Hot pot & soups
Takakibi Dango Jiru
Takakibi dango jiru — sorghum dumpling soup
Takakibi, a sorghum grain that reached Japan from the Asian mainland, is milled and shaped into dumplings, then simmered in a soy broth with burdock, daikon, and shiitake — made after a laborious leaching process, and eaten once a year for a good harvest and good health.
- Origin: Okayama
- About 560 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Dumplings made from ground takakibi, a type of sorghum, simmer in a broth thick with root vegetables, shiitake, and fish cake. The dumplings have a smooth, mellow bite with a faintly nutty flavor, set against the rich, vegetable-steeped broth — a humble, warming bowl for the cold season.
How it's made
Burdock and carrot simmer in broth, joined by pre-boiled konjac, daikon, fish cake, and fried tofu. Kneaded takakibi flour is rolled into small balls about 1.5cm across and dropped into the pot; once they float, the broth is seasoned and finished with scallion.
Why it took this shape
Takakibi is a grain that takes real effort to process — drying, then leaching out bitterness — and is said to have been eaten alongside millet and foxtail millet before rice became the staple. The custom of eating it once a year to pray for a good harvest and good health is said to have endured, often shared around a hearth as autumn deepened into cold.
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 Okayama
- Ami to Daikon no NitsukeTiny Setouchi shrimp called ami, richest in early autumn, are simmered with daikon in soy sauce and sugar — a pairing said to have grown from the two coming into season together, with a salted version kept for winter when rough seas kept boats ashore.
- Buri ZoniIn southern Okayama, New Year's zoni is built around yellowtail, a fish that changes name as it grows and so is read as auspicious, simmered with spinach, daikon, and other root vegetables — a dish passed down through the generations for the New Year's table.
- Chiya GyuJapanese Black raised in Niimi, Okayama, tracing to one of the oldest documented "tsuru-ushi" pedigree lines from the Edo period — said to benefit from the clear Takahashi river and fertile soil.
- Demi KatsudonA freshly fried pork cutlet is doused in hot demi-glace sauce over rice, a bowl said to have been devised by the founder of an old Okayama City restaurant after being won over by Western-style cooking at a Tokyo hotel — toppings vary shop to shop.
- FunameshiCrucian carp caught in the waterways of the reclaimed Kojima Bay farmland, at their least fishy in the cold season, are minced by hand and simmered with root vegetables, the rich broth then ladled over hot rice — also known as tonto-ko-jiru for the sound of the knife against the board.