🍱 Okutamawasabi no TOKYO-X maki

"Okutamawasabi no TOKYO-X maki" is a dish in which chopped root wasabi is wrapped around pork and grilled. Okutama wasabi, one of the Edo Tokyo vegetables, grows in a cool clear stream near the headwaters of the Tama River and is characterized by its cool spiciness and rich flavor, and has been cultivated since the Ashikaga period. TOKYO-X is a brand of pork developed at the Ome Livestock Breeding Center, and is characterized by its fine texture, tenderness, and juiciness. This dish won the top prize in the "Cooking Contest Using Tokyo Agricultural, Forestry, and Marine Products" held in October 2011, and was created as a new local food of Okutama. The Okutama Town "Tamamono Group," which invented this dish, is an organization that has been working since 2006 to create recipes for local dishes that make the most of seasonal ingredients that have been handed down in Okutama. The "Okutamawasabi no TOKYO-X maki" recipe was created out of a desire to make effective use of the wasabi left over after grating the Okutama wasabi that is eaten daily. The recipe is simple to make, but the wasabi and pork are a perfect match. The new attempt to chop and heat wasabi, which had previously been grated and eaten raw, was a great success, and is an indispensable new local food for promoting local production for local consumption.