Hot pot & soups ── Nabe (hot pot)
Kashiwa no Sukiyaki
Kashiwa no sukiyaki — chicken sukiyaki simmered in a sweet soy broth
A Nara-style sukiyaki named for kashiwa, the Kansai word for chicken meat. Because cattle are held sacred to the deity of the Tenjin shrines, chicken sukiyaki is said to have been eaten in place of beef at their autumn festivals, simmered with napa cabbage and grilled tofu in a sweet soy broth.
- Origin: Nara
- Sukiyaki-style (simmered in warishita)
- About 380 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Chicken is simmered with napa cabbage, shirataki noodles, grilled tofu, and scallion in a sweetened soy broth, a chicken version of sukiyaki. Dipping the pieces in beaten raw egg or a soft-boiled egg is said to round out the chicken's flavor.
How it's made
Chicken, napa cabbage, shirataki, grilled tofu, scallion, shiitake, and chrysanthemum greens are simmered together in a pot. Pieces are dipped in beaten raw egg or a soft egg, and Miwa somen noodles are sometimes added at the end to finish the meal.
Why it took this shape
In the Kansai region, chicken meant for eating is called "kashiwa," a name some say comes from the bird's brown feathers resembling oak leaves. Because the guardian deity associated with Tenjin shrines is a cow, chicken sukiyaki is said to have been served instead of beef at the Tenmangu autumn festival as a celebratory dish. The chicken breed used today is said to be one developed to revive the flavor of "Yamato kashiwa," which had a strong reputation before the war.
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
- Toriniku no SukiyakiA whole chicken, offal included, is piled onto a platter with napa cabbage and chrysanthemum greens and simmered in a bold sugar-and-soy broth — a gathering-day hot pot from the Kasuya-to-Munakata area, where poultry-raising is said to have taken off after an Edo-era famine.
- Gyu NabeA Yokohama-born hot pot of beef, tofu and chrysanthemum greens simmered from the start in a soy or miso-based sauce. Born of the port city's encounter with Western meat-eating culture, it is said to trace to a tavern owner who opened one of the first beef-pot restaurants.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Nara
- Amago no KanroniRiver trout, called the queen of the mountain stream, first grilled plain and then simmered in roasted tea before being finished sweet and savory in soy sauce and mirin — a dish of the Yoshino and Uda districts. The fish is said to have little of a river-fish's usual edge, and the dish is remembered as a mother's home cooking.
- Asuka NabeA hot pot from Asuka Village of chicken and seasonal vegetables simmered in milk and dashi. It is said to trace to a dairy product brought from Tang China in the Asuka period and later reworked by monks who simmered their chickens in milk, taking its present form around the early Showa era.
- Ayu ZushiA whole sweetfish pressed onto vinegared rice, made along the Yoshino River. Sweetfish, raised on river-stone algae, are called kogyo, 'fragrant fish,' and the sushi is said to have become known in part because a sushi shop featured in a kabuki play actually existed in Nara.
- DengaraA sweet from Higashiyoshino and Kawakami villages: bean-paste mochi steamed inside magnolia leaves. It is made for Boys' Day, wishing a son success and safe growth, and because each leaf on a single branch is wrapped around its own mochi, the finished cluster hangs like a bunch of fruit.
- Ei no NikogoriRed stingray simmered sweet and savory in soy sauce and sugar, a Nara dish. Its own gelatin dissolves into the cooking liquid and sets into a jelly once cooled, giving the dish its name, nikogori. It is said to have been eaten together with noppei at Kasuga Shrine's Wakamiya festival.
- Hangesho MochiA Nara Basin mochi pounded from cracked wheat and glutinous rice around hangesho, the eleventh day after the summer solstice. It is made at the point when the wheat harvest and rice planting both wind down, and is also called sanaburi mochi for the rite that sends off the rice-field deity.