Sweets
Konchin
Konchin — burdock kneaded into wheat batter and pan-fried into a snack
Shaved burdock is worked generously into a batter of medium-strength wheat flour and pan-fried on both sides — a snack from Otoyo Town. It's said to use the same local wheat flour that once stood in for rice when it was scarce, and it also finds a place on sawachi platters.
- Origin: Kochi Otoyo
- About 590 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
The fragrance of burdock root rises from the freshly grilled dough, and the crunch of thinly shaved burdock is said to keep people reaching for another piece. Thin dough, worked through with a generous amount of shaved burdock, is rolled out and grilled — a rustic sweet from the mountain town of Otoyo. The dough uses medium-strength wheat flour, once relied on as a staple in times when rice was scarce, and perilla seed is mixed in today, though hemp seed is said to have once filled that role.
How it's made
Burdock, cut into short lengths, is shaved thin and soaked in water to draw out bitterness, then stir-fried in a pan and lightly seasoned with stock and soy sauce. Wheat flour, sugar, salt, water, perilla seed, and the burdock are mixed lightly into a dough, rolled thin in a hot pan, and grilled on both sides until well browned. The more burdock that goes in, it is said, the better the crunch.
Why it took this shape
Otoyo sits deep in the mountains at the center of the Shikoku range, and because rice was hard to grow there, the practice of relying on medium-strength wheat flour as a staple is said to have taken hold. That same flour is said to have carried over into this sweet as well. It is a fixture on the sawachi platters served in Otoyo, and local women's groups are said to run hands-on classes for visitors, keeping it alive as a taste of home.
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
Related lineage
- Ginburo ZushiGinburo, a kidney bean grown only for home use in a district of Otoyo Town, is simmered sweet and folded into vinegared rice with root vegetables. Regarded as a bean of long life and good fortune, it's traditionally made for festivals and celebratory banquets.
- Zenmai no ItameniZenmai fern, repeatedly boiled and sun-dried until fully cured, is re-hydrated and stir-simmered with fried tofu — a dish from Otoyo Town, known for its zenmai. The repeated drying is said to soften the fern's fiber, and the dish is a regular on sawachi platters.
Also from Kochi
- Chate no AemonoChayote, a squash-family vine native to tropical America and known locally as chate, is tossed raw into a light dressing — an autumn home dish in Kochi. A single vine can bear over a hundred fruit, so it's mostly grown for the household or shared with neighbors, and it's especially popular in the mountains where it grows easily.
- Chunichi SobaA local noodle dish from Akaoka, Kochi's Konan City, pairing Chinese noodles with udon stock. Dried baby sardines and shredded kelp are the standard toppings, said to have grown from a shortcut sparing the effort of both udon and ramen kitchens.
- GoishichaA post-fermented tea from Otoyo, Kochi Prefecture, made through two stages of fermentation — an aerobic mold fermentation followed by a lactic acid soak. Named for its square-cut, sun-dried pieces said to resemble go stones, it carries a distinctive sweet-and-sour flavor.
- GuruniDaikon, carrot, taro, and other root vegetables are simmered together in a dashi made from dried baby sardines and soy sauce — a winter side dish. The name is said to come from "guru," Tosa dialect for a group of companions, and the dish was long made in bulk and reheated meal after meal.
- Ha Ninniku no NutaGarlic greens are chopped, ground, and mixed with miso, vinegar, sesame, and sugar — a traditional Kochi condiment said to trace back to a Korean import. It's commonly spooned over raw fish like yellowtail in place of soy sauce, and both its name and the fish it accompanies vary by area.