Uri no Teppo-Zuke (Chili-Stuffed Soy-Pickled Melon)
Quick answer
- Active time
- 110 min
- Waiting
- See the steps
- Level
- Hard
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 8
About this dish
A hollowed white melon is packed with green chilies wrapped in shiso leaves, and each slice shows pale melon around a green center.
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The look of a gun barrel loaded with ammunition gives teppo-zuke, gun pickle, its name. It began as a winter preserve around Narita and Katori in Chiba, became a crisp, spicy side for rice and sake, and is a well-known souvenir near Naritasan Shinshoji Temple. The salted melon first spends two days in water, changed as it goes, to draw out the salt. Reboiling only the marinade and returning it cold each day for several days is how the seasoning reaches the center of the dense melon.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
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.
- 2
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.
- 3
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.
- 4
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.
- 5
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.
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
「ちばのふるさと料理」（千葉県） · Checked: 2026-08-11
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