Oshimon/Okoshimon ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

Aichi Prefecture

Oshimon/Okoshimon

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Image Source : Aichi's 50 Local Recipe Collection
Image Source : Anjo City

Main lore areas

All of Aichi Prefecture
Main ingredients used

Rice flour

History/origin/related events

‘Oshimon’ is a local sweets made from rice flour kneaded with hot water and put into a mold, then colored with food coloring. It is offered to the Hina Dolls during the Girl’s Festival. When it comes to foods served during the Girl’s Festival, ‘Hina Arare’ (=colorful rice snack), ‘Hishi-mochi’ (=diamond-shaped colored mochi) or ‘Chirashi-zushi’ (=sushi with various ingredients placed on top of vinegar rice) are famous. In Aichi Prefecture, ‘Oshimon’ is prepared in addition to those foods. In Nishi-Mikawa region, ‘Iga Manjyu’, buns with red bean paste, with or without mashed, wrapped with rice flour and put colored sticky rice on the surface, is prepared during the Girl’s Festival.
There are several stories about the origin of its name; some say that it’s because this food is made by being pressed into a mold (‘oshimono’ in Japanese), others call ‘Okoshimon’ because it is removed (‘okoshi-hazusu’ in Japanese) from a mold. This food is often called ‘Oshimon’ in Nagoya, and ‘Okoshimon’ in its surrounded area.
There are various shapes in wooden molds; flower shape (cherry blossom, plum flower or chrysanthemum), animals (sea bream, mandarin duck or butterfly), and lucky motif (‘noshi’ (=Japanese gift wrapping), Chinese treasure ship, drawstring money bag or ‘Fukusuke’ lucky doll.
Opportunities and times of eating habits

This food is offered to the Hina Dolls during the Girl’s festival. After being offered, people toasted it and ate with soy sauce mixed with sugar.
How to eat

Add hot water to rice flour to knead. Once it becomes as soft as an earlobe, place it into a wooden mold. Some add food coloring into kneaded rice flour, or others add color after removing it from a mold. Every home use various types of colorings – food colorings or natural coloring like cape jasmine or green tea. The tip for coloring is not to color too much because the color gets darker while steaming. Steaming this food after removing from a mold makes it being kept for a while.
After being served to the Hina Dolls, you can eat it as it is when it is still soft. In case it gets hard, you can toast it like mochi. People used to eat it with sauce made from ‘tamari’ (thick soy sauce) and sugar, but nowadays it is served with soy sauce with sugar, or ‘kinako’ (=roasted soy bean flour).
Efforts for Preservation and Succession

(Outline of the traditions, the preservation society, social media use, modern approaches to commercialization)
There are sometimes events for cooking ‘oshimon’ by the local government or schools before the Girl’s Festival. Especially coloring ‘oshimon’ is popular because children can enjoy it. As it’s easy to cook as long as they have wooden molds, it is cooked at some homes. You can buy wooden molds at department stores or Japanese confectioneries.
You can find this food at supermarkets during the Girl’s Festival.

RECIPE

Ingredients (4 servings)

Rice Flour (Joshinko(=short-grain rice flour)) 500g
Hot water 500ml
Food coloring (red, yellow, green) As needed
Soy sauce As needed
Sugar As needed

How to cook

1. Add hot water to rice flour (‘Joshinko’) and knead until it gets as soft as an earlobe.
Watch out not being burnt as it is hot.
2. Take about 90g of 1, and divide into three. Add coloring to each dough and mix.
3. Sprinkle rice flour over wooden molds, then place 2 (colored dough) accordingly. Put dough from 1 on top, then remove from the mold. (You can put dough from 1 into the mold first, then color after removing it from the mold.)
4. After removing dough from the mold, steam it until the surface becomes shiny.
5. Serve it with soy sauce mixed with sugar. You can toast it once it becomes hard.

Recipe Arrangements

It depends on the size of molds how many ‘oshimon’ you can make.
If you knead flour with hot water, the sweets become chewy and we can keep them longer.
Put coloring lightly because it becomes deep while steaming.
Place plastic wrap on the molds so that you can remove dough from it easily.

provider : Aichi's 50 Local Recipe Collection

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

Oshimon/Okoshimon ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

Aichi Prefecture