Noodles
Kenchan
Kenchan — a hearty root-vegetable and tofu soup, Oita's version of kenchin-jiru
Root vegetables — daikon, taro, carrot — and tofu are simmered with fried tofu and konjac — a Kunisaki soup said to descend from kenchin-jiru, the temple dish traced to Kamakura's Kenchoji, its broth reduced to turn it into more of a simmered dish.
- Origin: Oita Kunisaki
- About 770 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Kenchan, handed down in Kunisaki, is a soup made generously with root vegetables such as daikon, taro, and carrot; in some areas it's known as kenchin-jiru. It is often made with less liquid than a typical soup, closer to a simmered dish, and the sweetness of the root vegetables melds with the mild flavor of tofu into a dish said to warm the body through.
How it's made
Tofu, daikon, and taro are essential, along with whatever else is on hand, such as fried tofu, konjac, burdock, or carrot, all cut into large pieces. In Kunisaki, some recipes add udon noodles alongside the root vegetables, and in some areas the broth is made from grilled lizardfish. Made with more liquid, it becomes what's called "kenchan-jiru," offering a different way to enjoy it.
Why it took this shape
The dish is said to trace back to a Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa, where a monk reportedly turned vegetable peels and trimmings into a soup rather than waste them; the practice is said to have spread across the country and taken on different local names along the way. It's said to have become indispensable in Kunisaki's winters, when root vegetables are plentiful, with large families reportedly cooking a big potful and reheating it over several meals. In times when rice was less available, its filling heartiness is said to have made it especially valued.
Before You Go
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Dishes in the same style
- Abura SobaNo broth is poured at all — noodles are tossed in a soy-and-sesame-oil tare pooled at the bottom of the bowl, said to have started at shops in the Musashino area in the late 1950s, with vinegar and chili oil stirred in partway through.
- Abura ZomenPork and somen are fried together with a splash of broth, the oil and stock emulsifying into a silky coat on the noodles. Just how somen took root in wheat-free Amami isn't clear, but the dish is a fixture whenever people gather, not least for the August Dance festival.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Oita
- Aji no MaruzushiA whole horse mackerel, cured in plum vinegar and opened flat, is wrapped around vinegared rice and rolled in red shiso leaf — a celebratory sushi from Saiki, painstaking to prepare, built on the rich mackerel landed from the Bungo Channel.
- AmimeshiKrill simmered sweet-savory in mirin, soy sauce, and ginger is folded into freshly steamed rice — a dish from the Usa, Nakatsu, and Bungotakada coast, where krill are hauled from the Buzen Sea tideflats each autumn and winter; a favorite of the northern Oita coast.
- Atama RyoriGills, jaw, and innards of a large fish like grouper are quickly parboiled along with the flesh and piled onto a single platter — a dish from inland Taketa, far from the sea, said to have grown from a wish to waste nothing of a rare catch, served with a citrus dipping sauce.
- Ayu UrukaAyu (sweetfish) flesh or innards are minced with salt and left to ferment for about a week — an Oita salted delicacy said to have begun as a way to keep the clean river's seasonal catch; the innards-only version, nigauruka, carries a distinctive bitterness.
- Beppu ReimenThe dish's spread is traced to around 1950, when a cook repatriated from what had been Manchuria began making cold noodles in Beppu. Genso Arirang, founded that same year, is often named as the pioneering shop; the local style pairs a Japanese-style seafood stock with noodles made from buckwheat, wheat, and starch.
- Dango-jiruWheat dough kneaded and stretched into flat ribbons is simmered with root vegetables and shiitake in a barley-miso broth — an everyday Oita dish born of the prefecture's flour-based food culture, where poor rice land pushed wheat to the fore; the ribbons keep a firmer bite than udon.