Hot pot & soups
Hechima Jiru
Hechima jiru — young loofah simmered in barley miso, ladled over a bowl of somen
Young loofah is simmered in a barley-miso broth and ladled over boiled somen — a Kagoshima summer dish. Its silky texture and natural sweetness echo the miso's own sweetness, and the bowl also has a place in the vegetarian dishes served at Obon.
- Origin: Kagoshima City, Kagoshima
- About 970 km southwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
This summer soup pours miso broth filled with luffa gourd over a bowl of cooked somen noodles. The luffa's silky texture and natural sweetness echo the mellow sweetness of barley miso, making for a bowl light enough to eat even when the summer heat has dulled the appetite. Built from nothing more than luffa, miso, and somen, it reflects a kind of household wisdom suited to the hottest months.
How it's made
Miso is stirred into dashi, and luffa, cut into manageable pieces, simmers until soft. The luffa miso soup is then poured over a bowl of cooked somen, finished to taste with a garnish such as shredded myoga ginger. Because luffa falls apart easily if overcooked, the trick is said to be simmering it until silky while it still holds its shape.
Why it took this shape
Native to tropical Asia and fond of heat and humidity, luffa has long been grown in Okinawa and southern Kyushu, and Kagoshima is said to have eaten it since early times, with a mention of luffa dishes appearing in the 1802 encyclopedia Seikei Zusetsu. Its season runs from July to September, squarely in summer, which is said to be how it became a summer table staple and, in time, a fixture of the vegetarian dishes served during the Obon festival.
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
Contrast
- Abura ZomenPork and somen are fried together with a splash of broth, the oil and stock emulsifying into a silky coat on the noodles. Just how somen took root in wheat-free Amami isn't clear, but the dish is a fixture whenever people gather, not least for the August Dance festival.
- Naabeeraa NbushiiYoung, tender loofah is simmered together with pork belly worked in miso. The trick is letting it cook slow enough to release its own sweet, syrupy liquid — unlike Kagoshima's hechima jiru, this version skips the somen and lets miso bring out the loofah's own sweetness instead.
Also from Kagoshima
- AkumakiMochi rice steeped in wood-ash lye is wrapped in bamboo sheath and boiled for hours in more lye water — a Boys' Festival sweet said to have fed Saigo Takamori's troops in the field. The lye's alkalinity holds bacteria back, letting it keep for days in Kagoshima's heat and humidity.
- Amami Kokuto-jochuKokuto-jochu permitted to be made only in the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture. It's said to carry a sweet aroma distinctive to islands where sugarcane cultivation thrives, and around 30 breweries are said to compete on character while observing the liquor tax law's condition that rice koji be used.
- Buta Hone YasaiBone-in pork cut into big chunks is simmered in a large pot with tsuwabuki, daikon, and koshaman taro — an Amami dish essential to New Year's Eve, also called wanfineyasse. It's regarded as a wisdom born of using every part of the island's own black pigs.
- Buta JiruPork simmered with daikon, taro, and other roots in a miso broth, built on Kagoshima's own pork — the prefecture raises more hogs than any other — paired with a barley miso high in koji and correspondingly sweet. A warming bowl for winter, common at home and in school lunches alike.
- Buta MisoBoiled pork is pounded together with miso and sugar into a keeping paste, with peanuts and bonito flakes added in Amami versions. It's said to have grown out of the need to use every part of the one pig a household slaughtered each year, alongside salting and other preserved forms.