Rice dishes
Tsutokko
Tsutokko — sweet rice parcels steamed in horse chestnut leaves
Sweet rice and red beans wrapped in horse chestnut leaves, tied with straw and steamed, a portable food from Chichibu. Said to trace back to samurai field rations, it is made for the May Boys' Festival with fresh green leaves.
- Origin: Saitama Chichibu
- About 70 km northwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Glutinous rice, wrapped in horse-chestnut leaves and tied with straw, is boiled for this portable food. The leaves' fresh fragrance transfers into the rice, and paired with the mild sweetness of red beans, it makes a dish said to eat cleanly even in the humid season, its leafy scent rising as the wrapping is opened.
How it's made
Glutinous rice, soaked overnight, is mixed well with red beans cooked just short of falling apart, then placed on layered horse-chestnut leaves and tied with straw. It is simmered in a pot with water added to just cover it, for about 45 minutes, until soft enough to yield to a gentle push of the finger, with some households mixing in ordinary rice alongside the glutinous kind.
Why it took this shape
Once carried as a portable food, the dish is said to keep well thanks to its leaf wrapping, making it useful during the busy farming season as well. It is also said to be handed down as a festival food made for the early-summer Boys' Festival, timed to when the horse-chestnut leaves are freshly green, and it was also enjoyed as a children's snack.
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 Saitama
- Sakekasu Miso RamenA winter-only ramen from Ageo City, where sake lees from a long-running local brewery are worked into a Chinese restaurant's miso broth. The lees' depth and aroma layer over the miso's savoriness, leaving a mellow finish that warms the body in the cold months.
- Dojo NiPond loach caught in the paddies of eastern Saitama, simmered sweet and savory with shaved burdock, from a land fed by the Arakawa and Tone rivers. Rich in nutrients, it was valued as a tonic and a food for pregnant women.
- Gyoda Furai"Furai" from around Gyoda, Saitama, despite its name, isn't fried — it's grilled. Chopped scallion and pork go on a wheat-flour batter cooked on a griddle, an okonomiyaki-like snack said to have caught on with the women working the town's tabi-sock factories.
- Higashimatsuyama YakitoriPork cheek grilled over charcoal and brushed with a spicy miso sauce.
- HiyajiruSesame and miso ground in a mortar, mixed with summer vegetables like cucumber and shiso, then chilled with cold water. It serves as a dipping broth for udon in noodle-loving Saitama, and Kawajima town calls it suttate.