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Kishizu
Kishizu — colorful glass-noodle platter with sesame-miso sauce
Glass noodles, wakame, and wood-ear mushrooms are cut into thin strips and arranged colorfully, then eaten with a sauce of ground sesame and sake lees — a Buddhist vegetarian dish said to stand in for sashimi at memorial services in Daishoji's temple town.
- Origin: Ishikawa Kaga
- About 320 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Kudzu noodles, wakame, wood ear mushroom, and bamboo shoot, all finely sliced and arranged in a vivid, colorful spread — a vegetarian dish said to stand in for sashimi. It is eaten with a fragrant sauce of sesame worked with sake lees or white miso. The clean, light ingredients paired with the rich sauce are said to give this meat-free dish a surprisingly satisfying depth.
How it's made
Kudzu noodles, wakame, cucumber, and other seasonal ingredients are cut into fine strips and arranged in a bright array. Well-toasted white sesame is mixed with white miso, mirin, vinegar, and dashi into a sauce for dipping. Some use sweet sake or sake lees instead of miso, and in some households the sauce is worked into the ingredients ahead of time instead of served on the side.
Why it took this shape
The dish is said to have been passed down as a vegetarian food served at memorial services and a temple's founder-day observance in a town that grew up around its gates. In place of animal ingredients, arranging a colorful array of mountain and sea produce to resemble sashimi is said to have shaped the dish's festive look, and the name of the sauce, once made with poppy seed, is also said to be the origin of the dish's own name.
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 Ishikawa
- AimazeRoot 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.
- 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.