Hot pot & soups
Mikka no Dangojiru
Mikka no dangojiru — rice-flour dumpling soup for new mothers
A miso soup of rice-flour dumplings and taro stem, said to be traditionally fed to a mother on the third day after giving birth, the stem believed to aid recovery and milk supply — the dumpling soup itself is also made as an everyday family dish.
- Origin: Toyama
- About 260 km northwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
A miso soup with dumplings made from rice flour, alongside dried zuiki — the stem of a taro-leaf variety — rehydrated for the pot. The dumplings' chewy bounce meets the soft, almost silky bite of the zuiki, all wrapped in a gentle broth-and-miso flavor. Said to be made to care for a mother's body just after childbirth, it carries a nourishing softness meant to settle deep.
How it's made
Dried zuiki is rehydrated and cut into bite-sized pieces. Hot water is worked into rice flour until it reaches an earlobe-soft consistency, then rolled into small balls. The zuiki and dumplings go into simmering dashi, and once the dumplings float to the surface, miso is stirred in. After one more quick boil it's ladled into a bowl, topped with bonito flakes for fragrance, it is said.
Why it took this shape
Zuiki, said to ease milk production and help a mother's recovery after childbirth, is paired with nourishing dumplings in a soup tied to the third day after birth — a milestone in the region's customs. In a rice-growing land where mochi and dumplings mark life's turning points, this dish is said to have taken shape around the milestone of childbirth as well.
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 Toyama
- Bai no NimonoWhelks from the deep waters of Toyama Bay are simmered whole in their shells — said to appear at celebrations thanks to a play on words suggesting doubled good fortune, with smaller whelks simmered and larger ones eaten raw.
- BekkoMelted agar is seasoned with soy sauce and mirin, then set with egg trailed in like threads — its amber color flecked with egg said to resemble a tortoiseshell hair ornament, giving the dish its name; in the west of the prefecture it goes by "yubeshi" instead.
- BurishabuThin slices of yellowtail are swished briefly through kelp broth, said to cook only the surface while leaving the center rare — versions using Himi's branded winter yellowtail are considered a particularly luxurious cold-weather treat.
- Genge no MisoshiruEelpout, a deep-sea fish covered in a gelatinous layer, is cut into chunks and simmered into a miso soup — long treated as an unwanted bycatch of sweet shrimp fishing, its flavor has since been reappraised and spread beyond the fishing villages that first ate it.
- Himi UdonA hand-stretched udon developed in Himi, Toyama, in the mid-Edo period by adapting somen-making techniques from Wajima. It was once presented to the Kaga domain as tribute.
- Hoonko RyoriA catch-all term for the dishes served at houonko, the memorial gathering held on the death anniversary of Jodo Shinshu's founder — the season's better vegetables and wild greens are said to be set aside for it apart from everyday use, with the devout Gokayama area of Nanto known for hearty stews of dried greens and local tofu.