Sweets
Ebi Mochi
Ebi mochi — mochi studded with paddy shrimp
Paddy shrimp caught in irrigation channels and ponds are seasoned with soy sauce and sake, then folded whole into freshly pounded mochi — a Kurihara dish said to be served, red against white, to guests over New Year's.
- Origin: Miyagi Kurihara
- About 360 km north of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Freshwater shrimp caught from irrigation channels and marshes in rice paddies, seasoned with soy sauce and sake and worked whole into freshly pounded rice cakes—a dish from the Kurihara area. The red-and-white look of the shrimp shells against the white rice cake is showy, and it is said to have been served as a New Year's treat for entertaining guests. A crisp bite of shell gives way to the shrimp's savor, which mingles with the rice cake's sweetness.
How it's made
Freshwater shrimp caught from marshes are seasoned with soy sauce and sake, then worked into freshly pounded rice cakes. Some households remove the shrimp's whiskers before using them, it is said. Northern Miyagi has a wide range of rice-cake dishes, and several kinds—red bean, soup, ginger—sometimes appear on the table together, with this shrimp version served as one among them.
Why it took this shape
In the inland Kurihara area, far from the sea, freshwater shrimp and loach caught from irrigation channels and marshes in the rice paddies are said to have been a precious source of protein. A rice-growing region's deep-rooted custom of eating rice cakes at New Year, weddings, and memorial services, meeting a culture built around river creatures, is thought to be the background that raised this distinctive rice-cake dish.
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.
- Iga ManjuSweet 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.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Related lineage
- Fusube MochiLoach, grilled plain then smoked over an irori hearth, is ground to powder and simmered with grated daikon and burdock in a soy-chili sauce, then folded into freshly pounded mochi — said to be a mochi dish born of inland Kurihara's distance from the sea.
- Zunda MochiBoiled edamame is mashed into a vivid green paste sweetened with sugar and worked into freshly pounded mochi — said to have become a guest-worthy treat in a prefecture where mochi appears at New Year's, weddings, and other occasions.
Also from Miyagi
- 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.
- AzaraNapa cabbage pickled long enough to turn sour is simmered slowly with rockfish trimmings and sake lees — a Kesennuma dish said to taste even better cold, or reheated the next day, long loved as everyday food.
- Bakke MisoButterbur sprouts picked in early spring — called 'bakke' locally — are boiled, chopped, and worked into a paste with walnuts and miso, said to be prized for helping clear the body of winter's buildup, spooned over rice or grilled fish.
- Donko JiruDonko, a brown hakeling landed at Ishinomaki and Kesennuma ports, is simmered in miso with daikon and tofu — a fish said to be considered lucky for money, given its wide mouth and narrow tail, and offered at the autumn ebisu-ko festival.
- GanzukiWheat flour is worked with dark brown sugar, baking soda, and vinegar, then steamed into a plain sweet bread — light yet filling, said to be named for a resemblance to wild goose meat, an everyday snack in Miyagi.