Hot pot & soups
Hittsumi
Hittsumi — hand-torn wheat dough simmered with chicken and root vegetables
Hand-torn pieces of rested wheat dough are simmered in a chicken-and-root-vegetable broth — also called hittsumi-jiru, the signature dish of the Kitakami river valley's flour-based food culture, made across Iwate.
- Origin: Iwate
- About 460 km north of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
A soup eaten across Iwate, especially in the central region, made by kneading wheat dough with water, stretching it thin, tearing it by hand, and simmering it with chicken, burdock, carrot and mushrooms in dashi. Well-kneaded, rested dough develops a distinctly springy bite; soy sauce is the most common seasoning, though it varies by region and household. Coastal Sanriku versions add seafood like saury, while inland areas sometimes use river crab or matsutake, it is said.
How it's made
Wheat flour is kneaded with water, rested well, rolled thin, torn by hand and simmered in the broth. Resting the well-kneaded dough is said to be what gives even thin pieces their springy bite. Sweet versions exist too, made with red beans or zunda, and in recent years curry, Western and Chinese-style flavorings have also become popular, it is said.
Why it took this shape
The central region, along the Kitakami River, opened up broad rice paddies early on, but harsh cold and occasional crop failures meant barley, wheat and buckwheat were grown as well, it is said. In years the rice crop failed, this dish is said to have often stood in as a staple, and it is thought to reflect a cold-region tradition of kneading grain flour with water, known locally as shitonemono.
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 Iwate
- Azuki BattoRested wheat dough cut into wide noodle strips is served in a sugar-sweetened red-bean broth — made along the Sanriku coast for building-raising and harvest celebrations, with a custom of eating it seven times on the seventh day of Obon for good health.
- Hecchoko DangoDumplings of millet and sorghum flour, each dimpled in the center, are simmered in a sweet red-bean soup — also called "ukiuki dango," a harvest-close treat from rice-poor northern Iwate where they float to the surface as they cook.
- Hina ManjuRice-flour dough tinted with food coloring is wrapped around red-bean paste and shaped into flowers, peaches or rabbits using wooden molds — tied to a doll-viewing custom in Hanamaki's Ohasama area, offered alongside kirisensho at the Girls' Festival.
- Hizu NamasuThin slices of cartilage from a salmon's head — "hizu" — are salted, cured in vinegar and tossed with daikon and carrot namasu — a rare delicacy from just one small part of the fish, a New Year dish where salmon run up Miyako Bay.
- Dento Mochi RyoriAn umbrella term for some 300 ways of dressing mochi — sweet red bean, edamame paste, walnut, natto, zoni and more. A domain-era custom of pounding mochi twice a month left Ichinoseki with a "mochi calendar" of 60-plus occasions a year and a formal ceremonial mochi course still observed today.
- Imo no Ko JiruAutumn taro is simmered with chicken, tofu, daikon and carrot in a soy broth — a fall favorite of the taro-growing Kitakami river valley, still enjoyed at riverside "imoni-kai" gatherings around Kitakami's Futako district.