Rice dishes
Kakimawashi
Kakimawashi — rice folded together with chicken simmered in its own fat
Chicken, burdock, and carrot stir-fried in chicken fat are folded thoroughly into cooked rice. Also known in Aichi as torimeshi, it's said to have grown from finding a good way to eat hens no longer laying eggs.
- Origin: Aichi Takahama
- About 270 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Kakimawashi is a rice dish made by stir-frying chicken, burdock root, and carrot in chicken fat, then mixing them thoroughly into cooked rice. Also called 'torimeshi' in Aichi, it is said to have arisen as a way to make good use of hens too old to lay eggs. Because older birds have tougher meat, shredding it and mixing it into rice is said to have made it easier to eat.
How it's made
The rice is cooked with soy sauce and mirin added. Chicken, burdock root, and carrot are stir-fried in chicken fat and seasoned with soy sauce, kept on the strong side. Once the rice is done, the separately prepared filling is mixed in thoroughly. Seasoning the chicken with tamari and sugar instead is said to bring out a richer, deeper flavor, in keeping with Aichi's own ingredients.
Why it took this shape
Poultry farming in Aichi is said to have begun in the late Edo period, and by the early Meiji era it had grown enough to produce the well-known Nagoya Cochin breed. The dish is said to be called 'kakimawashi' or 'kakimashi,' meaning 'stir together,' from the way the cooked rice and separately seasoned filling are mixed thoroughly. When chicken was expensive, it is said to have been served mainly at celebrations and other special occasions.
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 Aichi
- Funa MisoCrucian carp is simmered slowly with soybeans for around five hours, then finished in a sauce of red miso and coarse sugar. A freshwater fish dish of the Kiso rivers' lower basin, made with fatty winter carp simmered until the bones soften through.
- Gohei MochiFreshly cooked non-glutinous rice is pounded, pressed flat on a skewer, and grilled with a miso glaze. Said to have originated in the mountainous Chubu region, it's traditionally made the night before a festival praying for safety in mountain work.
- Aichi HakozushiVinegared rice is packed into a wooden frame, topped with shrimp, eel, shiitake, and egg arranged diagonally, and pressed. Placing toppings on the diagonal so everyone gets a fair share of each is said to be a feature of the Owari and western Mikawa style, made for celebrations.
- Hebo MeshiAdult and larval giant hornets are simmered sweet and savory, then folded into freshly cooked rice. Said to have served as a prized protein source across the mountains from Shinshu to Okumikawa, it's now more often served as a treat for guests.
- Iga ManjuSweet bean paste is wrapped in rice flour dough, then coated with dyed sticky rice grains. One account ties the name to the grains' resemblance to a chestnut's spiny husk, and in the western Mikawa region it's said to be offered to Hina dolls at the Doll Festival.
- Aichi Miso OdenA pot of sweet red miso sits in the center of the simmering pot, and daikon, tofu, and other ingredients simmered in dashi are dipped into it before eating. While soy-based Kanto-style oden spread in Edo, Aichi is said to have settled on dipping in soybean miso instead.