Sweets
Naisho Mochi
Naisho mochi — half-pounded rice cake made quietly without a mortar
Steamed glutinous and non-glutinous rice are half-pounded together in a pot, then finished with mugwort and sweet bean paste, a specialty of Odai town. The name, meaning "secret mochi," is said to come from making it quietly in a pot rather than with a mortar and pestle, whose thumping would carry to the neighbors; it is also called "nabe mochi."
- Origin: Mie Odai
- About 350 km southwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Naisho-mochi is a rice cake made by half-pounding glutinous and regular rice together right in the pot, then wrapping it around sweet bean paste with mugwort and dusting it with roasted soybean flour. Bits of whole rice grain remain, giving it a texture closer to ohagi than smooth mochi. Its name, which means secret mochi, is said to come from making it quietly so the neighbors wouldn't hear the pounding.
How it's made
Glutinous and regular rice are washed and cooked together, then mugwort is laid on top for the last fifteen minutes of steaming. Salt is mixed into the steamed rice, which is then pounded in the pot with a pestle-like tool. Once it turns sticky, it's divided, wrapped around sweet bean paste, and dusted with roasted soybean flour. Mugwort picked in spring, parboiled, chopped, and frozen, can reportedly be used year-round.
Why it took this shape
In an era when pounding mochi with a mortar and pestle meant sharing the results with neighbors as a matter of custom, wanting to eat mochi on an ordinary day without the neighbors hearing the pounding is said to have been the impetus behind this dish. Devising a way to pound it quietly inside a pot is said to be where the name, meaning secret mochi, comes from. Because regular rice resists crushing more than glutinous rice, whole grains remain, giving the sweet its simple, rustic texture.
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 Mie
- AhodakiOld takuan pickle, once its flavor and aroma have faded, is desalted and simmered again in soy sauce, a pantry staple from the Hokusei area. Its name — playfully self-deprecating, roughly "doing a foolish thing" — nods to eating it well past its prime, a frugal way to waste nothing.
- Arame MakiRehydrated arame, a brown seaweed once offered to Ise Shrine, is wrapped several times around sardine or saury and simmered in soy sauce and sugar. The choice of fish shifts by locality along the Toba coast.
- Bon JiruA miso soup packed with seasonal vegetables such as burdock, eggplant, and pumpkin. Following Zen Buddhist practice of avoiding killing during Obon, it skips bonito or dried-fish stock, relying instead on fried tofu and a generous mix of vegetables for its savor.
- ChagayuRice is cooked in water steeped with a bag of roasted tea leaves. Born in Iga, where farmland was scarce and rice precious, the extra water was a way to stretch the grain further; in summer some households chill the porridge before eating.
- ChatsuJulienned daikon, carrot, lotus root, kelp, and fried tofu are simmered in vinegar and sugar, a dish from Asahi town. Its name is said to come from "chatsu," the red-lacquered vessel once used to serve vegetarian temple food, and soy sauce is deliberately left out to keep the dish pale.
- Fuki DawaraRice cooked with soybeans is wrapped in butterbur leaves into a small rice-bale shape, an Iga-area harvest offering. It is set before the rice-paddy deity at planting time to pray for a good crop, and doubles as a portable snack for breaks between farm work.