Sawayaka Walking in Fukuroi (3) - Buddhist vegan meal with lily bulbs

The place to eat the Buddhist meal was situated on the second floor of the building where the reception exists. I took off my shoes and put them in one of the shoes boxes near the reception. When I came to the second floor, a monk was guiding visitors. He took me to a large tatami room with long red carpets. Though it was just a few minutes over eleven, there were already about 15 people sitting on the carpets. Some of them had already their meal in front of them.

Several minutes later, my portion was served with a small kettle of tea. It was a special set “Yurizen (lily tray)” served only during the season of lilies. It consisted of the following dishes:

The top row from left to right: (1) Cooked freeze-dried tofu, burdock root, ganmodoki or deep-fried tofu with vegetables, carrot, wheat gluten, and green beans, and (2) Lily bulb tempura, corn on the cob, broad beans
The middle row: (3) Matcha agar jelly in bamboo tube, (4) Sesami tofu with miso, and (5) Cabbage and pseudo-meat with dressing
The bottom row: (6) Rice with lily bulb flavored with salted plum, (7) Pickled radish and Japanese butterbur, and (8) Miso soup with nameko mushroom, wakame seaweed, and tofu

The feature of this set is that lily bulbs are used in the dishes. I ate them for the first time. One of them was flavored with salted plum, and I recognized its sourness as soon as I put it in the mouth. The other one was tempura with a soft texture. Unfortunately, I can’t remember exactly how the lily bulbs themselves tasted. It may be because there were some other things that attracted my attention.

Before I entered Kasuisai Temple, near the stairs to the gate of the temple, I saw a stall selling corns from Mori-machi, a mountainous town near Fukuroi. Though their corns are very popular in western Shizuoka Prefecture, I couldn’t buy them because I didn’t want to carry them all the way during the walk. But I could taste a little bit in this set. I thought this corncob must be from Mori-machi. Later, I learned from the website of Kasuisai Temple that they use local products for their dishes.

Cooked tofu products, wheat gluten, and vegetables are typical food items in a temple. And so is the sesame tofu. The one made in Kasuisai Temple had a beautiful white color and was put in the middle of the tray. For me, this was the most impressive dish of all because its texture was fluffy and had a hand-made feeling. Though the taste was that of sesame tofu, I felt as if I was eating a creamy sweet. I ate this small sesame tofu little by little. It was very different from those sold in supermarkets.

Yurizen included also a real sweet, macha agar jelly with adzuki bean paste. The sweet bean paste went very well with the dark green jelly with full flavor of green tea. The jelly was smooth but not too soft, so it was easy to eat it even with chopsticks.

When I finished the meal, I was full. I was very glad to have a chance to eat simple but sophisticated dishes at a reasonable price. On the premises of Kasuisai Temple, I heard invitation for booking of their “mentally and physically-friendly meal” many times through a loudspeaker. I wish more and more people will be interested in it.