# Imotaki ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Imotaki

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
All over the prefecture

## Main Ingredients Used
Chicken, taro, fresh fried bean curd, shiitake mushrooms

## History, Origin, and Related Events
Imotaki is a one-pot dish of chicken, taro, konnyaku, shiitake mushrooms, and other ingredients stewed in a pot, and has a history dating back more than 350 years to when the Kato family ruled as feudal lords. It is said to have originated when people brought their own taro, a local specialty, to be served at a traditional event called "Oroori".In 1966, the event became a city tourist attraction, attracting more than 70,000 visitors a year in its heyday, when people enjoyed taro with the moon on the riverbank. There is a one-month period when the Myohoji Riverbank coincides with the famous cormorant fishing, and the scenery can be enjoyed along with the illumination of the Garyu Sanso (Garyu Mountain Villa) on the right. In the fall, visitors can be seen gathering around a hot pot on the riverbank. In addition to Ozu City, "Imotaki" is held in many other places and has become a mid-autumn tradition in Ehime.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
Taro is used in celebratory dishes as a food of good luck for the prosperity of offspring, as it grows from the parent taro to the offspring and then to the grandchild taro. The "imotaki" of taro is held in about 10 places in Ehime Prefecture, mainly in the Nanyo region, and in various areas of Ehime Prefecture, and a large party is held on a riverside in autumn, which also serves as a moon-viewing party.

## How to Eat
Peel and boil taro with a little salt. Make dumplings about the size of an earlobe with white bean flour and boil them in boiling water. Fry chicken in oil, add taro and namaage, and simmer in soup stock. When taro is cooked, add taro dumplings, seasonings and sweet and spicy seasoning.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
It is still often made at home and passed down from parents to children. Since it is a good source of dietary fiber, it is often prepared for school lunch menus or in home economics classes, and is popular among the younger generation. It is also served at local events.

## Ingredients
- chicken meat: 300g
- taro: 400g
- uncooked deep-fried tofu: 1 sheet
- white bean flour: 100g
- shiitake mushrooms: 4 pieces
- soup stock: 5 cups
- sugar: 2 to 3 tbsp.
- Mirin (sweet cooking sake): 2 tbsp.
- soy sauce: 3 tbsp.
- sake: 1 tbsp.
- salt: a pinch
- salad oil: a pinch

## Recipe
1. 1. Remove the skin from taro and boil in boiling water with a pinch of salt. Cut the nama-age into bite-size pieces and drain off the oil.
2. 2. Add water little by little to white bean flour, knead to the consistency of earlobes, roll into dumplings, and boil in boiling water.
3. 3. Heat oil, fry chicken, add 1, fry well, add broth and simmer.
4. 4. When taro is cooked, add 2 and seasonings, season sweet and spicy, and eat with soup. Cook taro softly so that it melts in your mouth.

## Provider Information
provider : "Ehime Local Cooking Story" (supervised by Shoko Watanabe, Ehime Prefecture Tourism Association)

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