Chiba Sumitsukare

Name: Chiba Sumitsukare
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 240 min
Total time: 270 min
Yield: 10 servings
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: daikon 1000 g; long carrot 250 g; roasted soybeans 75 g; aburaage fried tofu 40 g; firm tofu 300 g; sugar 1 tbsp; soy sauce 100 ml; mirin 1 tbsp; sake lees 50 g

Quick answer

Total time: 270 min
Level: Medium
Servings: 10 servings
Ingredients: 9

About this dish

Other regions make shimotsukare with salmon heads, but this Chiba version from Tokatsu is all vegetables, soy, and sake lees: coarsely grated daikon and carrot, roasted soybeans, fried tofu, and firm tofu.

Over hours on low heat the daikon falls apart into the lees and the whole pot turns thick and porridge-like. It was offered at Inari shrines with red bean rice on Hatsuuma, the first horse day of February, and it uses up roasted beans left over from Setsubun. The name shifts from place to place: sumitsukare, shimotsukare, somotsukare.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmount

As an Amazon Associate, we may earn from qualifying purchases.

Instructions

5 steps

1

Peel 1000g daikon and 250g long carrot and grate them on an oni-oroshi or large-holed grater, leaving coarse pieces about 5mm across. Keep all of the liquid released by both vegetables.
2

Put the grated vegetables and all their juice in a large heavy pot without adding water.

Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 30 minutes, scraping from the bottom every 5 minutes. When ample liquid has emerged and the volume drops, reduce to low.
3

Rub 75g roasted soybeans between clean towels to loosen their skins and add them to the pot.

Stir in 1 tablespoon sugar, 100ml soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon mirin. Set the lid ajar and simmer on low for 30 minutes.
4

Crumble 300g firm tofu by hand, leaving 2cm pieces, and cut 40g aburaage into coarse 1cm strips.

Add both to the pot, scrape and stir from the bottom, and simmer on low for 30 minutes.
5

Crumble 50g sake lees finely into the pot and dissolve evenly.

Keep the lid ajar and cook over the lowest heat for another 2 to 3 hours, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from the heat when the beans are tender and the daikon has broken down into a thick mixture.