Katemeshi かて飯

History and Origins

It's a traditional native dish in Sasakihara City, a mixture of white and boiled vegetables. In the past, Sassihara was covered by volcanic ash and grew more wheat than rice. The dish with vegetables such as radish and potatoes to enhance the precious rice is "snap rice." They say that it was named because it was food that fed them during the farming process. He tried to make a lot of money on special occasions, such as festivals and banks.

When It Is Eaten

In recent years they have been eaten at home as a product whenever it comes to annual activities.

How It Is Eaten

Cut dry dishes, carrots, rice, fried rice and other ingredients, made with sugar and soy sauce, and cooked with soup. Mix boiling utensils with white rice.

Recipe — Serves 4

Ingredients

• 3.5 cups rice
• 米用）煮汁, to taste
• water, to taste
• 1/2 konnyaku
• 1 aburaage (fried tofu pouch)
• 100 g burdock root
• 100 g carrot
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1/2 chikuwa (fish cake tube)
• water, to taste
• Seasonings: 3 tbsp 1/2 soy sauce
• Seasonings: 2 tbsp sugar
• Seasonings: shiitake soaking liquid, to taste

Method

1. I'll cut it in a little bit of eye, oil, rice, carrots and everything. I'll cut the dust.
2. Put the cut ingredients in a pot, soy sauce, sugar, or a little bit of water in the sauce, and cook until the amount of water is about 10%.
3. Wash the rice and add the sauce and water to the rice bowl.
4. When the rice is ready, put the tools in and steam it.

More About Katemeshi

Katemeshi, also spelled katé-meshi, was a common peasant food in Japan during the Meiji and Taishō periods (1867–1924). Some laborers and farmers subsisted on the dish during this time, whereas wealthier people consumed larger quantities of rice, which was a relatively expensive food compared to the income of some workers. Typical ingredients in the dish included rice, barley, millet, and chopped daikon (a mild winter radish). Variations of the dish were based upon the regional and seasonal availability of foods in different areas of Japan.

History

Katemeshi was a rice dish, peasant food and former staple food in Japanese cuisine that was common during the Meiji and Taishō periods of Japan. During this time, rice was an expensive food for laborers, and some employers fed their workers katemeshi, while feeding themselves with significantly larger quantities of rice and separate side dishes. Some farmers in rural Japan also subsisted on katemeshi, whereas merchants and (former) samurai who lived in cities consumed larger quantities of rice.

Preparation

Typical ingredients in the preparation of katemeshi included rice, barley, millet, chopped daikon radish root and leaves, and other greens. The use of daikon in the dish was very common. Various additional ingredients were also used in the dish in regional areas of Japan, based upon food availability. In the Mie prefecture of Japan, potato leaves were used in addition to daikon. In Eastern Japan, white potatoes were used as an ingredient in katemeshi, and in Western Japan, sweet potatoes were used. Edible seaweeds such as hijiki and wakame were used as ingredients in coastal areas.

Tofu and okara, which is a leftover pulp by-product from tofu production, were sometimes used in katemeshi. Other ingredients used in the dish in various areas of Japan, when available, included wheat, carrots, turnips, burdock, taro, pumpkin, soybeans, mushrooms, kidney beans, and adzuki beans, among others.

Text adapted from the English Wikipedia article Katemeshi by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Dish data: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), “Uchi no Kyodo Ryori” (Our Regional Cuisines) database, used under the Public Data License (PDL1.0); translated and adapted from the Japanese original.