Cook the local flavors once more
Rice bowl with stir-fried nozawana, fried tofu and onsen tamago
Nozawana is said to descend from Tennoji turnip seeds that the priest of Kenmei-ji temple in Nozawa Onsen brought back from Kyoto in 1756. In the deep snow the roots would not grow, but the leaves and stems did, and a new vegetable was born. Salt-pickled nozawana is eaten with tea and used in rice balls and oyaki; it pairs well with oil, which makes it good for stir-fries. In 1983 it was selected as a Nagano Prefecture intangible folk cultural asset, a 'cultural asset of taste'.
Ingredients
- Cooked rice
- Nozawana pickles
- Fried tofu (aburaage)
- Onsen tamago
- Shredded nori
- White sesame seeds
How I made it
- Finely chop the stems and leaves of the nozawana pickles
- Stir-fry them in a pan with strips of fried tofu
- Pile onto hot rice and crack an onsen tamago on top
- Scatter shredded nori and white sesame
Sources: maff.go.jp
This moment in the journey
Finishing with nozawana
Back at the farmhouse, I set rice cooking in the rice cooker. The finale was the nozawana I had bought in town. I chopped the stems and leaves finely and stir-fried them in a pan with strips of fried tofu.
A generous heap went over the hot rice, and an onsen tamago was cracked into the middle. A scattering of shredded nori and white sesame, and the nozawana and hot-spring-egg rice bowl was done.
Watch this scene on YouTube4:28
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Onsen tamago boiled in the hot spring
At the Ogama, the main source of Nozawa Onsen, water close to 90 degrees wells up, and locals have long boiled mountain vegetables and eggs in it.
From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
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The Ogama hot-spring source
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From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
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From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
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From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
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From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
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