Therefore, in
the beginning katemeshi was merely a way to use precious
white rice sparingly. The resulting flavorful rice dish
gradually gained popularity. There are some documented
records from the Muromachi Period (mid 14th c. - mid 16th
c.) that show a variety of recipes for rice dishes mixing
barnyard grass, foxtail millet, wheat, chestnut, and vegetables
with white rice during steaming. Flavored rice using bamboo
shoots or Japanese radish, which reflects a sense of the
season, is said to have been created during the Edo Period
(1603 - 1867 A.D.). Cooking flavored rice to savor seasonal
vegetables and other flavors has become a cultural tradition
in Japan. Although it began as a byproduct of the effort
to decrease consumption of white rice, flavored rice has
a very unique culinary appeal. Since the ingredients and
the rice are steamed together, people enjoy an integrated
flavor partaking of all the component parts. Through the
steaming process, the taste of the rice is enhanced by
the flavors from the ingredients as well as by the cooking
broth. Delicious accents are added to the resulting dish.
Such synergetic sensations from flavored rice are really
quite different from eating white steamed rice and other
foods separately.
Since flavored rice has
such a long history in Japan, each region has a tradition
reflecting their own local specialties. The coastal regions,
for instance, have dishes featuring fresh seafood. Miyagi
prefecture makes "harakomeshi (rice is steamed in
broth created by cooking salmon; then shredded salmon
is mixed in with the rice; and finally the dish is topped
with salmon roe)," while the Naruto area of Tokushima
prefecture is famous for their "taimeshi (after cleaning,
a whole sea bream is placed on top of the rice along with
some vegetables such as carrot and burdock root; these
are then cooked together with sake and soy sauce; the
sea bream is deboned after it is cooked; the fish meat
is shredded and mixed in )." Other famous regional
specialties include "sweet potato rice" and
"chestnut rice." All these flavored rice dishes
feature locally produced ingredients and thus are deeply
rooted in each area. There are other kinds of flavored
rice that are based on the history or culture of the particular
locality. The specialty of Nara prefecture, an area with
many Buddhist temples, is "Nara chameshi." Nara
chameshi is a rice dish cooked with roasted soy beans
using coarse green tea. Okinawa prefecture, on the other
hand, has been famous for many pork dishes including "kufajushi,"
which is a flavored rice dish cooked with pork and vegetables
in a pork broth. These are just a few examples of the
wide variety of local flavored rice dishes. Some of these
dishes may only be available in a specific region due
to the importance placed on the freshness of the ingredients.
If that is the case, visiting a new place to try one of
those specialties would be a fun experience. However,
there are also some dishes that people can recreate easily
at home. Gather some of the freshest autumn ingredients
and try to cook flavored rice with them. It is easy to
make and certainly pleases your palate. |
