Rice dishes
Koshimeshi
Koshimeshi — winter-harvested rock nori worked into New Year's Eve rice
Rice cooked with dried baby sardines or minced fish is finished with rock nori called menori, gathered by wading chest-deep into the winter sea — a New Year's Eve dish from Otsuki Town. The name is said to derive from "koshimeshi," rice for seeing out the year, and it long stood in for the more common year-end soba noodles.
- Origin: Kochi Otsuki
- About 720 km southwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
The briny scent of folded-in rock nori and the salt of tiny dried anchovies meet the faint sweetness of pickled daikon in this mixed rice, it is said. In the town of Otsuki, it is said to be customary to eat this on New Year's Eve, and the dish is said to have started out called koshimeshi, meaning 'crossing-over rice,' before gradually shifting to its current name. The rock nori essential to finishing it is called menori locally, and it is said to be harvested from the frigid winter sea, gatherers wading in up to their chests.
How it's made
Pickled daikon is minced and squeezed dry in a cloth, and the rock nori is lightly toasted and crumbled. It is mixed into rice along with dried anchovies, soy sauce, and sugar, then left to let the flavors settle. Once the rice has cooled to about body temperature, the daikon and nori are folded in to finish. Some households use bonito flakes instead of the dried anchovies, or add fish cake for color.
Why it took this shape
Otsuki is a coastal town that supports both rice farming and fishing, and the rock-nori harvest is said to take place in the depth of winter, cold enough to cut through even the quilted cotton work clothes called yanza that gatherers wore. Because this dish was the standard way to see out the year here, it is said that until fairly recently the custom of eating New Year's Eve soba barely existed in the area. In recent years rock nori has become harder to obtain, and some households are said to substitute toasted nori instead.
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 Kochi
- Chate no AemonoChayote, a squash-family vine native to tropical America and known locally as chate, is tossed raw into a light dressing — an autumn home dish in Kochi. A single vine can bear over a hundred fruit, so it's mostly grown for the household or shared with neighbors, and it's especially popular in the mountains where it grows easily.
- Chunichi SobaA local noodle dish from Akaoka, Kochi's Konan City, pairing Chinese noodles with udon stock. Dried baby sardines and shredded kelp are the standard toppings, said to have grown from a shortcut sparing the effort of both udon and ramen kitchens.
- Ginburo ZushiGinburo, a kidney bean grown only for home use in a district of Otoyo Town, is simmered sweet and folded into vinegared rice with root vegetables. Regarded as a bean of long life and good fortune, it's traditionally made for festivals and celebratory banquets.
- GoishichaA post-fermented tea from Otoyo, Kochi Prefecture, made through two stages of fermentation — an aerobic mold fermentation followed by a lactic acid soak. Named for its square-cut, sun-dried pieces said to resemble go stones, it carries a distinctive sweet-and-sour flavor.
- GuruniDaikon, carrot, taro, and other root vegetables are simmered together in a dashi made from dried baby sardines and soy sauce — a winter side dish. The name is said to come from "guru," Tosa dialect for a group of companions, and the dish was long made in bulk and reheated meal after meal.
- Ha Ninniku no NutaGarlic greens are chopped, ground, and mixed with miso, vinegar, sesame, and sugar — a traditional Kochi condiment said to trace back to a Korean import. It's commonly spooned over raw fish like yellowtail in place of soy sauce, and both its name and the fish it accompanies vary by area.