Manba no Kenchan

Manba no kenchan stir-simmers "manba," a type of mustard green, with fried tofu and tofu — a winter staple across Kagawa. Manba has a distinctive light bitterness and a crisp bite, and repeated exposure to frost is said to soften the leaves and bring out their sweetness. The savory aroma of dried sardine dashi and the gentle taste of tofu round it out, making for a filling dish even in a season with few other vegetables. The name "kenchan" is said to be a slurring of "kenchin," a style of dish that stir-fries shredded vegetables with tofu.

The manba is boiled and then soaked in water to remove its bitterness. Small dried sardines are used whole, heads included, while larger ones have their heads, innards, and bones removed first. Oil is heated in a pan and the sardines are fried until fragrant, then the chopped manba is added and stir-fried. Tofu and fried tofu go in next, the tofu broken up as it cooks, and dashi and seasoning are added to finish. Frying the sardines well before adding the greens is said to be the trick to bringing out their aroma. Both the ingredients and the seasoning are said to vary from household to household.

Manba is said to have gotten its name, meaning "ten thousand leaves," because new shoots keep sprouting even as outer leaves are picked, and it was a familiar vegetable grown in home gardens across the prefecture. In the depths of winter, when few other vegetables were available, growing manba in the yard, letting frost soften it, and stir-simmering it with dried sardines and tofu appears to have become a way of filling out the diet with a nutritious, homegrown ingredient. In western Kagawa it also goes by "hyakka," said to be a slurred form of another old name for the plant.