Fried ── Fried dishes
Renkon no Hasami-age
lotus root sandwich fritter
Round-cut lotus root sandwiched around a filling and fried. Introduced as a local way of eating lotus root in Namegata, a major growing region on the shores of Lake Kasumigaura and Lake Kitaura.
- Origin: Ibaraki Namegata
- About 70 km northeast of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Round-cut lotus root is sandwiched around a filling, breaded, and fried. The surface fries up crisp, and lotus root's crunchy bite comes first, playing off the softness of whatever's tucked inside. The way filling settles into the root's natural holes leaves a patterned cross-section, part of the dish's visual appeal.
How it's made
Lotus root is cut into thick rounds, filled, breaded, and fried in oil. It's soaked beforehand in vinegared water to keep its color, and cut thin across the grain so it's easy to bite through. Locally it's also simmered as a stew ingredient, but eating it freshly fried as hasami-age is said to be a favored way to enjoy it.
Why it took this shape
Namegata, spread across the shores of Lake Kasumigaura and Lake Kitaura, is a major lotus root growing region, and hasami-age is introduced locally alongside simmered dishes as a way to eat it. The well-drained lowland suits lotus root cultivation, and using the abundant harvest up in everyday cooking is thought to be part of what shaped this particular fried dish.
Before you go
Dishes in the same style
- Agemaki Yuba no NimonoFresh yuba sheets are layered, rolled into a log, sliced into rounds, and deep-fried before a slow simmer in a light broth — a Nikko dish built on the region's rippled yuba-making craft, served at New Year's and celebrations.
- Aji FryFilleted horse mackerel breaded in panko and fried. Chiba prefecture holds some of the richest mackerel fishing grounds in Japan, and frying is thought to have taken root as a quick way to eat regional brands like the oily 'golden aji' fresh.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Related lineage
- HatoshiShrimp and squid paste sandwiched in bread and deep-fried, a Nagasaki specialty said to have arrived from China in the Meiji era, growing from a shippoku banquet course into a food loved across the city.
- GaneThick-cut julienned sweet potato and vegetables fried into a shape resembling a crab, a Kagoshima specialty. Named for the sweet potato's resemblance to gane, the local dialect word for crab.
Uses
- NiaiFrom the Shimoichi district east of Mito, lotus root and burdock are stir-fried, simmered in dashi and soy sauce, and finished with a splash of vinegar — the name is said to come from 'simmer and dress.' For Buddhist rites, carrot is left out to keep the dish white.
- Ogura RenkonSliced lotus root has its holes packed with red beans and is simmered sweet for New Year's, taking on a purplish hue nicknamed 'Shiho color' after nearby Mt. Tsukuba at sunset — eaten as a good-luck charm for its 'clear view' holes.
- Renkon no KinpiraLotus root from around Lake Kasumigaura, the country's top producer, is cut thick with burdock and carrot and stir-fried sweet and salty — left uncovered on the heat to keep its crunch.
- Wakasagi to Renkon no SuzukeSmelt from Lake Kasumigaura are fried whole, then layered with thin lotus root slices and steeped in sweet vinegar — bones and all, with a bright, tart finish sometimes brightened with yuzu peel.
Also from Ibaraki
- Aka MochiReddish sorghum flour is kneaded with hot water, boiled into dumplings, and coated with sweet bean paste or soybean flour. In flood-prone areas where rice and wheat often failed, sorghum alone survived, making this a stand-in staple.
- Ankou-nabeMonkfish meat, skin, liver, and stomach simmered with vegetables, a winter pot of northern Ibaraki. It is described as a more approachable version of dobujiru, which fishermen ate aboard their boats, and comes in miso and soy-sauce versions.
- Ankou no TomozuBoiled monkfish — flesh, fin, liver, and more — is dipped in a vinegared miso worked through with its own liver, a winter dish from the north coast often paired with fugu as one of Japan's twin winter delicacies.
- Garigari NamasuDaikon is coarsely grated with a bamboo oni-oroshi grater — hence the crunchy 'gari-gari' name — then tossed with vinegared fish. The rough texture is the point, and the dish turns up at New Year's and other gatherings.
- Gomoku InarizushiFried tofu pockets are stuffed with vinegared rice mixed with carrot, burdock, and shiitake. In Kasama, home to Kasama Inari Shrine, the mix grows even more colorful with local soba and walnuts, served to shrine visitors.
- Gosai-zukeSalted, fermented sardines are layered with daikon, yuzu, and chili for a winter preserve from the Rokko coast. As sardine catches have thinned, saury increasingly takes their place.