This lovely couple is the third generation of Nishidaya, Mr.Yasunori Tsujimura and his wife, Kaoru-san.
Today, I would like to write about their new effort to make more people become familiar with Nishidaya’s pickles.
First of all, I would like to introduce how Japanese people eat pickles in their diets.
The ideal meal style of Japanese food is said to be “ichiju sansai”- one soup and three side dishes-like a picture below.
It is an approach that makes rice more enjoyable to eat because rice is a staple food in Japan, and also gets well balanced nutrients by combining rice with a bowl of soup, three side dishes and pickles. The rice and pickles are so familiar and essential in the Japanese diet, so they do not even need to be mentioned in the phrase.
Pickles used to be always on our dining tables, but they are not so much these days. It is because our diet became diverse in a good way, but at the same time we are losing our traditional diet, “ichiju sansai” style.
Yasunori-san and Kaoru-san introduce how you can easily enjoy eating pickles through their website and instagram. There are many beautiful pickles’ pictures on them.
From Kaoru-san & my cooking teacher's pickle cooking class, I learned other ways to have pickles more enjoyably.
Pickles are usually garnished with rice. They are not considered as a main dish or even a side dish. But in the cooking class, it was used as a part of the main dish and the side dish.
It was a new way of cooking for me!
I would like to introduce some dishes I cooked at the cooking class.
①Chirashizushi(a type of sushi) …Pickles gives good accent to the taste!
Add the pickle sauce, sugar and salt into rice vinegar to make sushi vinegar, and mix it with rice.
Mix “oragamurazuke”, scrambled egg, and dried baby sardine with the rice.
Garnish shiso leaf, nori seaweed, and Japanese ginger.
②Shira-ae(mashed tofu salad) ...Pickles give good color to the dish.
Press out the water from tofu, and smash it.
Season with soy source, sugar, sesame paste, and citrus juice.
Mix with pickle, boiled spinach and persimmon.
③Narazuke and cream cheese...Perfect for a finger food!
Just mix with Narazuke and cream cheese.
(Narazuke is a unique pickle which pickles vegetables with sake lees.)
④Carpaccio with nagaimo(chinese yam) wasabi sauce ...Add different texture and taste to sashimi!
Decorate Sashimi (raw fish) on the plate, sprinkle salt, and squeeze lemon.
Smash nagaimo wasabi pickle with a kitchen knife and scatter them over the sashimi.
Pour olive oil on top.
I thought using pickles for cooking saves time, does not fail to season, and gives accent to the dishes.
These dishes are just examples. So, if you are interested in pickles cooking or want to visit Nishidaya, please contact us!
We can arrange a cooking class or a tour for you!
Finally, Kaoru-san, Yasunori-san, and Yasutaro-san, thank you so much for cooperating with us.
It was very interesting to learn Nishidaya’s family history. I thought the strong family ties make delicious pickles that have been beloved by locals.
Nishidaya (ニシダや)
Address 〒605-0965
6 Ikeda-cho, Imakumano Higashiyama-ku Kyoto city, Kyoto
Tel 075-561-4740
Open 9:00～17:00（Closed 12/29~1/5）
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