Raw
Kara Namasu
Kara Namasu — tofu-lees salad with sardine and vegetables
Toasted tofu lees are tossed with vinegar-cured sardine, carrot, cucumber, and fried tofu, dressed in miso, vinegar, and ground peanut — a fixture of gatherings like Tateyama's Hoso Festival, shaped into little rice-bale mounds for celebratory occasions.
- Origin: Chiba Tateyama
- About 80 km south of Tokyo
What it's made of
Sardine and okara are dressed with vinegar and miso into this vinegared dish. For celebrations it is shaped into a rabbit on a large plate, and on other occasions it is formed into small oval mounds, changing shape to suit the occasion. Toasted peanut and yuzu aroma round it out into a refreshing finish, a dish equally at home at festivals and on the everyday table, still widely enjoyed today.
How it's made
Miso, vinegar, sugar, and ground peanut are mixed together, and salted sardine is rinsed in vinegar and finely chopped. Fried tofu is blanched, then simmered sweet and savory in soy sauce and sugar; julienned carrot and thin-sliced cucumber are salted until softened and then squeezed dry. All the ingredients are folded into dry-roasted okara, garnished with yuzu peel, shaped by hand into individual oval mounds, and arranged on a large plate to serve.
Why it took this shape
At festival meals it is said to have been shaped by hand into individual mounds or a rabbit form, dressed up to suit the occasion. It carries a history of being served at a festival held to ward off smallpox, and combining sardines caught in abundance with okara left over from tofu-making is said to have made it a dish that serves both festival and everyday needs, carried on with slight variations from household to household.
Before you go
- Osechi and zoni for the New YearA guide to the meaning behind osechi's tiered boxes, the regional differences in zoni (square vs. round mochi, clear vs. miso broth), and the nanakusa-gayu custom.
- Setsubun: ehomaki and lucky beansA guide to ehomaki, the uncut sushi roll said to be eaten facing a lucky direction on Setsubun, and to mamemaki, the bean-throwing custom with roasted lucky beans.
- Food for Hinamatsuri and Tango no SekkuA guide to the chirashi sushi and hina-arare eaten at Hinamatsuri, and the kashiwa mochi and chimaki eaten at Tango no Sekku — festivals wishing for children's healthy growth.
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 Chiba
- Arirang RamenA soy ramen said to have started at a single restaurant on a mountain pass in Chiba's Nagara. Named, it's said, for the legendary Arirang Pass of Korean folklore, its soy broth carries the sweetness of onion and pork, layered with house-made chili oil and grated garlic for depth and heat.
- Barappa ManjuFreshly milled wheat dough is wrapped around red bean paste and steamed on a leaf of catbrier, called barappa locally — a bun said to be made in Chiba's Hokuso area when people gathered for summer festivals or Obon, each bringing ingredients to share.
- Rakkasei MisoPeanuts too small or misshapen to sell are stirred into miso and sugar and toasted into a pantry relish — said to have started as a way for farm households to use up peanuts the market wouldn't take, in leaner years.
- SumitsukareDaikon and carrot, coarsely grated with a rough-toothed oni-oroshi grater, are simmered with leftover setsubun soybeans and sake lees — said to have traveled from Tochigi into Chiba's Higashikatsushika area, offered to the local inari shrine on the year's first Day of the Horse before being eaten. Ibaraki and Saitama carry dishes of the same name.
- Yude RakkaseiFreshly dug peanuts, still in their shells, are boiled whole in salted water — a taste unique to the growing region, since raw peanuts start hardening the moment they're pulled from the ground and need to be boiled almost immediately.