Home-style
Narae
Narae — seven vegetables and fried tofu dressed in a sweet vinegar
Seven ingredients — daikon, carrot, fried tofu, and more — are dressed in a three-part vinegar, a dish said to trace back to shojin temple cooking. Its name is thought to be a slurring of Nara-ae, from when Nara pickles were once part of the mix, and it has been served at memorial services and equinox observances.
- Origin: Tokushima
- About 510 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Narae is a refreshing salad of daikon, carrot, fried tofu, sesame, lotus root, dried shiitake, and konjac — traditionally seven ingredients — dressed in a three-part vinegar sauce. The nuttiness of white sesame, the tang of vinegar, and the crunch of root vegetables come together, and the dish's sweet vinegar flavor is said to have been especially popular with children. The name's origin is unclear: some say it comes from using seven ("nana") ingredients, others that it derives from "Nara-ae," an old term for pickled vegetables once included in the dish.
How it's made
The vegetables and fried tofu are cut into bite-sized pieces and simmered until tender in the soaking liquid from dried shiitake. Once drained, they are tossed in a dressing of white sesame, vinegar, yuzu vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce and left to absorb the flavor. Households are not strict about the traditional seven ingredients; bamboo shoots, cucumber, myoga ginger, mitsuba, tofu, or kelp — whatever seasonal vegetables are on hand — are commonly substituted.
Why it took this shape
Narae is said to date back to a shōjin-ryōri (Buddhist vegetarian) dish eaten around the time of the Taika Reform, and it has long been served at memorial services and equinox observances. Its character as a meat- and fish-free dish made from vegetables and dried goods appears to be why it became tied to Buddhist occasions. In the Mima area, it's reportedly also served at celebrations alongside miso soup and other dishes, and in an age when sweets were scarce, its sweet vinegar flavor was said to be a treat children looked forward to.
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 Tokushima
- Amego no HirarayakiA flat stone is heated over a hearth for hours, then a border of miso is built on it to grill amego trout, stone tofu, and konjac — an outdoor dish from the Iya valley. Its name comes from hirara, a local word for a flat stone, and it is said to have long served as a dish for entertaining guests.
- Awa BanchaA post-fermented tea from Naka and Kamikatsu towns in Tokushima, fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Coarser leaves picked from midsummer on are boiled, packed into wooden barrels, fermented for roughly 10 days to two weeks, then sun-dried — said to give a refreshing sourness.
- Awa BitonRaised in the mountains of Awa City, Tokushima, at about 400 meters, on a feed centered on rice. Handlers are said to adjust the feed mix daily and avoid genetically modified crops where possible.
- Awa GyuPedigreed Japanese Black fattened in Tokushima, which gained recognition after being shown at a Tokyo meat market competition in 1962 — said to have a moist, fine-grained texture and modest fat.
- Awa no ItokoniSweet potato that has been boiled then dried — yude-boshi style — is rehydrated and simmered slowly with red beans for about two hours over low heat. Fitting for a region where drying vegetables is common in winter, it is said to be a warming side dish built on the concentrated flavor of dried sweet potato.
- Awa UiroRed bean paste mixed with rice flour and Awa wasanbon sugar is poured into a mold and steamed into a chewy cake. Said to have first been made to celebrate the completion of Awa wasanbon sugar in the Edo period, with related uiro cakes also found in Nagoya and Yamaguchi.