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Aimaze
Aimaze — julienned root vegetables simmered together
Root vegetables from Noto's reddish soil are cut into thin strips and simmered with fried tofu — traditionally made ahead for New Year and other special days, with the choice of vegetables shifting from village to village.
- Origin: Ishikawa
- About 290 km northwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
A humble simmered dish made from finely julienned daikon and carrot. It is cooked just until the root vegetables keep a light crunch, and each bite is said to carry a gentle sweet-salty flavor from soy sauce and sugar. Adding fried tofu lets the vegetables soak up more broth and richness, deepening the taste further, and the dish is said to taste just as good once it has cooled.
How it's made
Various vegetables are cut into roughly three-centimeter strips, pan-fried, and simmered. Once the pieces soften somewhat, soy sauce and sugar are added to let the flavor sink in. Fried tofu is said to add extra broth and richness to the vegetables, deepening the result. It tastes good both hot and cold, and is said to keep reasonably well as a stored side dish.
Why it took this shape
A peninsula surrounded by sea on three sides is blessed with sticky red soil, said to give the local vegetables their distinctive flavor. Root-vegetable dishes built around this local bounty are said to have long been cherished here, and a custom survives of painstakingly julienning a large batch of roots ahead of New Year and other festive days — a habit of preparing food in bulk for the occasion that continues today.
Before you go
- How to shop at a supermarketHow to choose prepared foods, sashimi, and packaged sushi, when discount stickers tend to appear, region-only specialties, buying by weight, the checkout and bagging flow, and sampling etiquette at a local supermarket.
- Osechi and zoni for the New YearA guide to the meaning behind osechi's tiered boxes, the regional differences in zoni (square vs. round mochi, clear vs. miso broth), and the nanakusa-gayu custom.
- Setsubun: ehomaki and lucky beansA guide to ehomaki, the uncut sushi roll said to be eaten facing a lucky direction on Setsubun, and to mamemaki, the bean-throwing custom with roasted lucky beans.
Dishes in the same style
- Agonoko UmaniThe roe of egg-bearing flying fish, caught only in early summer, is simmered in stock and soy sauce as an Oki bar snack. Its large grains and dense, sticky texture are prized as a delicacy said to be scarcer even than the fish's flesh.
- 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.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Contrast
- MettajiruA pork and root vegetable miso soup loaded with sweet potato in place of the more common potato — its name, roughly "every which way," is said to nod to the habit of throwing in whatever vegetables are at hand, so the taste shifts from home to home.
- AimazeDried shiitake, lotus root, burdock, and freeze-dried konjac are each simmered and seasoned separately, then tossed together in a sweetened vinegar dressing. It is said to have begun as a way to use up leftover simmered dishes from funeral gatherings, and the name changes by locality.
Also from Ishikawa
- Beka NabeSardines pickled in rice bran are simmered with napa cabbage, mushrooms, and sake lees in this Noto winter hot pot, said to descend from a preservation method from before refrigeration — its name reputedly a nod to how commonly the cheap fish was eaten.
- Daikon-zushiA fermented sushi from the Kaga region layering daikon radish with dried herring in rice koji. Said to have taken root once herring carried by the Kitamae trading ships reached ordinary tables, it now sits alongside kaburazushi as a New Year staple.
- EbisuMelted agar is mixed with beaten egg, sugar, and soy sauce, then set — said to trace back to an egg-and-agar dish recorded in an Edo-period cookbook, nicknamed "berobero" for its glossy, slippery look, and served on festive occasions.
- Goshiki NamagashiFive kinds of mochi and buns, each representing sun, moon, mountain, sea, and village, are arranged in a lidded box — a Kanazawa wedding confection said to trace back to a gift prepared for a Kaga domain bride, still handed out as a return gift at celebrations.
- UFO RamenA bowl from Hakui, Ishikawa, a town known for its UFO-sighting lore, served under the local Hakui UFO Gourmet banner. Sushi shops and Western-style diners alike top a soy-based broth with saucer-shaped garnishes, each putting its own spin on the town's story.
- HasumushiGrated Kaga lotus root is mixed with white fish or shrimp and steamed — the root's high starch content is said to bind the mixture without egg or starch, giving a mochi-like chew finished with a glossy sauce.