Akita City, Oga, Minamiaki, and the northern coastal area up to the Noshiro-Yamamoto district

Rice, Hinai Jidori chicken, green onion, Japanese parsley, maitake mushroom, burdock root

A local dish made at home and indispensable in winter in Akita, it consists of chicken, vegetables, and rice dumplings poked in a mortar and pestle in a chicken broth.
It is said to have originated in the Minami-Aki region around Hachirogata. Originally, damako nabe was called "tsukego," a dish containing grilled fish such as wakasagi, crucian carp and whitebait, all of which are the produce of Hachiro Lagoon, and seasoned with miso. However, as the Hachiro Lagoon was reclaimed and the catch of fish drastically decreased, people began to turn away from fish and chicken bones and meat were used in place of fish.
In Akita, children's plaything "otedama" is called "damaiko." Freshly cooked rice is placed in a mortar and pestle, and the damaiko is then crushed with a wooden pestle and balled up in the palm of the hand. It is said that the name "dumako" came from its resemblance to a rice dumpling, or otedama. There is also a theory that because the dumplings were so tasty that children would eat them with great enthusiasm, the word "damako" came to be used to describe a child who eats silently.

In Akita Prefecture, there is a custom called "Niwa-arai," in which newly harvested rice is cooked, mashed, and dumplings are made into dumplings and eaten as damaiko. Some families also make dumplings with their children in winter.

Pound the slightly firm cooked rice with a surikogi (a wooden spoon) until it becomes sticky, about 50% of the way through, and make dumplings while it is still hot. Season Hinai Jidori chicken broth with soy sauce or miso, and simmer with the chicken, green onions, Japanese parsley, maitake mushrooms, and burdock root. The dumplings are lightly salted when they are rolled, or grilled slightly on a net before eating. The soup base and ingredients are similar to kiritanpo, which originated in Odate City, but dumplings do not need skewers and are basically not grilled.

(Overview of the people who have passed it on, preservation groups, use of SNS, modern efforts such as commercialization, etc.)
It is a local dish that is still eaten in every household in Akita in winter. In addition, following the enactment of the Basic Law on Food Education in the fall of the harvest, it is now made as part of school lunches and home economics cooking classes as part of efforts to pass on local foods, and has become well known throughout the prefecture.