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Okayama Prefecture

Matsurizushi

Matsurizushi
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    Image provided by : Okayama City Nutrition Improvement Council

Main lore areas

All over the prefecture

Main ingredients used

Rice, seasonal fish and vegetables

History/origin/related events

Matsuri-zushi, also called "Okayama-bara-zushi" or "Bizen-bara-zushi," is made for festivals, celebrations, and entertaining guests in the Bizen-Okayama area. It is a gorgeous chirashizushi filled with vegetables, seafood, and rich ingredients from the Seto Inland Sea. During the Edo period (1603-1867), Lord Mitsumasa Ikeda, the feudal lord of Okayama, issued a decree to economize, telling the common people to eat only one soup and one vegetable so that they would not be extravagant. The common people would fill a tub-shaped half-slice of sushi rice with about ten different kinds of seasoned vegetables and seafood and stir them in to the rice. In addition to Spanish mackerel and sea eel, other seafood such as mogai and shrimp, bamboo shoots and burdock root are sometimes added. There is also another way to eat matsuri-zushi called "nukui-zushi," which is steamed and heated. Nukui" means "warm" in the Okayama dialect.

Opportunities and times of eating habits

Nuku-zushi is a representative Okayama dish for festivals, bon festivals, and Buddhist memorial services in spring and fall, and is a must for entertaining guests. Ingredients vary depending on the season, such as Spanish mackerel, butterbur and bamboo shoots in spring, and matsutake mushrooms in autumn. The method of cooking sushi rice, the mixture of vinegar, and the method of boiling the ingredients vary from region to region and from household to household.

How to eat

Vegetables are boiled and seasoned with soy sauce, sugar, and salt. Sprinkle salt lightly over Spanish mackerel, let sit for a while, then add to the vinegar mixture. Wash mogai with a shake and cook. Open the back of the sea eel, remove the bones, and teriyaki it with soy sauce and sugar. Boil shrimp and squid in soy sauce or salt. Cut octopus into thin strips and soak in sweet vinegar. Put back koya-tofu and simmer. Bake eggs and cut into thin slices. Shape vegetables and seafood for decoration, and mix the rest into the vinegared rice.

Efforts for Preservation and Succession

(Outline of the people who have passed on the tradition, preservation groups, use of SNS, modern efforts such as commercialization, etc.)
It is available at kappo restaurants and sushi restaurants in the prefecture, and is also sold in the prepared food section of supermarkets. Momotaro's Matsuri Sushi," which is made by arranging ingredients on a bed of vinegared rice, is a product of Okayama's barazushi made into an ekiben. It has been a long seller at Okayama Station for over 50 years.

RECIPE

Ingredients (For 4 persons)

  • Rice 400g
  • Water 500cc
  • Dashi kelp 10cm square
  • Spanish mackerel 4 slices
  • Vinegar] Sugar 4 tbsp.
  • Salt 1/2 tbsp.
  • Vinegar 3 tbsp.
  • Squid 1 tsp.
  • Shrimp 4
  • Boiled octopus 1/2 piece
  • Mussel 60g
  • sea eel 2 pcs.
  • lotus root 80g
  • Koya-Tofu 20g
  • Boiled bamboo shoots 60g
  • Burdock root 1 stick
  • Japanese butterbur 1
  • Dried shiitake mushroom 6 pieces
  • egg 2
  • Pea pods 30g

How to cook

  • 1. Sprinkle the Spanish mackerel lightly with salt, let it sit for a while, then pour it into the vinegar mixture and take it out when it turns white around the edges. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the vinegar mixture.

  • 2. Make sushi rice by pouring the vinegar over the rice cooked with dashi kombu.

  • 3. Cut squid into 5mm pieces and slice into bite-sized pieces.

  • 4. Cut octopus into thin strips and soak in sweet vinegar (1 tablespoon each of sugar and vinegar, a pinch of salt, not included in the quantity).

  • 5. Shake the mussels and cook. (1 teaspoon sugar, 1 tablespoon mirin and soy sauce (not included in the quantity))

  • 6. Grill sea eel in teriyaki sauce (1 tablespoon each of sugar, mirin and soy sauce (not included in the quantity). Leave a little for decoration and cut the rest into small pieces.

  • 7. Cut lotus root into flower shapes for decoration, and cut the rest into small pieces.

  • 8. Put koya-tofu (dried tofu) back in the water and simmer. (2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a dash of broth (not included in the quantity).

  • 9. Add sliced bamboo shoots and chopped burdock root to the koya-tofu stock and bring to a boil. Add boiled and cut Japanese butterbur and turn off the heat.

  • 10. Simmer the rehydrated dried shiitake mushrooms. (Not included: a little of the rehydrated liquid, 6 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon soy sauce).

  • 11. Break the eggs into pieces (2 teaspoons sugar and a pinch of salt, not included in the quantity) and lightly cook them to make a broiled egg.

  • 12. Mix all ingredients except for garnish into the rice, place in a bowl, and top with garnish and salted boiled peas.

provider : Okayama City Nutrition Improvement Council

* Recipes vary depending on the region and home.