January 7th is “Seven-herb Seasonal Festival” (nanakusa no sekku) in Japan. There are five seasonal festivals in a year (March 3rd, May 5th, July 7th, and September 9th), and the “Seven-herb” is the first one. <br /> <br />Every seasonal festival has specific dishes. On the Seven-herb festival, we eat seven-herbs mixed in steamy hot rice soup. <br /> <br />It is said that eating 7-herb rice soup wards off evil and lets us maintain sound health. It is also to give some rest to our digestive system tired from over-eating and drinking during the New Year’s festivals, which makes sense. <br /> <br />Here’s the list of Japanese seven herbs: <br />* Seri (water dropwort) <br />* Nazuna (Shepherd’s Purse) <br />* Gogyo (cutweed) <br />* Hakobera (chickweed) <br />* Hotokenoza (nipplewort) <br />* Suzuna (turnip) <br />* Suzushiro (radish). <br /> <br />I used the following wild plants in our yard: <br />Chard <br />Arugula <br />Chicory <br />Dandelion <br />Chickweed <br /> <br />I then added the following that I had in the fridge, and I got the 7 herbs/greens: <br />Lamb’s lettuce <br />Flat-leaf parsley <br /> <br />All you need to do is to make rice soup (which is easier than preparing steamed white rice) and chop the greens. It is a no-hussle, light and refreshing dish. Great for detox. It's good on any other days, not just the 7th of January. <br /> <br />You don’t need to have 7 kinds of herbs. Just use whatever you have on hand. <br /> <br />The key to non-gooey rice soup is to cook it with very low heat and never stir while cooking. Sirring makes the soup dense and ‘gluey.’

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