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Itokoni
Itokoni — azuki beans simmered with root vegetables
Azuki beans, said to have been a favorite of the Jodo Shinshu founder, are simmered with burdock, daikon, and taro — made for the memorial gathering known as houonko, called "nizai" in the east of the prefecture, where the vegetables are cut larger.
- Origin: Toyama
- About 260 km northwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
A simmered dish of adzuki beans with burdock, daikon, carrot, and taro root, cooked until soft. The mellow sweetness of the beans melds with the earthy flavor of the root vegetables, each keeping its own distinct bite. Seasoned with miso or soy sauce and simmered slowly until the vegetables' edges soften, it is said to leave a gentle warmth that settles in the body.
How it's made
Adzuki beans are simmered until soft. Daikon, carrot, taro, and burdock are peeled and diced, the burdock soaked to remove bitterness. Fried tofu and konjac are blanched and diced. Everything but the beans is simmered together with water, and once tender the beans are folded in and seasoned, taken off the heat before overcooking breaks the pieces apart.
Why it took this shape
The dish is said to have taken root as part of the meal served at the memorial service held on the anniversary of the founder of Jōdo Shinshū's death. Its name is thought to come from the similarly sized root vegetables lined up like cousins, or from the order of simmering the firmer pieces first — a household habit, tied to the observance, of using winter's root vegetables and beans without waste.
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
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.