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Ozara ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

  • Yamanashi Prefecture

    Ozara

Ozara

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  • Main lore areas

    Kofu City, Kai City, Minobu, Showa

  • Main ingredients used

    Locally produced flour

  • History/origin/related events

    When talking about the local cuisines of the Yamanashi Prefecture, hōtō (flat udon noodles and vegetables stewed in miso soup) is often brought up as an example. However, as the Yamanashi Prefecture is one surrounded by mountains, winters are extremely cold whilst summers get extremely hot and this has led to ozara being more preferred over hōtō in the summer seasons. Using cooled noodles thinner than hōtō, ozara is a dish where you enjoy these noodles by dipping them into a warm soy sauce based dipping sauce. As opposed to hōtō which you directly cook in a pot with other ingredients and enjoy, the noodles for ozara are rinsed in cold water after they are boiled on their own. This allows the noodles to be slippery and refreshing to slurp, making them an easy food to eat during the hot summers and a popular choice to prevent fatigue from the summer heat. When rice was scarce in the past, it was made as a delicacy when the weather was warm.

  • Opportunities and times of eating habits

    Whilst ozara is often seen in households and hōtō speciality restaurants during the warm summer season, there are also hōtō speciality restaurants which provide them throughout the whole year. Even during the winter, ozara is still served after meals at Kofu’s inns and at the end of events such as funerals. Some also enjoy it after having drunk some alcohol.

  • How to eat

    In a bowl, place wheat flour, table salt and lukewarm water and knead thoroughly. Then place a damp cloth over the bowl and let the dough rest for approximately 30 minutes. Stretch the dough out onto a board and cut into strips as thinly as possible. Boil the noodles in a full pot of boiling water. Once the noodles are boiled, place them in a bowl of cold water and run thoroughly through with more cold water. Place the cooled noodles in a bamboo draining basket (zaru). Prepare the dipping sauce and condiments. It is also common to add ingredients such as meat, seasonal vegetables, and mushrooms to make the dipping sauce heartier.

  • Efforts for Preservation and Succession

    (Outline of the traditions, the preservation society, social media use, modern approaches at commercialization)
    Hōtō speciality restaurants often make ozara as a summer speciality menu and ozara for souvenir use is also locally manufactured and sold. Ozara is also amongst one of the 176 ‘Yamanashi foods’ that the Yamanashi Prefecture is working to pass on to the next generation and has been further selected to be one of the 47 ‘Specially Selected Yamanashi Foods’.

RECIPE

Ingredients (4 servings)

  • 【Ozara noodles】 Locally produced flour 300g
  • 【Ozara noodles】 table salt A pinch
  • 【Ozara noodles】 Lukewarm water 150ml
  • 【Dipping sauce】 Stock 600ml
  • 【Dipping sauce】 Soy sauce 4 tablespoons
  • 【Dipping sauce】 Mirin 3 tablespoons
  • 【Condiments】 Spring onion 2 shoots
  • 【Condiments】 Japanese ginger 2 pieces
  • ※ You can also add other condiments such as seaweed, wasabi, Japanese perilla leaves or ginger based on your own preference.

How to cook

  • 1. In a bowl, place flour, table salt and lukewarm water and knead thoroughly. Then place a damp cloth over the bowl and let the dough rest for approximately 30 minutes.

  • 2. Stretch the dough from step 1 out onto a board and cut as thinly as possible into strips.

  • 3. Boil a full pot of water and then place noodles from step 2 into pot to cook.

  • 4. Once the noodles are boiled, place noodles into a bowl of cold water and run more cold water thoroughly through noodles. Place cooled noodles onto a bamboo draining basket.

  • 5. Prepare the dipping sauce and condiments.

provider : Recipe provider: ‘The complete handbook to experiencing Yamanashi’s food’

Recipes vary depending on the region and home.

Contact

Food Cultures Office, Overseas Market Development and Food Cultures Division, Food Industry Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Tel:+81-3-3502-5516

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