Raw
Choju Namasu
Choju namasu — a sesame-miso salad of daikon, carrot, and fried tofu
Ground sesame is worked into a paste with miso, thick fried tofu, mustard, and vinegar, then tossed with shredded daikon, carrot, and snap peas — a New Year salad whose name literally wishes long life, also said to appear at memorial services and Honkoko.
- Origin: Fukui
- About 320 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Daikon and carrot dressed in a miso-based paste worked through with ground sesame and fried tofu, so a vinegar-and-mustard tang meets the rich, toasty depth of sesame. The crisp bite of the vegetables plays against the smooth, worked paste, and true to its name — 'long-life namasu' — it's said to carry the weight of a wish for a long life.
How it's made
Toasted white sesame is ground in a mortar until its oil releases, then miso and sugar are worked in until smooth, followed by grilled and chopped fried tofu, mustard, and vinegar, ground further until silky. Salted daikon and carrot, plus brightly boiled snow peas, are then tossed through. A version using thin-sliced fried tofu instead, called 'koppa namasu,' is said to exist in part of Tsuruga.
Why it took this shape
An enzyme in daikon is said to settle a stomach worn out from New Year's feasting, and pairing it with nutrient-rich carrot, protein-dense fried tofu, and sesame — itself considered a healthy food — is said to have made this dish an essential wish for long life on New Year's tables. It's also said to appear at memorial services and Hoonko, doubling as both a practical and a hopeful dish.
Dishes in the same style
- Akagarei no KomaburiRoe-bearing red flounder is sliced into sashimi and tossed with its own boiled, crumbled eggs, a dish from around the Amijiro area of Iwami Town. Said to have descended from a similar dish made with crucian carp roe, it pairs rich eggs with mild, fatty winter flounder for festivals and New Year's.
- Amagi no KawatakeA rare wild freshwater algae, found only in the Kogane River in Asakura, is dressed with sweet or three-flavor vinegar — said to have once been presented to the shogun, and now conservation efforts continue as it's listed as endangered.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Fukui
- Atsuage no NitaThick fried tofu, blanched and scored with a cross cut, is simmered sweet-savory in dashi, soy sauce, and mirin with a dash of ginger juice. Fukui leads the country in fried-tofu consumption, and this dish is said to have moved from a Honkoko feast dish into everyday cooking.
- BokkakeThick fried tofu, burdock, and shirataki noodles are simmered in a bonito broth and poured hot, broth and all, over freshly cooked rice — eaten for over a century since the early 1910s. In Katsuyama it is said to take a chazuke-like turn, topped with fish cake and mitsuba.
- ChameshiRoasted soybeans are steeped in hot roasted barley tea, and rice is then cooked in that same tea — a dish from the old post town of Imajo, said to descend from Nara's 'nara-chameshi'. It is said to be indispensable at memorial services, Honkoko, and for daughters visiting home.
- Decchi YokanSweet red bean paste is set with agar, sugar, and a pinch of salt into a thin, water-yokan-like winter confection. It is said to have begun when a young apprentice, home for New Year from a Kyoto shop, stretched a bar of yokan with water to share with neighbors, eaten by the kotatsu.
- Echizen Oroshi SobaA cold soba from Echizen, Fukui, topped with grated daikon and bonito flakes. It is said to originate with a soba maker a local lord brought from Kyoto to promote buckwheat as an emergency food crop.
- Fu no Karashi-aeRehydrated wheat gluten and salted cucumber are dressed with local mustard, miso, and vinegar — a shojin dish for Honkoko. Fukui's mustard is milled whole without degreasing for a sharper aroma, and gluten from Echizen, tinted red in part, adds color, it is said.