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Ego ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

kyodo_ryori

  • Fukushima Prefecture

    Ego

Ego

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  • Main lore areas

    Nishi-Aizu Town, Kitakata City

  • Main ingredients used

    "Ego" seaweed

  • History/origin/related events

    "Ego" is a dish made from "Egokusa" seaweed boiled to dissolve, then set in rectangular shape. It’s like Kanten (=agar-agar) or jelly, and eaten with mustard soy sauce. This is a local dish mainly eaten in the Sea of Japan side, and it is said that it was brought to Fukushima as an appetizer with sake from Niigata in the late Edo Era, and it was prevailed because the place was "shukuba" (post station). Now it is eaten not only in Nishi Aizu, but also in the river basins of the Aga River and the Tadami River. "Ego" has been cooked since around Meiji Era. It was believed that merchants from Niigata walked around to sell "Ego". By the way, the locals call "Ego" "Igo" with their local accent.

  • Opportunities and times of eating habits

    It is served at the event or gatherings like wedding, memorial services, "obon" (mid-August) or the New Year’s Day. It is served, especially Buddhism memorial services, as a "shoujin ryori" (=vegetarian dish for Buddhist monks) feast all the year, and left over is preserved in miso.

  • How to eat

    Soak "Egokusa" seaweed to and rinse. Put it with water into a pan and boil about 30 minutes to dissolve. After that, pour into a cooking tray and put into a fridge to set. Cut as you like when you eat, the texture changes a little depending on how to cut it. Dip mustard soy sauce or vinegar soy sauce to eat, or preserve in miso. Sugar is sprinkled to serve as a snack in some areas.

  • Efforts for Preservation and Succession

    (Outline of the traditions, the preservation society, social media use, modern approaches to commercialization)
    It is cooked at home, and served in restaurants, too. In addition, the video of the process to cook "Ego" was uploaded on the Nishi Aizu Town’s website to introduce "Ego" to people who don’t know or have never seen "Ego" before.

RECIPE

Ingredients (4 servings)

  • Ego seaweed 20-30g
  • Mustard As needed
  • Soy sauce As needed

How to cook

  • 1. [Preparation] Rinse "Ego" seaweed well to remove dirt, then soak it for 10~20 minutes. In winter, when you dissolve it on snow called "Kan-zarashi", it makes white "Ego".

  • 2. Put "Ego" into a pan and add water until it covers "Ego" completely. Heat with medium heat for 20~30 minutes while stirring until "Ego" dissolves. (In case "Ego" doesn’t dissolve, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar.)

  • 3. Stop heating when you see bubbles and it becomes thick enough to draw line on it with a spatula.

  • 4. Pour into a square cooking tray to set. It’s similar to Kanten (=agar-agar) and takes 2 hours in summer, 1 hour in winter to set.

  • 5. Cut it as you like and dip into mustard soy sauce to eat. You can preserve the left over in miso and eat it next day so that you can enjoy the different taste. Also, sugar is sprinkled to serve as a sweet snack in some areas.

provider : Mihoko Hiraide

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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