Hikado (Yellowtail and Chicken Soup Thickened with Sweet Potato)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 60 min
- Level
- Medium
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 14
About this dish
Diced skin-on sweet potato stays in pieces, while raw sweet potato grated in at the end melts into the broth, giving mild sweetness and a rustic body.
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Hikado is a Nagasaki winter soup, and its name is linked to the Portuguese picado, meaning finely chopped; it is said to have grown out of a stew that arrived through contact with the West and was remade with local fish and vegetables. No flour slurry is used, and with yellowtail and chicken in the same pot, fish and meat flavors overlap.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Soak 4g dried shiitake in 200ml cold water for 30 minutes.
Squeeze, stem, and cut to 1cm. Filter the soaking liquid through a coffee filter and combine with dashi to make 700ml.
- 2
Cut yellowtail and chicken separately to 1.5cm dice.
Season yellowtail with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sake for 10 minutes; refrigerate chicken until needed.
- 3
Dice daikon and carrot to 1cm and 80g skin-on sweet potato to 1.5cm.
Peel the 60g sweet potato for grating and soak it in cold water for 10 minutes. Slice green onion to 3mm.
- 4
Blanch yellowtail in boiling water for 20 seconds until the surface whitens and remove.
Bring the 700ml broth, chicken, daikon, carrot, and shiitake to a boil, skim, and simmer 8 minutes.
- 5
Add diced sweet potato and simmer 7 minutes.
When chicken reaches at least 75C and a skewer enters daikon and potato, add blanched yellowtail and cook 3 minutes more.
- 6
Add 1/5 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon light soy, and 1 tablespoon sake.
Drain and finely grate the 60g sweet potato directly into the pot, then simmer 3 to 4 minutes over low heat while stirring the bottom continuously.
- 7
When the broth coats the back of a spoon like a light stew and yellowtail reaches at least 63C, turn off heat.
Divide among four bowls, scatter green onion, and serve 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
長崎市（第三次長崎市食育推進計画） · Checked: 2026-08-11
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