Download our e-magazine here to see our beautiful curation of photos, stories and recipes, quite unlike those you’ve seen in travel guides!
Souperchef Special | Kiritanpo Mushroom Nabe
(Vegan/Contains Gluten/Dairy-Free/Egg-Free/No Garlic & Onion)
Learning how to make kiritanpo from dear Kazuko Ishigaki!
One of my greatest takeaways from this trip to Japan has to be learning how to make the kiritanpo from the inspirational 62-year-old Kazuko Ishigaki. Kiri means cut, and tanpo means spear.
So much joy in learning from this lady!
Pounding rice.
Kiritanpo is essentially freshly cooked rice pounded till mashed, then shaped into cylinders around cedar skewers and toasted over an open fire. This is a typical dish of the Akita prefecture, very popular in weddings, and always cooked from scratch, hand-torn, never with knives as Japanese believe that may ‘sever or cut’ relationships!
Grilling kiritanpo over an open fire.
Grilled kiritanpo with miso!
Mash 50% of the rice and you get a rice stick. Add some sweet miso sauce, then grill it, and you have yourself a hefty snack.
Mash 70% and you can enjoy it in a Kiritanpo Nabe with burdock, preserved vegetables and pickles. The latter was what inspired this SouperChef Special.
Kiritanpo nabe!
I have included the healthy spinach and leek, together with a bounty of mushrooms – shiitake, maitake, bunashimeji, oyster, enoki. Mushroom-lovers, you are so in for a treat!
Kiritanpo Mushroom Nabe
Try this soup with some arugula and shichimi togarashi for an even greater depth of taste!
A big bowl is perfect for the cooler year-end weather!
Ingredients: Shiitake mushroom, maitake mushroom, bunashimeji mushroom, oyster mushroom, burdock, Chinese cabbage, carrots, spinach, enoki mushrooms, leek, kiritanpo (rice cakes), soy sauce, ginger, salt, sugar and mushroom stock.
Condiments: Arugula and shichimi togarashi.