Raw
Gonza
Gonza — daikon and pounded soybean simmered together plain
Softened soybeans pounded flat and dried — called 'uchimame' — are simmered plainly with shredded daikon in soy sauce. Passed down in eastern Fukui city, it is said to have been served at men's gatherings during Honkoko and as a snack when neighbors shared a bath.
- Origin: Fukui City, Fukui
- About 320 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
A plain simmered dish of pounded dried soybeans with daikon and carrot in soy sauce and sugar, so the crumbly bite of the soybeans melts together with the daikon's sweetness. Some households add taro, fried tofu, or shiitake, and some finish with mirin. Simple as it is, a story is told of a grandmother going quiet mid-conversation over just how good it tasted.
How it's made
Soybeans softened in water and crushed with a wooden mallet before drying — called uchimame — are simmered with thickly cut daikon and finely cut carrot in water just covering the ingredients, under a drop-lid. Once soft, it's seasoned with sugar and soy sauce. Uchimame is said to be prized for cooking quickly, making it a handy everyday side dish.
Why it took this shape
The dish is said to have first been served at the men's gathering held during the sermon portion of Hoonko, and it's also said to have been offered as a tea-time snack during the old custom of neighbors sharing each other's bathwater. Pairing everyday uchimame with daikon as a change of pace from the usual daikon simmer is said to be how this dish took root locally.
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.
- Choju NamasuGround 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.
- 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.