Rice dishes
Ehime Tako Meshi
Ehime Tako Meshi — octopus simmered into rice with kelp and citrus peel
Octopus from the Iyo Sea is cut into pieces and cooked into rice with kelp and root vegetables. It's said to have begun with fishermen simmering their catch right on board, and the finishing touch of mikan peel on top is distinctly Ehime.
- Origin: Ehime
- About 670 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
The springy bite of octopus cut into small rounds mixes with rice sweetened by the stock it soaked up — a simple pilaf with few other ingredients. The Iyo Sea has a sandy seabed rich in small shrimp, crab, and shellfish, conditions said to suit octopus well. Small octopus known as kinomedako, which appear in early spring, are said to have especially firm, tasty flesh, and octopus that grows during the rainy season is also said to develop a distinctive bite. The dish is said to have begun when fishermen chopped freshly caught octopus and cooked it into rice aboard their boats.
How it's made
Salt is rubbed onto the fresh octopus legs by hand to remove the surface sliminess, and dirt is carefully worked out of the suckers with a fingertip. Rice is rinsed and drained, while the octopus is salted, rinsed, parboiled in salted water, and cut into small rounds. Carrot, burdock, and fried tofu are julienned, and kelp is laid in the pot with water, seasoning, and every ingredient but the octopus. Once it comes to a boil the octopus goes in; after cooking, everything is folded together roughly and topped with toasted nori and mandarin peel.
Why it took this shape
The rich fishing grounds of the Iyo Sea, where octopus was easy to come by, are said to lie behind the dish taking root here. The Imade district of Matsuyama, facing the Iyo Sea, has a fishing port, and it is said to be home to several shops specializing in octopus dishes. Because it uses few ingredients and comes together quickly, it is said to be widely eaten in ordinary households and to appear on local school lunch menus, and it is treasured as a dish that makes the most of Seto Inland Sea ingredients.
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 Ehime
- Bote ChaRoasted tea is whisked to a froth with a salted bamboo whisk and poured over black-bean rice with toppings like bamboo shoot — a dish from Matsuyama. Said to have been devised by a domain lord's household during a period of enforced frugality, it's still served at a temple's springtime Buddha festival.
- EbitenSmall shrimp are ground shell and all, worked with white fish and tofu, and fried into a cake — a fish-paste product from eastern Ehime. The salt is kept light to let the tofu's sweetness and the shrimp's aroma come through, with the ground shell left in for a gritty bite.
- Igisu DofuIgisu seaweed and raw soybean flour are simmered into stock and chilled firm like agar, a dish from Imabari. Its cool texture is meant to coax back a summer appetite, and households differ over whether to fold in shrimp or leave it plain.
- SatsumaGrilled fish is flaked and worked into barley miso, thinned with a stock from its own bones, and ladled over hot barley rice — a dish of southern Ehime. Said to have started as a fisherman's trick for making dry barley rice easier to eat, with the fish varying by area and household.
- Tai SomenA whole sea bream is simmered and set on a large platter of boiled somen noodles, the cooking broth doubling as a dipping sauce. The noodles are linked to the Tanabata weaver-star legend and the fish to good fortune, and the dish has long been served to family at weddings and milestone birthdays.
- TaimeshiEastern Ehime cooks a whole sea bream into the rice pot; the south instead lays raw fillets marinated in egg and soy over hot rice. Considered an auspicious fish, it appears at celebrations too, and which style a household follows tends to run by region.