Hot pot & soups
Yanagi Batto
Yanagi batto — willow-leaf-shaped buckwheat dumplings in a savory broth
Buckwheat dough shaped like willow leaves is simmered in a soy- or miso-flavored broth with daikon, carrot and mushroom — said to be named for a loophole villagers used to keep eating soba after the Nanbu domain banned finely cut noodles.
- Origin: Iwate
- About 530 km north of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
A northern Iwate dish made by kneading buckwheat dough into a willow-leaf shape and simmering it in a broth generous with daikon, carrot and mushrooms. The texture is chewy with a satisfying bite, and modern versions often add chicken; served in a soy- or miso-based broth to warm the body, it remains popular even among younger generations, it is said.
How it's made
Kneaded buckwheat dough is shaped into a willow leaf, plump in the middle, and simmered in a broth loaded with daikon, carrot and mushrooms. Known by various local names, yanagi-batto, yanagiba, yanagi-dango, suri-dango, it is said to have been made easily whenever dinner fell short, being simpler than rolling and cutting thin buckwheat noodles.
Why it took this shape
Cool, northern Iwate is poorly suited to rice, and the region is said to have continued growing hardy grains like millet, foxtail millet and buckwheat even in harsh conditions. One story holds that when the ruling Nanbu domain once banned thin-cut buckwheat noodles as an extravagance, people shaped buckwheat dough into willow leaves instead and ate it while insisting, "this isn't soba," a defiance thought to have fused with a wish for a long life like the willow, which buds earliest and withers last.
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
- 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.