Sweets
Igamochi
Igamochi — steamed rice-flour dumplings crowned with colored sticky rice
Sweet azuki paste is wrapped in a rice-flour dough and topped with sticky rice grains dyed pink or green, then steamed—a confection from Kure. One story behind the name likens the studded top to a chestnut bur, and it is still sold hot off the steamer at festival stalls around Kameyama Shrine's autumn rites.
- Origin: Hiroshima Kure
- About 680 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
A sweet made by wrapping azuki bean paste in a mochi-rice dough, then topping it with brightly dyed grains of glutinous rice before steaming. The chewy dough and the grainy texture of the rice on top play off each other, and shops vary between chunky and smooth bean paste.
How it's made
Azuki bean paste is wrapped in a dough of glutinous rice or rice flour. Dyed rice grains are pressed onto the surface for color, and the whole thing is steamed. Each shop tends to work out its own coloring and sweetness.
Why it took this shape
Accounts of the name vary — some say it resembles a chestnut bur (iga), others that a traveling monk's stomach ailment was cured by eating it. Rice was scarce in Kure, given how little farmland the area had, and one story holds that mochi rice was stretched with other grains just so it could be enjoyed at festival time. It's sold at confectioners and street stalls around Kameyama Shrine's autumn festivals, a seasonal treat tied to that calendar.
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
Also from Hiroshima
- Anago MeshiConger eel, grilled kabayaki-style, is sliced and layered over rice cooked in dashi—a dish from Miyajima. It uses "Seto anago," prized for the fat that fast currents help build into the fish, and is said to have begun in 1901 as a bento sold at Miyajimaguchi station.
- AzumaSardine-like mamakari, cured in vinegar, is pressed onto seasoned okara instead of vinegared rice in this coastal sushi. It is said to have begun as a way to stretch scarce rice by substituting the cheap, plentiful soy pulp, and was served at festivals and New Year's gatherings.
- Bishu NabeChicken, gizzard, and pork are simmered with nothing more than salt, pepper, and sake in this hot pot from Saijo, one of Japan's noted brewing towns. It is said to have begun as a simple meal cooked by sake brewers between batches, seasoned lightly so as not to dull their palate for tasting.
- EbamakiRice is tossed with Hiroshima-na pickle, bonito flakes, and sesame, then rolled in toasted nori—a roll from Hiroshima's Eba district, long known for seaweed cultivation. The ends are sometimes tucked shut so it can be eaten one-handed while rowing, a food born for nori fishermen working on the water.
- Fuchu-yakiA Fuchu, Hiroshima take on okonomiyaki that swaps sliced pork belly for ground beef or pork worked right into the batter, so the meat's flavor is said to come through evenly in every bite.
- GansuFish paste coated in panko and fried, a Kure, Hiroshima specialty. Said to have been devised in the postwar 1940s as a way to use leftover fish paste from kamaboko production, an unusual pairing of fried fish cake and cutlet-style crumb.