Hot pot & soups
Uchikomi Jiru
Uchikomi jiru — hand-cut wheat noodles simmered straight into a vegetable soup
Dough kneaded from just wheat flour and water, without salt, is cut and simmered straight into a dashi with daikon and carrot, without pre-boiling — a winter soup. Said to be a quick everyday dish from Kagawa, a wheat-growing region where udon is part of daily life.
- Origin: Kagawa
- About 540 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Uchikomi-jiru is a soup made by loading dried-sardine dashi with seasonal vegetables like daikon, carrot, and taro, then adding hand-pulled noodles made from nothing but wheat flour and water, no salt, straight into the pot. The noodles' uneven thickness is part of the charm of making them by hand, and their chewy bite meets a broth rich with the flavor of the sardines and the sweetness of the vegetables. Dropping the freshly rolled noodles straight into the pot without boiling them separately first is said to be why it's called "uchikomi-jiru," meaning roughly "pounded-in soup."
How it's made
Wheat flour and water are kneaded together simply in a bowl and left to rest. While the dough rests, daikon, carrot, and other vegetables are cut and simmered in dashi in a pot. The rested dough is rolled out and cut into noodles, which go straight into the boiling broth; once cooked, the soup is seasoned with miso to finish, with scallion added on top. Some households add chicken, pork, or shiitake, and some season with soy sauce instead of miso.
Why it took this shape
Kagawa's mild, dry climate suits wheat cultivation, and wheat flour has long been a familiar staple in local kitchens. Where hand-pulled udon was reserved for festive occasions, uchikomi-jiru appears to have spread as an everyday dish farming households could put together quickly on a cold winter day. Adding the noodles straight into the broth without boiling them separately also cut down on extra pots and effort, which looks like part of why it suited a busy life built around farm work.
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 Kagawa
- Aji no SanbaiAji (horse mackerel) is grilled until lightly charred, then steeped in a three-part vinegar dressing sharpened with chili and ginger. The vinegar is said to soften the bones enough to eat whole, and the dish has long served as a summer festival accompaniment to drinks around the Seto Inland Sea.
- Anmochi ZoniA New Year zoni made by simmering daikon, kintoki carrot, and a round rice cake filled with sweet red bean paste in dried-sardine broth, finished with white miso. Said to have begun as a once-a-year treat using sugar, once a costly commodity in the Edo period.
- Ebi Miso JiruSmall shell-on shrimp are pureed with rice rinse water, then simmered with white miso and tofu. Served as part of the roughly 300-year-old sacred sake festival at Uga Shrine in Toyonaka, Mitoyo, where it has long accompanied the shrine's home-brewed doburoku.
- Hage DangoFreshly milled new-wheat dumplings are coated in a simple red-bean paste. Traditionally made around Hangeshō, the early-July turning point when the rains break, as thanks for the season's farm work, and offered to household gods before the family eats.
- Ikanago shoyuA fish sauce fermented from sand lance and salt for six months or more, mainly produced in the Aji district of Takamatsu, Kagawa. It is said to have disappeared for a time before local volunteers revived production around 1998, and it is counted among Japan's three great fish sauces.
- ImotakoOctopus from the Seto Inland Sea and taro are simmered together in a simple seasoned broth. Once reserved for New Year and wedding feasts, it is said to have become an everyday side dish today.