Akadatsu no Subute

Name: Akadatsu no Subute
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 33 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: red taro stalks 3 piece; salt 0.5 tsp; water for rinsing and boiling 2000 ml; vinegar 133 ml; mirin 67 ml

Quick answer

Total time: 33 min
Level: Easy
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients: 5

About this dish

Red taro stems (akadatsu) are blanched and steeped in vinegar and mirin, and as they chill the red color spreads evenly through the whole batch.

Every strip of outer skin and tough fiber is peeled from top to bottom and the stems are rubbed with salt, or they stay stringy and taste acrid even after dressing. The stems bend but keep a light crunch at the center. That crunch depends on boiling the vinegar mixture to drive off the mirin's alcohol and then letting it cool completely; poured on hot, it keeps cooking the stems. With about twice as much vinegar as mirin, the dish tastes clearly sour before it tastes sweet.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmount

red taro stalks3 piece

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salt

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water for rinsing and boiling

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Instructions

4 steps

1

Peel the outer skin and tough fibers from 3 red taro stalks.

Cut into 8cm lengths, sprinkle with 0.5 teaspoon salt, massage for 3 minutes, and rest for 10 minutes.
2

Use 500ml of the water to rinse the stalks twice, discarding salt and extracted liquid.

Boil the remaining 1500ml, cook the stalks for 3 minutes, and drain when they bend but retain a light crispness at the center.
3

Combine 133ml vinegar and 67ml mirin in a small saucepan.

Once boiling, cook for 2 more minutes to remove the raw alcohol aroma, transfer to a wide bowl, and cool completely for 20 minutes.
4

Cut the boiled stalks into short 1cm-wide batons, add to the cooled vinegar mixture, and toss for 1 minute.

Chill for 30 minutes, turning once halfway, and serve when the red color is evenly bright.