Processed staples ── Nerimono (fish-paste products)
Obiten
Obiten — deep-fried fish cake bound with tofu and sweetened with brown sugar
Sardine, horse mackerel, and other coastal fish are ground into surimi, mixed with tofu, seasoned with miso and brown sugar, and deep-fried — a fish cake from the Obi district of Nichinan, said to have been devised under the Edo-era Obi domain; it resembles satsuma-age but stays softer and fluffier for the tofu folded in.
- Origin: Miyazaki Nichinan
- About 900 km southwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
Obiten is a fish-paste product from the Obi district of Nichinan, a type of deep-fried kamaboko. Common fish caught in the nearby Hyuga Sea, such as sardine, horse mackerel, and mackerel, are ground into a paste, mixed with tofu, seasoned with miso and brown sugar, and deep-fried. The tofu gives it a softer, fluffier texture than satsuma-age fish cake, along with a distinctive, slightly sweet flavor. It's typically eaten straight from the fryer without further cooking.
How it's made
The fish is filleted and deboned, lightly pounded, then ground together with drained tofu in a mortar. Ginger, beaten egg, and seasonings are worked in thoroughly, and the mixture is shaped as desired before deep-frying. It's good at room temperature too, but fresh from the fryer, the brown sugar's sweetness stands out, making it something people also enjoy as a snack.
Why it took this shape
The dish is said to have been devised by residents of the Obi domain during the Edo period. Miso-based cooking was already common around Obi, and against the backdrop of sugarcane cultivation spreading through the area, this combination of miso and brown sugar is thought to have given rise to obiten. Eaten on occasions ranging from rice planting and harvesting to school sports days, it's said to have taken root in the Obi district as an everyday food for ordinary people.
Before you go
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
Dishes in the same style
- Ago ChikuwaChikuwa made from the surimi of flying fish, called "ago" in Tottori. A knife through the firm grilled skin sends up a fragrant crackle, and it turns out darker than ordinary chikuwa. It's a taste of early summer, in season through the fish's spawning run from spring into summer.
- 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.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Miyazaki
- Chikin NanbanFried chicken dipped in sweet vinegar and topped with tartar sauce, said to have originated in Nobeoka, Miyazaki. It's said to trace to a sweet-vinegar fried chicken devised as staff food at a Western-food restaurant in the 1950s.
- Futatabi DangoDumpling flour is kneaded, steamed with freshly picked mugwort folded in, then pounded a second time — a Nobeoka treat named for that unusual second working of the dough, wrapped around sweet bean paste and dusted with soybean flour into a soft, pale-green dumpling.
- Hie-zushiWild boar bones are simmered into a broth, then rice, millet, and vegetables are added and cooked down into a porridge — a Shiiba village dish built on millet, a grain said to have been eaten in Japan since before rice farming; whenever a boar was dressed, the porridge it made was shared around the whole village to see out the long winter.
- Hyuga Kurokawa Kabocha no NimonoHyuga kurokawa kabocha, a black-skinned heirloom pumpkin first grown in Miyazaki City, is cut into large chunks and simmered slowly in sugar and light soy sauce — lighter and less sweet than a Western pumpkin, but it holds its shape well and its skin is good to eat too.
- Iriko MochiGlutinous rice is parched and ground into iriko flour, then kneaded with starch syrup, rested, and cut into bars — a Miyazaki sweet said to have arrived from the Satsuma domain as a festival treat, once handed out to neighbors to wish for a child's healthy growth.
- Jidori no Miso KorobakashiJidori chicken is rolled around a dry pan with no added water, coaxed with a miso glaze without letting it catch — a home-cooked dish from around Kobayashi City, its name a western-Miyazaki dialect word for tumbling food in a pot as it cooks, the mix of vegetables and seasoning varying from house to house.