Sweets
Amaneji
Amaneji — wheat dumplings simmered in sweet red bean soup
Wheat dumplings simmered in a sweetened red bean soup, mainly eaten around Shibukawa; Kawaba village calls it amadango. It was a treat during breaks from farm work.
- Origin: Gunma Shibukawa
- About 110 km northwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Bite-sized pieces of wheat dough, kneaded with water, are simmered into a sweet red-bean soup for this dessert-like dish. Soft dumplings sink into the thick, sweet broth, giving a simple yet warming taste said to have been treasured as a comfort food.
How it's made
Sweet red-bean paste, hot water, and salt are brought to a boil in a pot to make the broth. In a separate pot, wheat dough kneaded with water is spooned into dumplings and boiled before being added to the bean broth for a final simmer. The softer the dumplings, the better they are said to take on the bean paste.
Why it took this shape
With double-cropping widespread in Gunma, wheat has long been grown after the autumn rice harvest, rooting a flour-based food culture. When sugar was precious, this sweet dish of red beans and wheat is said to have served as a special treat for guests, and as a comforting sweet eaten during breaks in farm work.
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.
- At kissaten, cafes, and kanmi-dokoroThe difference between jun-kissa and chain cafes, the morning-set custom, and kanmi-dokoro staples like anmitsu and zenzai.
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
Also from Gunma
- Fujioka RamenAn unassuming clear soy chuka soba, rooted in the town's diner culture.
- Ayu ShioyakiGunma's official fish, skewered in a zigzag and salted before charcoal grilling. Sweetfish from the Kanna river are prized for their aroma and firm flesh, drawing visitors once the season opens in June.
- GojiruGround soybean paste, called go, stirred into a miso soup with seasonal vegetables. Made in soybean-growing Gunma from autumn into winter, it has long served as a warming, nutritious dish.
- KatemeshiRice cooked with barley, beans, daikon and other bulking ingredients called kate. Born of rice shortages, it survives today as a mixed rice dish often served on the Tenjin festival day.
- Sosu KatsudonBreaded pork fillet dipped in a house sauce blending Worcestershire with eel tare, served over rice. It spread as a delivery favorite in the textile town of Kiryu and is now found across the prefecture.
- Konnyaku Miso OdenSkewered konjac, simmered in sake and water then brushed with a sweet-savory miso glaze, eaten through the cold winter. Its nickname, hippataki oden, comes from the slap of drying the konjac against a cloth.