Fried ── Fried dishes
Surimi Age
Surimi age — deep-fried fish paste fritters
Ground paste from seasonal fish such as horse mackerel is mixed with grated mountain yam and vegetables, then deep-fried — crisp outside and fluffy within, known in Himi as "totobochi-age" and sometimes dropped into oden.
- Origin: Toyama
- About 260 km northwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
A fried patty made from freshly ground fish. The outside fries up crisp and fragrant while the inside stays soft and airy, the fish's mild sweetness spreading gently through each bite. Onion, burdock, or scallion mixed in add their own texture and aroma, making it approachable for both children and adults — equally at home as a side dish or an accompaniment to sake.
How it's made
Onion and carrot are roughly minced, burdock cut into thin strips. Grated mountain yam, beaten egg, and miso or salt are worked into the ground fish. The vegetables and potato starch are folded in, then spoonfuls are dropped into hot oil and fried. The balance between the smoothness of the fish paste and the crunch of the vegetables is said to decide how it turns out.
Why it took this shape
In a place blessed with a bay rich in seafood, making patties from ground fish is said to have developed as a way to use the day's varied catch without waste. Because grinding the fish lets many different species be handled the same way, the dish is said to take on its own character from household to household and shop to shop, depending on the fish and vegetables used.
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
Also from Toyama
- Bai no NimonoWhelks from the deep waters of Toyama Bay are simmered whole in their shells — said to appear at celebrations thanks to a play on words suggesting doubled good fortune, with smaller whelks simmered and larger ones eaten raw.
- BekkoMelted agar is seasoned with soy sauce and mirin, then set with egg trailed in like threads — its amber color flecked with egg said to resemble a tortoiseshell hair ornament, giving the dish its name; in the west of the prefecture it goes by "yubeshi" instead.
- BurishabuThin slices of yellowtail are swished briefly through kelp broth, said to cook only the surface while leaving the center rare — versions using Himi's branded winter yellowtail are considered a particularly luxurious cold-weather treat.
- Genge no MisoshiruEelpout, a deep-sea fish covered in a gelatinous layer, is cut into chunks and simmered into a miso soup — long treated as an unwanted bycatch of sweet shrimp fishing, its flavor has since been reappraised and spread beyond the fishing villages that first ate it.
- Himi UdonA hand-stretched udon developed in Himi, Toyama, in the mid-Edo period by adapting somen-making techniques from Wajima. It was once presented to the Kaga domain as tribute.
- Hoonko RyoriA catch-all term for the dishes served at houonko, the memorial gathering held on the death anniversary of Jodo Shinshu's founder — the season's better vegetables and wild greens are said to be set aside for it apart from everyday use, with the devout Gokayama area of Nanto known for hearty stews of dried greens and local tofu.