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

Hikado is a Nagasaki winter soup of yellowtail, chicken, daikon, carrot, dried shiitake, and skin-on sweet potato cut into small even dice and simmered in dashi.

Raw peeled sweet potato is grated in at the end to thicken the broth naturally. Its name is linked to the Portuguese word picado, meaning finely chopped, and the dish is said to have developed from Western-style stews encountered through seventeenth-century exchange, adapted to local fish and vegetables. No flour slurry is used, so the sweet potato leaves mild sweetness and a slightly rustic body. Blanch the yellowtail first, then stir after adding the grated potato so it cooks without scorching.

Ingredients (4 servings)

Ingredient	Amount	Unit
yellowtail fillet	80	g
salt for yellowtail	0.25	tsp
sake for yellowtail	1	tsp
boneless chicken thigh	80	g
daikon	80	g
carrot	40	g
sweet potato for dicing	80	g
dried shiitake	4	g
sweet potato for grating	60	g
small green onion	10	g
combined dashi and shiitake soaking liquid	700	ml
salt	0.2	tsp
light soy sauce	1	tsp
sake	1	tbsp

Instructions

Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.

7 steps

1

Prep

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

Season

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

Prep

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

Control

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

Control

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

Control

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

Finish

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.

Practical Cooking Checks

The cues that matter most while cooking.

Key technique: Yellowtail, chicken, and roots cut to even small dice
Finish cue: When the broth coats the back of a spoon like a light stew and yellowtail reaches at least 63C, turn off heat.
Storage and reheating: Season yellowtail with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sake for 10 minutes; refrigerate chicken until needed.