# Gomoku-meshi (Five Ingredients Rice) ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Gomoku-meshi (Five Ingredients Rice)

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
All around the prefecture

## Main Ingredients Used
Rice, Kanpyo, Dried shiitake, Carrots, Burdock root, Abura-age, Snow peas, Egg

## History, Origin, and Related Events
“Gomoku-meshi” is made for special days such as festivals and farmers’ holidays. With its lineup of colorful ingredients including "kanpyo", dried shiitake, carrots, burdock root, snow peas, abura-age and thin omelet strips, it is a traditional food that is perfect for formal occasions.The main ingredient, "kanpyo", has in Japan over 99% of its production in Tochigi Prefecture, which is the number one producer in Japan (according to the 2018 Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries survey); and thus is a specialty product that represents Tochigi Prefecture, particularly the southern region where its cultivation flourishes. Nutrition-wise, "kanpyo" contains much calcium and potassium, and is also abundant in dietary fiber. It is a dried food product in which strips of the bottle gourd fruit are thinly peeled and then dried in direct sunlight.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
"Gomoku-meshi", which uses abundant ingredients including "kanpyo", is a dish which takes time to prepare and so is made on special days such as festivals and farmers’ holidays. "Kanpyo" no tamago-toji" soup, in which "kanpyo" is cooked into egg, is also sometimes made together with the beautifully colorful "gomoku-meshi".

## How to Eat
30 minutes before cooking the rice, wash and drain it in a colander. Add the water and cook the rice al dente. Wash the "kanpyo" and rub salt into it well, soak it in water for 5-10min, wash well and cut into 2cm pieces. Chop up the dried shiitake restored in water, abura-age with excess oil removed, root vegetables such as burdock root and carrots, etc. in fine pieces, heat oil in a pot, and stir-fry along with the dried gourd strips, season with the seasoning and let simmer. Add the stewed ingredients on top of the rice and mix the entirety. Julienne the omelet, boiled snow peas, nori and red pickled ginger and sprinkle on top to plate colorfully.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
(Outline of the traditions, the preservation society, social media use, modern approaches at commercialization)Dishes, including "gomoku-meshi", that use Tochigi’s local specialty of dried gourd strips are used in school lunch menus in an effort to deepen the understanding of local products; these activites encourage the offering of traditional cuisine and pass on food culture, and are connected to regional development.

## Ingredients
- Rice: 300g (2 go cups)
- Kanpyo: 25g (About 150g after being restored)
- Dried shiitake: 3 medium-sized mushrooms
- Carrots: 50g
- Burdock root: 25g
- Abura-age: 1
- Snow peas: 1
- Thin omelet cut into strips: 1 egg’s worth
- Red pickled ginger: As needed
- Nori: As needed
- 【Seasoning】Dashi broth: 350cc
- 【Seasoning】Sugar: 3.5 tbsp
- 【Seasoning】Soy sauce: 50cc
- 【Seasoning】Sake: 1.5 tbsp
- 【Seasoning】Vegetable oil: 2 tbsp

## Recipe
1. 1. Before cooking the rice, wash it and drain in colander. Add water to rice and cook al dente.
2. 2. Wash the kanpyo with water and rub salt into it thoroughly. After soaking it in water for 5-10min, switch out the water and wash it again, the. Cut it into 2cm pieces.
3. 3. Cut the dried shiitake restored in water and the abura-age with excess oil removed into thin strips. Cut the carrots and burdock roots into thin shavings. Soak the burdock root in water to remove the astringency.
4. 4. Heat oil in a pot, stir-fry the ingredients in 2 and 3, season with the [seasoning] and let simmer.
5. 5. Add the ingredients in 4 to 1, steam for five minutes, mix everything well and arrange on a serving dish. Decorate with the omelet, boiled snow peas, nori, and red pickled ginger cut into thin strips.

## Provider Information
provider : “Furusato no WashokuUtsunomiya no Dento Ryori” (KASHIWAMURA Yuji/HANDA Kikue)

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