Uri no Teppo-Zuke (Chili-Stuffed Soy-Pickled Melon)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 110 min
- Level
- Hard
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 8
About this dish
Uri no teppo-zuke is a Chiba pickle made from hollowed, salt-cured white melon.
Read more
The melon is desalinated over two days with repeated water changes, squeezed thoroughly dry, and packed with green chilies wrapped in shiso leaves like ammunition inside a gun barrel. A marinade of soy sauce, coarse sugar, sake, mirin, and vinegar is boiled, cooled completely, and poured over the melon. For four to five consecutive days, the melon is removed and the liquid alone is reboiled, cooled, and returned; it is ready after about a week. The shape explains the name teppo-zuke, or gun pickle. Once a winter preserve around Narita and Katori, it remains a crisp, spicy rice side and sake accompaniment and is a well-known souvenir near Naritasan Shinshoji Temple.
Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Season
Submerge the salt-cured melon in cold water for two days, changing the water three or four times daily.
When a small taste is only mildly salty, drain, wrap in cloth, and press firmly until almost no water emerges.
- 2Step
Trim the chili stems and wrap each chili tightly in two or three shiso leaves.
Push the bundles into one end of the hollow melon so the center is filled without gaps.
- 3Season
Boil the coarse sugar, soy sauce, sake, mirin, and vinegar until the sugar dissolves.
Turn off the heat and cool below body temperature. Put the melon in a clean container, pour over the marinade, hold it submerged with a light drop lid, and refrigerate.
- 4Heat
The next day, remove the melon with clean tongs.
Reboil only the marinade, cool it completely, and pour it back over the melon. Repeat once daily for four to five days, keeping the melon refrigerated.
- 5Finish
About one week after the first pickling, remove and blot the melon and slice it 5 to 8 mm thick.
Divide among four plates with the cut faces up so the chili center is visible.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- Salt-cured melon is desalinated for two days and pressed thoroughly dry.
- Finish cue
- About one week after the first pickling, remove and blot the melon and slice it 5 to 8 mm thick.
- Avoid this
- Do not touch face or eyes after handling chilies.
- Storage and reheating
- Incomplete cooling softens the crisp melon and raises its storage temperature.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official food safety guidance.
This recipe
110min, 8 ingredients
Category median
33min, 8 ingredients
Based on 152 recipes
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