Hamaguri Ushio-jiru (Clear Clam Soup) for Hinamatsuri

March 3rd (next week!), is Hinamatsuri in Japan, which literally translates to mean “Doll Festival,” but is often to referred to as Girl’s Day.  It’s the day when families pray for and celebrate the happiness and prosperity of their girls.  Special dolls are displayed in the best room of the house and special foods are eaten.  Here are our ?Hina-ningyo? (special dolls for Hinamatsuri which are replicas of an ancient emperor and empress and their royal court).

I have adopted the holiday and turned it into a day to do something fun with my girls.  I thought it might be fun to spend this week “celebrating” Hinamatsuri with you.

One of the dishes traditionally eaten for Hinamatsuri is Hamaguri Ushio-jiru (Clear Clam Soup)—a soup made with a clear broth and clams.  I am a big fan of this particular soup.  It is very easy to make and only takes a few minutes.  The finished product is light and flavorful.  Squirrel is a huge fan of the clams.

The only real prep work that needs to be done is the soaking of the clams for several hours in salted water to help them expel sand and dirt (gritty clams are NOT yummy).

One key to delicious broth is to skim off the skum that collects on the surface of the water as soon all of the clams have opened (trust me…skum is also NOT yummy).

Choose very fresh clams with perfect shells.  If any of your clam shells are open, discard them pronto, they are NOT good!  The broth gets its flavor from the clams and a small piece of kombu, but isn’t “fishy” at all (unless you’re using less than fresh clams).  A small bit of lemon zest adds a wonderful citrus zing.  I add a sprig of cilantro or parsley to each bowl (mitsuba would be more traditional, but it is hard to find around here), to add a bit more flavor and color.

** If you’d like to read a bit more about Hinamatsuri, you can read this post about one of our celebrations of it while we were living in Japan.