Fried ── Fried dishes
Shiso-maki
miso-stuffed fried shiso leaf
A paste of miso and walnut rolled in shiso leaf and fried, a Miyagi specialty. Said by legend to have been made for guests at Naruko hot spring under Date Masamune, later sweetened with sugar to become a snack as well.
- Origin: Miyagi Osaki
- About 360 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
A paste of miso, walnut, and sesame is rolled in a shiso leaf and quickly deep-fried. The shiso's cool, herbal snap comes first, followed by the miso's deep salinity and the walnut's richness close behind. Fresh from the fryer the leaf stays light and crisp, but it softens as it sits, giving the dish two distinct characters to enjoy.
How it's made
Red miso is worked with sugar, walnut, sesame, and shichimi pepper into a stick shape, wrapped tightly in a shiso leaf, pinned with a toothpick, and fried in oil heated to 170°C, flipped once partway through. How much paste goes in and how tightly the leaf is wrapped are said to shape the texture, and eating it fresh, while the leaf is still crisp, is preferred.
Why it took this shape
One account traces it to Date Masamune, said to have had it made for guests taking the waters at Naruko hot spring. Originally a side dish for rice, adding sugar for sweetness is said to have turned it into a snack to go with tea as well, and the way this single hot-spring town's specialty spread across all of Miyagi prefecture is part of the dish's story.
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
Contrast
- GansuFish paste coated in panko and fried, a Kure, Hiroshima specialty. Said to have been devised in the postwar 1940s as a way to use leftover fish paste from kamaboko production, an unusual pairing of fried fish cake and cutlet-style crumb.
- Nasu no Akajiso MakiEggplant sticks are coated in a sweet-savory miso glaze, wrapped in red shiso leaves and pan-fried on both sides — a summer home dish from Tsugaru, where both ingredients come into season together.
Also from Miyagi
- Aburafu DonDeep-fried wheat gluten, shaped into a log, is simmered in a sweet-savory broth and set with egg over rice, katsudon-style — a Tome City bowl said to trace to a tofu shop's shelf-stable gluten product, later turned into a bowl dish by a local innkeeper.
- AzaraNapa cabbage pickled long enough to turn sour is simmered slowly with rockfish trimmings and sake lees — a Kesennuma dish said to taste even better cold, or reheated the next day, long loved as everyday food.
- Bakke MisoButterbur sprouts picked in early spring — called 'bakke' locally — are boiled, chopped, and worked into a paste with walnuts and miso, said to be prized for helping clear the body of winter's buildup, spooned over rice or grilled fish.
- Donko JiruDonko, a brown hakeling landed at Ishinomaki and Kesennuma ports, is simmered in miso with daikon and tofu — a fish said to be considered lucky for money, given its wide mouth and narrow tail, and offered at the autumn ebisu-ko festival.
- Ebi MochiPaddy shrimp caught in irrigation channels and ponds are seasoned with soy sauce and sake, then folded whole into freshly pounded mochi — a Kurihara dish said to be served, red against white, to guests over New Year's.
- Fusube MochiLoach, grilled plain then smoked over an irori hearth, is ground to powder and simmered with grated daikon and burdock in a soy-chili sauce, then folded into freshly pounded mochi — said to be a mochi dish born of inland Kurihara's distance from the sea.