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Wakegiae
Wakegiae — scallion and octopus dressed in vinegared white miso
Boiled scallion and boiled octopus are dressed in a paste of white miso, vinegar, and mustard for a spring side dish. Said to be eaten around the Girls' Festival as a symbol of a thriving family line, and also known as nuta-ae for its sweet miso dressing.
- Origin: Kagawa
- About 540 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Wakegiae dresses boiled wakegi (a scallion relative) and boiled octopus in white miso thinned with vinegar. Wakegi is said to be a cross between scallion and onion, milder in aroma than ordinary scallion and sweeter once cooked. The sweetness of the white miso and the mellow tang of the vinegar wrap around the wakegi's gentle fragrance and the octopus's springy bite for a refreshing, spring-appropriate flavor. In some areas razor clams or Manila clams, also in season in spring, are used in place of octopus.
How it's made
The wakegi is separated into its white base and green top, each cut into roughly three-centimeter lengths. The white parts go into boiling water first, followed by the green parts, then both are drained and cooled. The octopus is rubbed with salt, briefly boiled, and cut into bite-sized pieces. White miso, hot mustard, vinegar, and sugar are ground together well in a mortar, and once cooled, the wakegi and octopus are tossed in it. Some households used to save leftover white miso from making New Year's zōni to use in this dish.
Why it took this shape
Wakegi grows by sending up shoots from a bulb that branch off into more shoots, and it's said to have become a symbol of family prosperity eaten around the Doll Festival for that reason. On Teshima island in Shozu county, there's reportedly a custom called "wakegi no guruguru," in which the wakegi is rolled into bite-sized bundles rather than cut, a wish for good things to keep on coming. Pairing wakegi, a mountain vegetable, with octopus from the sea appears to be a way this dish brought together the best of both, in season together each spring.
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 Kagawa
- Aji no SanbaiAji (horse mackerel) is grilled until lightly charred, then steeped in a three-part vinegar dressing sharpened with chili and ginger. The vinegar is said to soften the bones enough to eat whole, and the dish has long served as a summer festival accompaniment to drinks around the Seto Inland Sea.
- Anmochi ZoniA New Year zoni made by simmering daikon, kintoki carrot, and a round rice cake filled with sweet red bean paste in dried-sardine broth, finished with white miso. Said to have begun as a once-a-year treat using sugar, once a costly commodity in the Edo period.
- Ebi Miso JiruSmall shell-on shrimp are pureed with rice rinse water, then simmered with white miso and tofu. Served as part of the roughly 300-year-old sacred sake festival at Uga Shrine in Toyonaka, Mitoyo, where it has long accompanied the shrine's home-brewed doburoku.
- Hage DangoFreshly milled new-wheat dumplings are coated in a simple red-bean paste. Traditionally made around Hangeshō, the early-July turning point when the rains break, as thanks for the season's farm work, and offered to household gods before the family eats.
- Ikanago shoyuA fish sauce fermented from sand lance and salt for six months or more, mainly produced in the Aji district of Takamatsu, Kagawa. It is said to have disappeared for a time before local volunteers revived production around 1998, and it is counted among Japan's three great fish sauces.