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Chatsu
Chatsu — julienned root vegetables simmered in vinegar without soy sauce
Julienned daikon, carrot, lotus root, kelp, and fried tofu are simmered in vinegar and sugar, a dish from Asahi town. Its name is said to come from "chatsu," the red-lacquered vessel once used to serve vegetarian temple food, and soy sauce is deliberately left out to keep the dish pale.
- Origin: Mie Asahi
- About 300 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Chatsu is julienned daikon, carrot, lotus root, kelp, and fried tofu simmered in vinegar, sugar, and salt. It's kept white by leaving out soy sauce, and its name is said to come directly from chatsu, the vermilion-lacquered dish it was traditionally served on. The sweet-sour seasoning whets the appetite, and the crisp bite of the root vegetables pairs well with the vinegar's tang.
How it's made
Daikon, carrot, kelp, and fried tofu are julienned, while only the thinner part of the lotus root is sliced thin. Everything goes into a pot together with vinegar, sugar, a little salt, and water, and simmers until done. Left for a couple of days, the flavor is said to soak in further and the vinegar's sharpness mellows. It was once reportedly kept in the same brown jar used for pickling umeboshi, keeping for several weeks in winter.
Why it took this shape
Chatsu began as a vegetarian dish made in temple kitchens and at Buddhist services, and is said to take its name directly from the vermilion-lacquered chatsu dish it was served on. In Asahi, a town in the Hokusei area that doesn't face the sea, this vegetable dish is said to have taken root as a local flavor. It's thought to have become a side dish made for memorial services and New Year's gatherings, valued for how well it keeps.
Before you go
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- 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
Also from Mie
- AhodakiOld takuan pickle, once its flavor and aroma have faded, is desalted and simmered again in soy sauce, a pantry staple from the Hokusei area. Its name — playfully self-deprecating, roughly "doing a foolish thing" — nods to eating it well past its prime, a frugal way to waste nothing.
- Arame MakiRehydrated arame, a brown seaweed once offered to Ise Shrine, is wrapped several times around sardine or saury and simmered in soy sauce and sugar. The choice of fish shifts by locality along the Toba coast.
- Bon JiruA miso soup packed with seasonal vegetables such as burdock, eggplant, and pumpkin. Following Zen Buddhist practice of avoiding killing during Obon, it skips bonito or dried-fish stock, relying instead on fried tofu and a generous mix of vegetables for its savor.
- ChagayuRice is cooked in water steeped with a bag of roasted tea leaves. Born in Iga, where farmland was scarce and rice precious, the extra water was a way to stretch the grain further; in summer some households chill the porridge before eating.
- Fuki DawaraRice cooked with soybeans is wrapped in butterbur leaves into a small rice-bale shape, an Iga-area harvest offering. It is set before the rice-paddy deity at planting time to pray for a good crop, and doubles as a portable snack for breaks between farm work.