Grilled
Okutama Wasabi no TOKYO-X Maki
Okutama Wasabi no TOKYO-X Maki — grated wasabi rolled in TOKYO-X pork
The leftover root of Okutama wasabi, after it's been grated, is chopped and rolled in TOKYO-X pork, then pan-seared with soy sauce and mirin — a newer local dish, born from a 2011 cooking contest win by a group devoted to using Okutama's seasonal ingredients.
- Origin: Tokyo Okutama
- About 60 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Chopped local root wasabi is wrapped in pork, grilled, and seasoned with soy sauce and mirin. The cool sharpness of wasabi grown in clear streams near the headwaters of the Tama River meets the rich juiciness of a fine-grained pork, adding a savory depth not found when wasabi is simply grated and eaten raw — a relatively recent way of eating it, said to have become a dish distinctly of Okutama.
How it's made
Root wasabi is cut into thin strips and wrapped in thinly sliced pork. It is grilled in an oiled pan until cooked through, then finished by adding soy sauce and mirin to coat it in flavor. Served on a plate with vegetables of one's choosing, the simple steps yield a hearty grilled dish where the aromas of wasabi and pork stand out, said to have spread as something easily tried at home too.
Why it took this shape
Wasabi had traditionally been grated and eaten raw, and the method of chopping and cooking it is said to have been devised out of a wish to make full use of what remained after everyday grating, without letting any go to waste. Combining it with locally raised pork is said to have brought the region's bounty together on one plate as a new local dish, one said to have gradually spread into being made in individual households as well.
Before you go
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.
- Gohei MochiFreshly 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.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Tokyo
- Abura SobaNo broth is poured at all — noodles are tossed in a soy-and-sesame-oil tare pooled at the bottom of the bowl, said to have started at shops in the Musashino area in the late 1950s, with vinegar and chili oil stirred in partway through.
- Ajitsuke NoriSheet nori brushed with a soy-and-sugar seasoning and toasted crisp, said to have been devised as a gift for an imperial visit to Kyoto in the Meiji era. Its snap gives way to a burst of flavor and aroma.
- Anago ZushiConger eel, simmered sweet and savory, is laid over sushi rice and brushed with a reduced glaze called tsume — a staple Edomae topping from a fish that thrived in Tokyo Bay's nutrient-rich waters, its slick skin demanding a sushi chef's careful hand to clean.
- AnmitsuCubes of agar jelly topped with red peas, sweet bean paste, and dark syrup. Said to have begun when a Ginza sweets shop in the early Showa era added its own bean paste to the simpler "mitsumame" — jelly and peas in syrup — marking a point where wagashi met café culture.
- Asakusa shichimiA seven-spice chili blend from a shop tracing back to 1625 in Asakusa's old Yagenbori district, often described as the origin point of shichimi togarashi. The neighborhood's history as a hub for medicinal-herb wholesalers is credited with shaping a blend informed by traditional Chinese medicine, and the shop is known for custom-mixing blends to order.
- Bettara-zukeDaikon salted first, then pickled sweet in rice malt and sugar — said to descend from a lightly pickled daikon once sold at Edo's ebisu-kō market. The rice malt gives it a natural sweetness, and it still headlines Nihonbashi's autumn "Bettara Market."