Yamagata Hiyashiru Chilled Vegetables in Savory Stock

Quick answer

Total time: 505 min
Level: Medium
Servings: 5 servings
Ingredients: 11

About this dish

Yamagata hiyashiru is not soup in the usual sense but a Yonezawa ohitashi that serves blanched seasonal vegetables with dried scallop, shiitake, and freeze-dried konnyaku in abundant chilled soy-seasoned stock.

The scallop soaking liquid becomes the dashi rather than being discarded, while porous shimi konnyaku and dried shiitake absorb the savory broth deeply. Spinach, cabbage, soybean sprouts, and carrot are each blanched to their proper tenderness and cut to three-centimeter lengths. Yukina, Yonezawa's winter green, receives only a quick pass through heat to retain its snap. Rehydrated scallop and shiitake and thoroughly washed konnyaku simmer for five minutes with soy sauce and mirin, then the liquid is cooled promptly. Vegetables and stock rest together under refrigeration from one hour to overnight. Traditionally set in a large shared bowl, every serving includes plentiful soaking liquid as well as the vegetables.

Ingredients (5 servings)

Ingredient	Amount	Unit
spinach	100	g
carrot	20	g
cabbage	100	g
Yukina greens	100	g
soybean sprouts	50	g
dried scallops	8	g
dried shiitake	2	piece
freeze-dried konnyaku sheet	1	sheet
scallop soaking liquid	330	ml
soy sauce	50	ml
mirin	50	ml

Instructions

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

7 steps

1

Control

The night before, soak 8g dried scallops in 400ml potable water, covered and refrigerated, for 8 hours.

Shred the softened scallops and strain the liquid through a fine sieve and paper filter, reserving 330ml.
2

Prep

Soak two dried shiitake in cold water for 1 hour, remove stems, and slice thinly.

Rehydrate one shimi-konnyaku sheet, rub it between both hands, change water until it stays clear, and cut into 8mm strips.
3

Control

Combine 330ml scallop liquid, 50ml soy sauce, 50ml mirin, shredded scallop, shiitake, and konnyaku in a pan.

Simmer gently for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wide heatproof container.
4

Control

Set the container in ice water and stir the stock to cool promptly.

When cold and no longer steaming, cover and refrigerate below 4°C while preparing vegetables.
5

Prep

Blanch spinach for 40 seconds, cabbage for 60 seconds, and trimmed soybean sprouts for 2 minutes, separately.

Cool each in cold water, squeeze dry, and cut into 3cm lengths.
6

Finish

Cut carrot into fine 3cm strips and blanch 30 seconds.

Separate and wash the Yukina bases, cut into 3cm lengths, pass through boiling water for only 15 seconds, and cool on a wide plate without soaking.
7

Control

When all vegetables are cold and dry, submerge them evenly in the chilled stock.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight, then divide solids and plentiful liquid among five bowls.

Practical Cooking Checks

The cues that matter most while cooking.

Key technique: Five kinds of blanched seasonal vegetables
Finish cue: When all vegetables are cold and dry, submerge them evenly in the chilled stock.
Storage and reheating: Rehydrate dried scallops in the refrigerator, not at room temperature.