🍱 Kurumi-zouni

"Kurumi-zouni" is also called "Kurumi-mochi (rice cake with walnuts sauce)" and is a typical dish eaten on the morning of New Year's Day in the Miyako region along the Sanriku coast. It is served not only on New Year's Day, but also for wedding celebrations and other special occasions as the best treat. It is characterized by the fact that the kaku-mochi (grilled-rectangular shaped rice cakes) is placed in a soy sauce-flavored dashi (Japanese soup stock) containing daikon radish, carrots, gobou (burdock root), salmon, freeze-dried tofu, etc. When eating mochi, it can be eaten straight from the bowl of soup or dipped in another bowl of "walnuts sauce" to enjoy two different flavors. It is thought that this way of eating the mochi originated as a way of cherishing the precious mochi because it was difficult to grow rice in coastal areas due to cold damage. Some households add seafood such as salmon roe or abalone as a garnish. Walnuts are used locally produced "oni-gurumi (manchurian-walnuts)." Compared to overseas walnuts, "oni-gurumi" has fewer tannins and oils and is lighter taste, so the "oni-gurumi" is carefully scraped to make "kurumi-dare" (walnuts sauce). In Iwate Prefecture, walnuts are deeply rooted in the diet, and the "delicious taste" is sometimes described as "kurumi-aji" (walnut flavor).