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Seida no Tamaji
Seida no tamaji — small skin-on potatoes simmered in sweet miso
Small unpeeled potatoes are fried, then simmered down in sweetened miso — a dish from the Yuzurihara area of Uenohara city, said to trace back to a late-Edo-era official who brought seed potatoes from Kyushu and saved the village from famine.
- Origin: Yamanashi Uenohara
- About 60 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Small, skin-on potatoes are deep-fried slowly in oil until the skins wrinkle, then simmered down in dashi, miso, and sugar until glossy. The outside carries a faint toastiness while the inside stays soft and fluffy, locals say. A scattering of sesame seeds at the end is said to sharpen the toasted flavor further.
How it's made
Small skin-on potatoes are washed, patted dry, and fried slowly over medium heat until the skins wrinkle. Once simmering in dashi, miso, sugar, and mirin are added, and as the liquid reduces the heat is lowered until it thickens into a glaze, people say. Because the skin is eaten too, the ease of just washing and frying is said to be part of its appeal.
Why it took this shape
In the late Edo period, a magistrate is said to have brought seed potatoes from Kyushu to a village in Yuzurihara struck by famine, and distributing them is said to have spread the crop through the area. Cooking even the smallest potatoes skin and all is thought to reflect the mountain habit of wasting nothing from a limited harvest. The dish's name is said to honor the magistrate's effort, and it has stayed rooted in this place ever since.
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 Yamanashi
- Akebono Daizu no EdamameThe 'akebono' soybean, said to be 1.6 times the size of an ordinary bean, is picked young and salt-boiled — an edamame from the Akebono area of Minobu town. Grown since the Meiji era but resistant to mechanization, aging growers have made it scarce enough to be called a 'phantom bean'.
- Amanatto no OsekihanMade without azuki or cowpea beans, glutinous rice is dyed red with food coloring and mixed with candied sweet beans — a Yamanashi take on celebratory red rice, sweet-salty with a sprinkle of sesame salt. A similarly sweet red rice is said to exist far away in Hokkaido and parts of Tohoku.
- AnbinSweet potato and wheat flour are kneaded with hot water, wrapped around bean paste, slapped flat, and steamed — a sweet from the Kyonan region. Its name is said to come from the slapping motion, revived in Ichikawamisato town's Rokugo area after a local school's closure sparked a heritage-food effort.
- Awabi no NigaiAbalone from Suruga Bay was soy-sauce-marinated and hauled in barrels by horse, the jostling and body heat said to have worked the flavor deep in — a specialty from landlocked Kofu. Sliced thin and paired with its liver, shiso, and cucumber, it endures as a taste of the sea inland.
- Azuki HotoHoto noodles, cut thicker than usual, are simmered in sweet azuki bean soup in place of mochi — a festival food in Yamanashi. The summer festival at Miwa Shrine in Hokuto city's Wakamiko area is nicknamed the 'hoto festival', and azuki's red color is said to ward off misfortune.
- Hirauchi TanmenA salt-based tanmen from Kofu, Yamanashi, built on wide, flat noodles said to feel almost like fettuccine. Bean sprouts, pork, and napa cabbage pile on top for a vegetable-heavy bowl carried on today by several shops around the prefecture.