Rice dishes
Uzumi
Uzumi — rice buried under a clear tofu broth for a memorial meal
Rice is buried beneath a clear broth of shiitake and kelp, floated with tofu and mushrooms, and finished with citrus zest and ginger. Passed down only in the Hirai hamlet deep in the Kozagawa valley for the eve of a memorial service, one account traces it back to Kyoto kaiseki cuisine.
- Origin: Wakayama Kozagawa
- About 440 km southwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
Uzumi is a Buddhist memorial dish made from a clear broth of kombu and shiitake dashi, with tofu and shiitake added and rice buried beneath the soup. Condiments such as sesame, negi, ginger, and yuzu are added to taste, and the sight of white tofu against yuzu, ginger, and scallion makes for a fragrant, deeply flavored bowl.
How it's made
A clear broth is made from kombu and shiitake dashi, with tofu and shiitake stirred in. The distinctive method is to pour the broth into the bowl first and then bury a portion of warm rice beneath it. Finely chopped yuzu, white sesame, grated ginger, and scallion are added on top as condiments, to taste. Because it is a vegetarian dish, the seasoning stays simple, letting the aromatics carry the depth of flavor.
Why it took this shape
Uzumi is said to survive only in the Hirai settlement, deep in the upper reaches of the Koza River in Higashimuro District. One account holds that the Murakami clan, driven from the capital during the Jokyu War of 1221, fled to this valley and brought with them the custom of "uzumi ryori" from Kyoto's tea-ceremony cuisine. Another tradition traces it instead to a settlement said to have been founded by Taira clan refugees after their defeat at Dan-no-ura in 1185, where farmers are said to have hidden precious white rice beneath other ingredients to eat it in secret. The dish is still prepared today to honor the dead on the eve of memorial services known as "taiya."
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
Contrast
- BouriA whole, unpeeled parent taro is simmered over two days for this New Year's dish from the Ayukawa area of Tanabe City's Ото̄ district. One account holds that villagers gave up pounding mochi for six hundred years to atone for once turning away a fleeing prince, eating this in its place.
- UzumiSimmered taro, shrimp, and sea bream sit in a bowl hidden under a mound of rice in this Fukuyama dish. It is said to date to the Edo period, when diners tucked good ingredients beneath plain rice to appear modest, and it later became a way to mark the autumn harvest.
Also from Wakayama
- Goma ToufuRaw sesame is skinned, ground, and worked with mountain water and Yoshino arrowroot into a simmered block of shojin cuisine. Said to have supplied protein for monks who abstained from meat and fish, it's now a familiar Koyasan souvenir and a fixture on Japanese menus.
- Gonpachi no Abura ItameGonbachi, formally known as itadori knotweed, is blanched, peeled, and quickly stir-fried in oil for this spring dish. Thick, well-grown stalks that snap with a crisp pop are prized for a crunchy bite and a faint sourness.
- Hatagonbo ZushiA stout, round burdock called hatagonbo, grown on the steep red-clay slopes of Hashimoto City's Nishihata district, is sliced into rounds, hollowed at the center, and packed with vinegared rice. Cultivation had nearly died out until a local cooperative revived it around 2013, roughly seventy years on.
- Igami no NitsukeIgami — what southern Wakayama calls the parrotfish — is simmered whole in a sweet-salty broth. Feeding on seaweed among winter rocks leaves it free of any off-flavor, and around Tanabe it's said to be served head-to-tail in place of sea bream for New Year's.
- Inoko MochiNon-glutinous and sticky rice are cooked with taro, mashed, and shaped into balls coated with lightly salted sweet red bean paste. Offered to the harvest god on the Day of the Boar in the old tenth lunar month, it's also made for autumn festivals in parts of southern Wakayama.