Fusube Mochi (Rice Cakes with Spicy Loach and Burdock Sauce)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 90 min
- Level
- Medium
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 9
About this dish
The name comes from fusuberu, the work of grilling freshly caught loach and drying it in the smoke of the hearth.
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That dried loach is ground to powder and simmered for about an hour with grated burdock, grated daikon and a red chili into a thick, spicy sauce, which is poured over hot, freshly pounded mochi. In Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture, it has been eaten at New Year, weddings, memorial services and the turning points of the farming year.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Trim the daikon and burdock and grate each finely.
Keep the liquid released by the daikon so it can guide how much of the measured water is needed later.
- 2
Grind the grilled loach powder in a mortar until very fine.
Split the red chili lengthwise and remove the seeds, leaving the chili long.
- 3
Heat the cooking oil in a pot over medium heat and sauté the grated burdock first until aromatic.
Add the grated daikon and its liquid, the chili, and loach powder. Pour in the water, holding some back if the radish has released abundant moisture.
- 4
Stir in the soy sauce and sake.
When the mixture begins to boil, reduce to low and simmer for about one hour, carefully skimming foam from the surface. Stop when the roots have softened into the liquid and the sauce is thick enough to cling to mochi.
- 5
Place two pieces of freshly pounded hot mochi in each bowl.
Spoon the loach and burdock sauce generously over every piece and serve immediately while the mochi is soft and hot.
References checked
These references were consulted when this page was prepared or corrected. A source check does not mean the recipe was independently kitchen-tested.
- 일본 농림수산성 うちの郷土料理
「ごっつぉうさん-伝えたい宮城の郷土食」（みやぎの食を伝える会） · Checked: 2026-08-11
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