Rice dishes
Shoi Meshi
Shoi meshi — soy-seasoned rice cooked with root vegetables
Burdock, carrot, dried shiitake, and fried tofu are simmered in dashi and soy sauce before rice is added and cooked through, a specialty of the Shinasahi area of Takashima. Traditionally eaten at festivals, its name is said to echo the festival chant "wasshoi," among other theories.
- Origin: Shiga Takashima
- About 340 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Shoi-meshi is rice cooked into a dish whose ingredients are first simmered in dashi and soy sauce. A traditional dish of the Shinasahi area of Takashima, it's said by one account to take its name from wasshoi, the shout heard at festivals, since it was reportedly also made for festival occasions. Rice soaked in the soy-flavored broth, carrying the savor of burdock, carrot, shiitake, and fried tofu, makes for a simple, warming dish.
How it's made
Burdock is shaved into thin curls, carrot is julienned, and rehydrated dried shiitake and fried tofu are cut into strips. These are simmered in dashi and soy sauce to season them, and once it returns to a boil, rice is added and cooked in. These days, many households are said to simply cook the rice and ingredients together from the start, a simplified version of the original method.
Why it took this shape
The dish is thought to trace back to yudate, a Shinto rite of divining and purifying with boiling water, a trace of which is said to survive in the old method of simmering the ingredients in dashi before cooking the rice. It was originally made as a festival food, but today it's said to be widely loved as a local rice dish and is also sold as an ekiben, a boxed meal sold at train stations.
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 Shiga
- Aka Konnyaku NiKonjac dyed reddish with iron oxide, a specialty of Omi-Hachiman, is pan-simmered with bonito flakes and soy sauce. The color holds even after cooking, and the dish is a fixture at ceremonial meals and school lunches alike.
- Amenoio GohanA whole Lake Biwa trout, migrating upstream to spawn, is set atop rice and cooked together; "amenoio" means "rain fish," a name tied to the trout's autumn run after rainfall. The flesh and roe are flaked and mixed through the rice, traditionally made in large pots for gatherings.
- Biwamasu SashimiBiwamasu, a trout found only in Lake Biwa, is filleted and served raw as sashimi. The fish grows richest from early to midsummer and is prized locally as "the jewel of Lake Biwa" — a fish so scarce that it rarely reaches markets beyond the lakeshore.
- Chojifu no Karashi AeChojifu, a square baked wheat gluten unique to Shiga, is paired with cucumber and dressed in mustard-miso vinegar. The gluten also appears in Buddhist vegetarian meals, and its chewy texture with a refreshing tang makes the dish a staple at family gatherings.
- Dongame JiruEggplant scored with a crosshatch pattern is simmered in dashi, then finished with miso and ground sesame. Said to originate in the merchant town of Gokasho, the name compares the muddy look of the sesame in the broth and the eggplant's scored skin to a turtle's shell.
- Ebi MameFreshwater shrimp from Lake Biwa are simmered sweet-savory with soybeans. Inexpensive and long-keeping, the dish is eaten as everyday fare, but is also served at New Year's with a wish for long life — that one might live, like the bent-backed shrimp, into old age.