Home-style
Konnyaku no Shiraae
Konnyaku no shiraae — simmered konnyaku strips folded into sweetened mashed tofu
Konnyaku and carrot, cut into strips, are simmered in soy sauce and sugar, drained, and folded into mashed tofu seasoned with sugar and salt — a dish of Hanawa. Hanawa is known as a konnyaku-growing town, and this sweetish side is said to have been made for weddings and funerals there.
- Origin: Fukushima Hanawa
- About 160 km northeast of Tokyo
What it's made of
Konnyaku and carrot, cut into strips and simmered in soy sauce and sugar, are dressed with drained tofu in this dish from Hanawa and Tanagura. The tofu is seasoned with sugar and salt, giving the whole dish a mild sweetness, it's said. It's described as a side dish distinctive to an area known for growing konnyaku.
How it's made
Konnyaku and carrot are cut into strips, simmered thoroughly in soy sauce and sugar, and drained well, the basic method. The tofu is also drained, then seasoned with sugar and salt before being mixed with the konnyaku and carrot, it's said. The added ingredients are said to change with the season, letting the dish reflect what's in season.
Why it took this shape
Hanawa is known as a konnyaku-growing area since the Edo period, with production said to have grown even further around the 1950s. Making use of the plentiful local konnyaku in the everyday table is thought to be how this shira-ae style, dressing it with drained tofu, settled in as a home-cooked staple in the area.
Before you go
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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 Fukushima
- Aizu RamenFlat, thick hand-made noodles in a clear soy broth. Said to trace back to a Aizuwakamatsu diner owner bringing home a taste learned in Yokohama — a second soy ramen lineage that grew up apart from Kitakata's, in the same Aizu region.
- Aizu Curry YakisobaA dish from Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima: sauce yakisoba topped with curry roux. It's said to trace to a diner called Tommy Food, which began ladling curry over its yakisoba, catching on especially among young diners for its low price and filling size.
- Aizu GyuSteers and heifers of Japanese Black raised in the Aizu basin, fed mainly local rice straw — the basin's sharp seasonal swings are said to suit fattening, making it Fukushima's leading brand.
- Aizu JidoriA lineage said to have been brought to Aizu by Heike clan refugees, saved from near-extinction and re-established through crossbreeding by Fukushima prefecture; reportedly fattened for 90 to 170 days.
- Aizu Sōsu KatsudonAizu's sauce katsudon, doused in a thick sweet-savory sauce. Its origin has several competing accounts, none settled, but all point to it being refined through everyday improvisation on Taisho-era Western food.
- Aizu Yamajio RamenSalt ramen seasoned with mountain salt drawn from hot-spring water — rounder than sea salt.