This is very important so that the kanpyo will be able to absorb more the marinate. Don’t rush this step. If you squeeze too hard, you will break the tender strands and they will not endure the next cooking process.

Prepare all the marinade ingredients. Add to the pot over the stove on high. Combine everything, except the mirin thoroughly till all the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar, soy and saké mixture hits a hard boil and begins to rise, add the bowl with the tougher pieces of kanpyo. gently stir and separate the thin strands to ensure an even coating. Once the sugar mixture begins to hard boil again, add the more tender strands directly on top of the tougher pieces. Try to maintain two levels. Gently arrange the tender strands. In the center of the pot of kanpyo, make a small well, so you can scoop up some of the marinade. With a ladle, our the marinate over the top of the tender strands, so everything is coated and evenly colored. Turn off the heat, and press down again with a plate or lid. Let the pot, marinade and kanpyo stand for one hour.

If you have ever seen someone flip veggies in the pot with a flick of the wrist… the next step is similar. You want to flip the kanpyo inside the pot. Firmly grip both sides and flip it over. So now, the tender kanpyo is on the bottom and the tougher bits are on top. Keep flipping till all the kanpyo is uniformly coated.

Return the pot to the stove top and over high heat and add 500ml of mirin. This measurement is approximate. You want to the mirin to coat all the kanpyo till it is glistening. Feel free to gently move it around. When the mirin starts to sizzle and begins to evaporate or absorb about 5-7 minutes, remove from the heat and transfer to a large colander. Place a bowl underneath to capture all the excess marinade that drips off. You will add this to future batch. Your kanpyo is now ready to use in your roll.

The kanpyo will keep about a month in the fridge, or about a year in the freezer. The freezer will degrade the texture. You can also vacuum seal the extra and it will keep for 6 months or longer.