Rice dishes
Kufa Juushii
Kufa juushii — firm-cooked pork-stock rice for festivals and rites
Rice cooked firm in pork stock, its bite pronounced — one of two forms of Okinawan juushii, the other soft and porridge-like. Reserved for festivals and celebrations, it changes with the season: ginger leaf at Obon's spirit-welcoming, taro at the winter solstice.
- Origin: Okinawa
- About 1560 km southwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Rice and pork belly are cooked together into this Okinawan pilaf, one of two styles of the mixed rice dish called juushii, this one belonging to the firmer, kufa style. The pork's fat spreads evenly through the pot, leaving the rice grains with a light sheen, and a side of pickled vegetables called usachi is traditionally served alongside to cut through any lingering richness after the meal. It offers a heartier bite than its softer, porridge-like counterpart, yafara juushii.
How it's made
Pork belly is boiled and diced small, and carrot, rehydrated dried shiitake, and fish cake are cut the same way. Rice and the other ingredients go into a pot with pork stock seasoned with soy sauce and salt, and once cooked, lard is stirred through the finished rice. It's sometimes shaped into rice balls to pack into a lunch box.
Why it took this shape
Okinawan mixed rice, called juushii, comes in a firm-grained kufa style and a softer, porridge-like yafara style. Originally reserved for festive occasions, it is said to have taken different forms depending on the event, from a version made with young ginger for the Obon spirit-welcoming ritual known as unkee to one made with taro for the winter solstice. These days it is also eaten simply as everyday home cooking.
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 Okinawa
- Ashi TibichiPig's trotters are simmered for hours with kelp and daikon until the bone slides free on its own. Rooted in the belief that eating a body part heals the same part in the eater, it's traditionally favored by older people, anyone with trouble in the legs, or those minding their skin.
- AwamoriA distilled spirit from Okinawa made only from Thai rice and black koji, with every grain of rice turned into koji in a method called zen-koji-jikomi. Citric acid from the black koji is said to keep the mash from spoiling even in hot, humid conditions, and it's classified alongside shochu as a single-distillation spirit.
- Chii IrichiiPork blood is worked with pork meat, carrot, and wood-ear mushroom into a distinctive stir-simmered dish. Rooted in the same eat-what-ails-you logic as ashi tibichi, it was thought to guard against anemia, and it's traditionally offered before Lunar New Year and at memorial services.
- Chimu ShinjiPork liver and a native yellow carrot are simmered down almost like a medicinal decoction, meant for days the body needs support. It follows the kusuimun idea that food itself can be medicine, and is traditionally made for anemia or when someone's caught a cold.
- Gooyaa ChanpuruuBitter goya is stir-fried together with Okinawa's firm tofu and egg. A dish only earns the name champuru once tofu is in it, and this one has long served double duty — coaxing back a summer-flagged appetite while delivering vitamin C, now eaten year-round.
- HanazakeA distilled spirit made only on Yonaguni, Japan's westernmost island, at around 60 percent alcohol. Its raw materials and method are the same as awamori, but because its proof exceeds awamori's legal ceiling, it's classified as 'spirits' rather than awamori under the liquor tax law.