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Kaisou
Kaisou — jellied seaweed for New Year's, made from kotoji-tsunomata
A seaweed called kotoji-tsunomata is simmered until it thickens, then set in a mold like a firm jelly — merchants from Choshi are said to have sold it door to door each year-end, and it became a palate-cleanser among the heavier dishes of osechi.
- Origin: Chiba
- About 100 km east of Tokyo
What it's made of
This New Year's dish is made by simmering a seaweed called "kotojitsunomata" until it dissolves, then letting it set. Its refreshing, sea-scented flavor is served with soy sauce, bonito flakes, green onion, and chili pepper, and some households mix in carrot or burdock for color. Its name is said to come from a branching shape that resembles the bridge of a koto, and it is enjoyed from Choshi down through the Kujukuri coast.
How it's made
The seaweed is washed thoroughly to remove debris, then simmered in boiling water until it thickens. Once it has thickened, it is poured into a mold and chilled to set. Once firm, it is cut into bite-sized pieces and served with soy sauce, bonito flakes, and other seasonings. When chopped carrot or burdock is added, it is mixed in while the mixture is still thickening, for a touch of color and a different texture.
Why it took this shape
This seaweed thickens when heated and sets firm as it cools, a property that once made it useful as soap or adhesive. Merchants from Choshi are said to have sold it around year's end for New Year's use, and it became a fixture of the New Year's spread, valued as a palate cleanser among richly flavored dishes. A tradition also holds that it is used in some areas during the Obisha archery festival held around the Little New Year.
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 Chiba
- Arirang RamenA soy ramen said to have started at a single restaurant on a mountain pass in Chiba's Nagara. Named, it's said, for the legendary Arirang Pass of Korean folklore, its soy broth carries the sweetness of onion and pork, layered with house-made chili oil and grated garlic for depth and heat.
- Barappa ManjuFreshly milled wheat dough is wrapped around red bean paste and steamed on a leaf of catbrier, called barappa locally — a bun said to be made in Chiba's Hokuso area when people gathered for summer festivals or Obon, each bringing ingredients to share.
- Iwashi no Unohana-zukeSalt-and-vinegar-cured sardines are packed into sweet-vinegared tofu lees with carrot and ginger — the pale lees are likened to unohana blossoms in the name, and are also said to keep the fish from breaking apart or oxidizing; eaten at New Year's and as an everyday pantry food.
- Rakkasei MisoPeanuts too small or misshapen to sell are stirred into miso and sugar and toasted into a pantry relish — said to have started as a way for farm households to use up peanuts the market wouldn't take, in leaner years.
- SumitsukareDaikon and carrot, coarsely grated with a rough-toothed oni-oroshi grater, are simmered with leftover setsubun soybeans and sake lees — said to have traveled from Tochigi into Chiba's Higashikatsushika area, offered to the local inari shrine on the year's first Day of the Horse before being eaten. Ibaraki and Saitama carry dishes of the same name.
- Yude RakkaseiFreshly dug peanuts, still in their shells, are boiled whole in salted water — a taste unique to the growing region, since raw peanuts start hardening the moment they're pulled from the ground and need to be boiled almost immediately.