Purslane chopped for the pot with 刻む
Vocabulary Explanation: Collocations for cooking
Hakumei and her boss Iwashi came to survey an empty house before it’s torn down, and Mikochi tagged along. A sudden downpour has trapped all three there for the night, so they’ve built a makeshift hearth. Mikochi found the owner’s recipe notebook in the kitchen, along with a dish that uses purslane, a slimy weed growing out front. She’s making it while the other two put together beds.
- ミコチ:
- 「乾燥トマトとヒヨコ豆と刻んだスベリヒユを鍋に入れて」
- “Put the dried tomatoes, chickpeas, and chopped purslane in the pot...”
Key Points
- 刻む means to chop into small pieces. It’s the verb for herbs, green onion, ginger, and leafy greens like the purslane here.
- Its other meaning is to carve or engrave. 時を刻む is a clock ticking away the time.
- 刻んだ is the た-form of 刻む. Placed before スベリヒユ, it describes the purslane by what was done to it: “chopped purslane”.
- Recipes use this pattern all the time: 刻んだネギ, “chopped green onion”, or ゆでた卵, “boiled egg”.
- と joins nouns into a complete list. Mikochi names three ingredients, with と after each one but the last, then marks the whole group with を as the object of 入れる.
- に marks where the ingredients go, and 入れる means to put in. 鍋に入れる is the everyday way to say you’re adding something to the pot.
- Her sentence stops on the て-form 入れて. In the next panel she finishes the thought: あとは煮込むだけ, “then all that’s left is to stew it”.
Vocabulary
トマト (Tomato)
トマト is the tomato, eaten raw in salads or cooked into sauces and stews.
ヒヨコ豆 (Chickpea)
ヒヨコ豆 is the chickpea, or garbanzo bean. ヒヨコ means “chick”, from the bean’s beaked shape. It is also written ひよこ豆.
刻む (To chop finely)
刻む is to cut something into small pieces, such as herbs, green onion, or ginger. It also means to carve or engrave, and to mark the passing of time, as a clock does.
スベリヒユ (Purslane)
スベリヒユ is purslane, a low-growing weed with thick, slippery leaves. The leaves are edible, raw or cooked.
入れる (To put in)
入れる is to put something inside something else. It also means to let someone in, or to make tea or coffee.
See Also
- Vocabulary: Collocations for cooking
- Grammar: Past tense with 〜た・〜だ
- Kanji: Entering and putting in with 入