Grilled
Gohei Mochi
Gohei mochi — pounded rice pressed flat on a skewer and glazed with miso
Freshly cooked non-glutinous rice is pounded, pressed flat on a skewer, and grilled with a miso glaze. Said to have originated in the mountainous Chubu region, it's traditionally made the night before a festival praying for safety in mountain work.
- Origin: Aichi Toyota
- About 250 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Gohei-mochi is made by mashing freshly cooked non-glutinous rice into a paste, flattening it onto a skewer, and grilling it with a miso glaze. It is said to have originated in the mountainous areas of central Japan, and woodcutters and hunters working in the mountains are said to have made and eaten it the night before 'Yama no Ko,' a festival held to pray for safety in mountain work. The flattened oval 'waraji' shape is said to be the most common.
How it's made
Freshly cooked non-glutinous rice is mashed thoroughly, pressed flat, and skewered. It is grilled after being coated in a miso glaze. Pressing it thin and making sure the heat reaches all the way through is said to be the key to a good result. The miso glaze is sometimes worked with walnut, sesame, peanut, garlic, or scallion, and is said to vary from household to household and shop to shop.
Why it took this shape
Several accounts explain the name 'gohei': one holds that the shape mimics a 'gohei,' a paper offering to the gods; another that it grew out of a portable food carried by mountain workers; and a third that it began with a man named Goheisan spreading miso on a rice ball and toasting it over a fire. In the Edo period, when rice was precious, it is said to have been eaten mainly at festivals and other special occasions.
Before you go
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- Tanabata and festival food stallsA guide to the somen said to be eaten on Tanabata, and to festival-stall staples like yakisoba, takoyaki, candy apples, and shaved ice.
- Izakaya customsFrom the small starter dish called otoshi, the classic "for now, a draft beer" first order, ordering a little at a time, choosing tare or shio for yakitori, soy sauce dishes, a closing course, and last orders and smoking rules.
Dishes in the same style
- Abutte KamoSmall damselfish are salted overnight, then grilled whole, scales and innards left on — a bony fish often passed over elsewhere, but said to have caught on in Hakata Bay after a Meiji-era glut led someone to salt and grill the excess.
- Akebi no Miso ZumeyakiThe bittersweet rind of the akebia fruit is stuffed with minced meat and maitake mushroom simmered in miso and sugar, tied with kitchen string, and grilled. Elsewhere in Japan the white pulp is what gets eaten, but Yamagata is said to hold onto the unusual custom of eating the rind instead.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Aichi
- Funa MisoCrucian carp is simmered slowly with soybeans for around five hours, then finished in a sauce of red miso and coarse sugar. A freshwater fish dish of the Kiso rivers' lower basin, made with fatty winter carp simmered until the bones soften through.
- Aichi HakozushiVinegared rice is packed into a wooden frame, topped with shrimp, eel, shiitake, and egg arranged diagonally, and pressed. Placing toppings on the diagonal so everyone gets a fair share of each is said to be a feature of the Owari and western Mikawa style, made for celebrations.
- Hebo MeshiAdult and larval giant hornets are simmered sweet and savory, then folded into freshly cooked rice. Said to have served as a prized protein source across the mountains from Shinshu to Okumikawa, it's now more often served as a treat for guests.
- Iga ManjuSweet bean paste is wrapped in rice flour dough, then coated with dyed sticky rice grains. One account ties the name to the grains' resemblance to a chestnut's spiny husk, and in the western Mikawa region it's said to be offered to Hina dolls at the Doll Festival.
- Aichi Miso OdenA pot of sweet red miso sits in the center of the simmering pot, and daikon, tofu, and other ingredients simmered in dashi are dipped into it before eating. While soy-based Kanto-style oden spread in Edo, Aichi is said to have settled on dipping in soybean miso instead.
- Moroko ZushiMoroko, a small carp-family river fish, is simmered sweet and savory, then arranged diagonally over pressed sushi rice in a wooden frame. Said to be a form of hakozushi from the water towns of the Owari region, with dwindling moroko catches now sometimes substituted with hae.