Hot pot & soups
Zakuni
Zakuni — finely diced root vegetables and dried squid simmered without oil
A Takasaki soup resembling kenchin-jiru but made without oil, using dried squid for stock instead. It appears at New Year, Setsubun, the Ebisu harvest festival and weddings.
- Origin: Gunma Takasaki
- About 100 km northwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Root vegetables, konnyaku, and dried squid are simmered together without any oil. The umami that seeps from the squid into the broth gives the vegetables a light yet deeply savory flavor, said to make an elegant bowl fit for celebrations.
How it's made
The ingredients are simmered in broth rather than fried in oil, and dried squid—not used in the related kenchin soup—is added for flavor. Cutting everything finely is said to be the original style, reserved for especially formal occasions, and a knotted strip of kelp is added for weddings as a special touch.
Why it took this shape
In Gunma, where kenchin soup was customarily eaten at the autumn and New Year Ebisu festivals and at Setsubun, zakuni is said to have begun as a more finely cut, carefully prepared version served on even more special occasions. A tradition holds that oil is left out at weddings so the couple, like water and oil, would never drift apart.
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.
- 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
- 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 Gunma
- Fujioka RamenAn unassuming clear soy chuka soba, rooted in the town's diner culture.
- AmanejiWheat dumplings simmered in a sweetened red bean soup, mainly eaten around Shibukawa; Kawaba village calls it amadango. It was a treat during breaks from farm work.
- Ayu ShioyakiGunma's official fish, skewered in a zigzag and salted before charcoal grilling. Sweetfish from the Kanna river are prized for their aroma and firm flesh, drawing visitors once the season opens in June.
- GojiruGround soybean paste, called go, stirred into a miso soup with seasonal vegetables. Made in soybean-growing Gunma from autumn into winter, it has long served as a warming, nutritious dish.
- KatemeshiRice cooked with barley, beans, daikon and other bulking ingredients called kate. Born of rice shortages, it survives today as a mixed rice dish often served on the Tenjin festival day.
- Sosu KatsudonBreaded pork fillet dipped in a house sauce blending Worcestershire with eel tare, served over rice. It spread as a delivery favorite in the textile town of Kiryu and is now found across the prefecture.