Hot pot & soups
Gojiru
Gojiru — pureed soybean miso soup
Soybeans soaked overnight are ground into a paste called 'go' and stirred into a miso soup of taro, daikon, and fried tofu — said to be a winter home dish in Miyagi, the country's second-largest soybean-growing prefecture.
- Origin: Miyagi
- About 300 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
A winter soup made by stirring "go," ground soybeans, into a miso soup with taro, daikon, and carrot. The soybeans' creamy texture gives the whole soup body, and their richness spreads through the mouth without needing to be chewed. Said to warm the body from within, it pairs with the gentle sweetness of root vegetables to make a comforting bowl for the cold season.
How it's made
Soybeans soaked overnight to soften are ground smooth in a mortar or food processor to make "go." This is stirred into a miso soup loaded with seasonal vegetables such as taro, daikon, carrot, fried tofu, and green onion. It is an everyday home dish, often served as a side soup alongside a meal, it is said.
Why it took this shape
Soybeans, a quality protein source carrying a good balance of essential amino acids, are said to have long supported daily life in Japan. Miyagi is the country's second-largest soybean producer after Hokkaido, and eating soybeans paired with an assortment of vegetables in soup during the autumn-to-winter harvest season is thought to be the background behind this dish taking root.
Before you go
- Foods to look for in winterA guide to foods often seen in Japan around winter — nabe hot pot, fugu, oysters, crab, year-end soba, and osechi — with rough pointers for finding them.
- At yakiniku, shabu-shabu, and hot potGrilling your own meat at yakiniku, swishing thin slices at shabu-shabu, and sharing from the pot — the customs behind each.
Dishes in the same style
- Aichi Miso OdenA pot of sweet red miso sits in the center of the simmering pot, and daikon, tofu, and other ingredients simmered in dashi are dipped into it before eating. While soy-based Kanto-style oden spread in Edo, Aichi is said to have settled on dipping in soybean miso instead.
- Aichi ZoniSquare mochi and mochina, a traditional Owari green, are served in a plain clear broth for New Year — a notably simple zoni. It's speculated that using miso so often in daily cooking is exactly why a clear broth is chosen for this festive occasion, deliberately leaving miso out.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Miyagi
- Aburafu DonDeep-fried wheat gluten, shaped into a log, is simmered in a sweet-savory broth and set with egg over rice, katsudon-style — a Tome City bowl said to trace to a tofu shop's shelf-stable gluten product, later turned into a bowl dish by a local innkeeper.
- AzaraNapa cabbage pickled long enough to turn sour is simmered slowly with rockfish trimmings and sake lees — a Kesennuma dish said to taste even better cold, or reheated the next day, long loved as everyday food.
- Bakke MisoButterbur sprouts picked in early spring — called 'bakke' locally — are boiled, chopped, and worked into a paste with walnuts and miso, said to be prized for helping clear the body of winter's buildup, spooned over rice or grilled fish.
- Ebi MochiPaddy shrimp caught in irrigation channels and ponds are seasoned with soy sauce and sake, then folded whole into freshly pounded mochi — a Kurihara dish said to be served, red against white, to guests over New Year's.
- Fusube MochiLoach, grilled plain then smoked over an irori hearth, is ground to powder and simmered with grated daikon and burdock in a soy-chili sauce, then folded into freshly pounded mochi — said to be a mochi dish born of inland Kurihara's distance from the sea.