Sweets
Iga Manju
Iga manju — a bean-paste bun coated in dyed sticky rice grains
Sweet bean paste is wrapped in rice flour dough, then coated with dyed sticky rice grains. One account ties the name to the grains' resemblance to a chestnut's spiny husk, and in the western Mikawa region it's said to be offered to Hina dolls at the Doll Festival.
- Origin: Aichi Okazaki
- About 250 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Iga manju is a sweet made by wrapping sweet red bean paste in rice-flour dough, then coating the outside with dyed sweet rice. In the Nishi-Mikawa area, it is customary to eat this sweet at the Doll's Festival in March; similar sweets by the same name reportedly exist in Kyoto and Kyushu, but eating it as part of the Doll's Festival is said to be a custom unique to this area. One account holds that the rice grains on the surface, resembling a chestnut's spiny husk ('iga'), gave the sweet its name.
How it's made
Hot water is poured into rice flour and sugar, and the mixture is kneaded until it reaches the softness of an earlobe. It is steamed once, rolled thin, wrapped around sweet red bean paste, then coated with sweet rice dyed pink, yellow, and green before being steamed again. Steaming over high heat is said to toughen the dough, so care with heat is said to matter. In Nishi-Mikawa, the sweets reportedly start appearing in shops from mid-January.
Why it took this shape
Several accounts explain the name: one says the coated rice resembles a chestnut's spiny husk, another traces it to Ieyasu's flight through Iga, and a third to the smell of the dough as it steams. In Okazaki, the sweets are made in pink, yellow, and green, said to represent peach blossoms, rapeseed flowers, and new shoots, or alternatively warding off evil, praying for a good harvest, and vitality.
Before you go
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
- Osechi and zoni for the New YearA guide to the meaning behind osechi's tiered boxes, the regional differences in zoni (square vs. round mochi, clear vs. miso broth), and the nanakusa-gayu custom.
- Setsubun: ehomaki and lucky beansA guide to ehomaki, the uncut sushi roll said to be eaten facing a lucky direction on Setsubun, and to mamemaki, the bean-throwing custom with roasted lucky beans.
Dishes in the same style
- Abekawa MochiFresh-pounded rice cake is dusted in soybean flour mixed with sugar. Named for the Abe River, it's said to have been famous among Tokaido travelers as a teahouse specialty and to appear in the travel novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige.
- Aka MochiReddish sorghum flour is kneaded with hot water, boiled into dumplings, and coated with sweet bean paste or soybean flour. In flood-prone areas where rice and wheat often failed, sorghum alone survived, making this a stand-in staple.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Aichi
- Funa MisoCrucian carp is simmered slowly with soybeans for around five hours, then finished in a sauce of red miso and coarse sugar. A freshwater fish dish of the Kiso rivers' lower basin, made with fatty winter carp simmered until the bones soften through.
- Gohei MochiFreshly cooked non-glutinous rice is pounded, pressed flat on a skewer, and grilled with a miso glaze. Said to have originated in the mountainous Chubu region, it's traditionally made the night before a festival praying for safety in mountain work.
- Aichi HakozushiVinegared rice is packed into a wooden frame, topped with shrimp, eel, shiitake, and egg arranged diagonally, and pressed. Placing toppings on the diagonal so everyone gets a fair share of each is said to be a feature of the Owari and western Mikawa style, made for celebrations.
- Hebo MeshiAdult and larval giant hornets are simmered sweet and savory, then folded into freshly cooked rice. Said to have served as a prized protein source across the mountains from Shinshu to Okumikawa, it's now more often served as a treat for guests.
- Aichi Miso OdenA pot of sweet red miso sits in the center of the simmering pot, and daikon, tofu, and other ingredients simmered in dashi are dipped into it before eating. While soy-based Kanto-style oden spread in Edo, Aichi is said to have settled on dipping in soybean miso instead.
- Moroko ZushiMoroko, a small carp-family river fish, is simmered sweet and savory, then arranged diagonally over pressed sushi rice in a wooden frame. Said to be a form of hakozushi from the water towns of the Owari region, with dwindling moroko catches now sometimes substituted with hae.