Rice dishes
Bokkake
Bokkake — a thick vegetable broth poured hot over freshly cooked rice
Thick 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.
- Origin: Fukui Katsuyama
- About 300 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Fried tofu, burdock, carrot, and shirataki noodles simmered in a bonito-flake broth and poured straight over freshly cooked rice, so the moment the hot broth hits the rice, steam carries up the root vegetables' sweetness and the broth's aroma together. It's said to be served on a flat plate rather than a bowl, and the broth soaking into the rice is said to be the point of the dish.
How it's made
Fried tofu, burdock, carrot, and shirataki noodles are simmered slowly in a bonito-flake broth, seasoned with soy sauce, then poured broth and all over freshly cooked rice. Serving it on a flat plate, like one for soba, is said to be part of the style, and around Katsuyama a chazuke-like version with red fish cake and mitsuba herb is also said to be enjoyed.
Why it took this shape
One account says the name comes from 'pouring' (bokkake) the hot broth straight onto rice; another tells of guests being chased down and pulled back because the dish tasted too good to let them leave. Served often as a late-night dish at celebrations or at Hoonko, it's said to have developed its own regional variations as something light to eat after drinking.
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.
- Station food and ekiben (station bento)Where and when to find ekiben (station bento) before it sells out, etiquette for eating on board, how standing soba and udon stalls work, and where to find souvenirs sold inside the station.
- Soraben and airport diningA guide to what soraben means and how it differs from ekiben, whether to buy before or after security, etiquette for eating on board, airport restaurants, and things to check before buying food souvenirs to take home.
Dishes in the same style
- Aburafu DonDeep-fried wheat gluten, shaped into a log, is simmered in a sweet-savory broth and set with egg over rice, katsudon-style — a Tome City bowl said to trace to a tofu shop's shelf-stable gluten product, later turned into a bowl dish by a local innkeeper.
- Aburi-zushiNigiri with just its surface flash-seared by torch or hot iron. Unlike Edomae's shigoto curing for keeping, the searing here is done purely for the change in aroma and fat it brings — a relatively recent way of eating sushi.
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.
- 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.
- 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.