Hot pot & soups ── Nabe (hot pot)
Unagi Dofu
Unagi dofu — a yanagawa-style hot pot of eel and grilled tofu
Lake Shinji eel is simmered with cubed grilled tofu, Kyoto leek, and seasonal mushrooms in a yanagawa-style pot — said to trace back to the era when Izumo eel was hauled overland all the way to Osaka.
- Origin: Shimane Matsue
- Sukiyaki-style (simmered in warishita)
- About 610 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Unagi dofu simmers eel and grilled tofu slowly together in dashi, adding leek, seasonal mushrooms, and shungiku greens for a dish resembling yanagawa-nabe hot pot, a winter favorite of the Izumo region. As it cooks, the eel's broth and fat melt into the dish, gradually soaking into the grilled tofu, and because it comes together quickly, it remains a popular dish in home kitchens.
How it's made
Eel cut into bite-sized pieces and grilled tofu cut into cubes are simmered together in a combined dashi for about ten minutes. Once the eel's broth and fat have released into the liquid, leek, seasonal mushrooms, and shungiku greens are added and cooked together. Cutting the grilled tofu on a diagonal increases its surface area, letting the eel's broth soak in more easily. At home, using store-bought grilled eel from the supermarket makes the dish quick and easy to prepare.
Why it took this shape
In 1756, the waters of Lake Nakaumi, bordering Matsue and Yasugi, are said to have suddenly yielded a great catch of eel, prompting a local merchant to begin shipping it to Osaka. Baskets of eel were carried on shoulder poles along a route from Yasugi port through the Izumo highway to Okayama and Osaka, a path still remembered today as the "eel road." Eel from Izumo is said to have had a major influence on Osaka's food culture, and this history is thought to be why a culture of eating eel took root locally, giving rise to dishes such as unagi dofu.
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
- 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 Shimane
- Ago-yakiAgo-yaki is Izumo noyaki made from flying-fish paste, fire-baked without a skewer. Its crackling surface and refined sweetness make it a favorite travel souvenir from Shimane.
- Agonoko UmaniThe roe of egg-bearing flying fish, caught only in early summer, is simmered in stock and soy sauce as an Oki bar snack. Its large grains and dense, sticky texture are prized as a delicacy said to be scarcer even than the fish's flesh.
- Akagai Garan MushiArk shell clams from Lake Nakaumi are steamed in their shells in a soy-seasoned broth, also known as akagai no kara-mushi. The name 'garan' is said to come either from a slurred 'kara' (shell) or the rattling sound made while rinsing the shells — a dish long kept for New Year's.
- Azuki ZoniRound mochi sit in azuki beans simmered with a light hand on the sugar, closer in taste to a thin zenzai than a dessert. In the Izumo area some households eat a clear zoni on New Year's Day, then switch to this one from the second.
- Bakudan OnigiriA large round rice ball is wrapped entirely in lightly toasted, soy-brushed rock nori from Oki — its bold look earning it the name 'bakudan,' or bomb. It travels well in lunch boxes and as an everyday snack.