Hot pot & soups
Iwashi no Dango Jiru
Iwashi no Dango Jiru — sardine dumpling soup
Sardines are filleted, ground with miso, grated mountain yam, and egg, then dropped as dumplings into a broth of daikon and taro — a winter soup built on Kujukuri's sardine catch, once so plentiful it was called "rice of the sea."
- Origin: Chiba
- About 60 km east of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
This soup combines dumplings of minced sardine seasoned with miso together with daikon, carrot, and taro root. The umami unique to a blue fish's minced flesh dissolves into the broth along with the depth of miso, and the root vegetables add a mealy texture. It warms the body through, a welcome bowl on a cold day and a fixture of the winter table, now also served in school lunches and enjoyed across generations.
How it's made
Sardines are filleted, coarsely minced, then ground further in a mortar; grated mountain yam, beaten egg, and miso are worked in. Daikon and carrot are brought to a boil in a pot, taro is added, and the ground sardine is shaped into dumplings with two spoons and dropped in to simmer. When the dumplings float, they are done; soy sauce is added to finish the seasoning, and green onion is scattered on top just before the heat is turned off, so the soup reaches the table while still steaming.
Why it took this shape
Kujukuri Beach has long landed sardines in huge quantities, a fish so central to the table it is said to have been likened to "rice of the sea." Using every bit of the blue-backed sardine at its fattiest in winter is said to have given rise to this way of shaping the minced fish into dumplings for soup, a winter staple passed from parent to child and still carried on in home kitchens and school lunches today.
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 Chiba
- Arirang RamenA soy ramen said to have started at a single restaurant on a mountain pass in Chiba's Nagara. Named, it's said, for the legendary Arirang Pass of Korean folklore, its soy broth carries the sweetness of onion and pork, layered with house-made chili oil and grated garlic for depth and heat.
- Barappa ManjuFreshly milled wheat dough is wrapped around red bean paste and steamed on a leaf of catbrier, called barappa locally — a bun said to be made in Chiba's Hokuso area when people gathered for summer festivals or Obon, each bringing ingredients to share.
- Rakkasei MisoPeanuts too small or misshapen to sell are stirred into miso and sugar and toasted into a pantry relish — said to have started as a way for farm households to use up peanuts the market wouldn't take, in leaner years.
- SumitsukareDaikon and carrot, coarsely grated with a rough-toothed oni-oroshi grater, are simmered with leftover setsubun soybeans and sake lees — said to have traveled from Tochigi into Chiba's Higashikatsushika area, offered to the local inari shrine on the year's first Day of the Horse before being eaten. Ibaraki and Saitama carry dishes of the same name.
- Yude RakkaseiFreshly dug peanuts, still in their shells, are boiled whole in salted water — a taste unique to the growing region, since raw peanuts start hardening the moment they're pulled from the ground and need to be boiled almost immediately.