🍱 Sanbai-miso

"Sanbai-miso" is a rice cake dish made from a combination of glutinous rice flour, short-grain rice flour, and azuki beans. It is said that the name came from the fact that it was made by adding one cup of each three ingredients. Although miso is not used as an ingredient, it is said that this is because the combination of the ingredients looked like miso, and also because miso used to be used in the past. Originally, there was a local sweet in the Omagari area called "Hana-miso" seasoned with miso or sugar and soy sauce, and it is believed to have originated from "Nebana-miso" made with starch from bracken roots during bad harvests in the Edo period. Later, rice harvested by farmers became the main ingredient, and the name changed to "Sanbai-miso" or "Hana-miso. In the Yokote area, a similar dish called "Sanbai-mochi" also exists. It is characterized by the sweetness of the ingredients themselves and the sticky texture of the azuki bean paste. In the South Area of the prefecture, it has often been prepared as a stacked box dish for gatherings. Depending on the household, "Sanbai-miso" are made with pumpkin, walnuts, or sesame seeds in addition to azuki beans.