Hot pot & soups
Noppe
Noppe — a thick, simmered taro dish with scallop, salmon and vegetables
A Niigata home dish built around taro, gently simmered with scallops, salmon and konjac until thick, closer to a stew than a soup. In this snow-heavy region it became a go-to for gatherings, and some households are said to eat it chilled.
- Origin: Niigata
- About 260 km north of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Taro is the main ingredient, simmered gently in a light broth with scallop, dried shiitake, bamboo shoot, carrot, konjac and ginkgo nuts. The taro's own starch naturally thickens the broth, while snow peas or salted salmon roe add a touch of seasonal color. Closer to a thick stew than a soup, it's satisfying served either chilled or warm.
How it's made
Taro, vegetables and mushrooms are simmered gently in a light broth, the natural sliminess of the taro thickening it as it cooks. Keeping the broth from turning cloudy by not overcooking is considered essential. For celebrations, ingredients are cut into rounds or thick strips; for memorial occasions, they're cut roughly, into thin strips, or into triangles, each cutting style carrying its own meaning.
Why it took this shape
In this heavily snowbound region, people once made a large batch on days when shopping wasn't possible and kept the whole pot preserved in the snow like a natural refrigerator. Because the dish holds up well chilled, the custom of eating it cold is said to remain from that practice. An essential dish at festivals, memorial services and weddings, wherever people gather, it has long been passed down in each family's own version.
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 Niigata
- AnboA Chuetsu-region dish of steamed rice-flour dumplings filled with sweet bean paste, pickled greens or eggplant. Similar in spirit to Nagano's oyaki but distinguished by its rice-flour skin, reflecting land suited to rice rather than wheat.
- Echigo misoA red, savory miso from Niigata, also called 'ukikoji miso' (floating-koji miso) because its polished whole-grain rice koji appears to float within the paste. Its style is said to vary across Niigata's Joetsu, Chuetsu, Kaetsu, and Sado districts, each shaped by local climate.
- Fugu no Ko no KasuzukeA rare Sado delicacy in which puffer fish ovaries are salt-cured for two years or more, then aged for a long stretch in Sado's sake lees. Only ovaries processed by licensed fugu chefs are sold, and the practice is said to date back to the Edo period.
- Fukashi NasuA Niigata dish of kinchaku eggplant halved, steamed, chilled and eaten with mustard or ginger soy sauce. In a prefecture among Japan's top eggplant producers, it is said to have been valued as a cooling dish through the summer.
- Hegi SobaA soba from Ojiya, Niigata, that uses funori seaweed, the same binder once used to size thread for the region's textiles, as a noodle binder. It is arranged in small bite-sized portions on a wooden box called a hegi.
- Hiyashijiru Miso JitateA chilled soup from the Chuetsu region, dashi thinned with miso and studded with chopped cucumber and shiso. Devised to stay appetizing through the summer heat, it is said to be eaten on its own or poured over rice or noodles.