# Gameni (chicken stew) ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Gameni (chicken stew)

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
Throughout the prefecture

## Main Ingredients Used
Vegetables, chicken

## History, Origin, and Related Events
Among the many regional dishes of Saga Prefecture, the standard is gameni chicken stew. The stew is called "chikuzenni chicken stew" nationwide. It is also loved as a regional dish in other regions of Kyushu, including Hakata. The stew is a dish in which a lot of root vegetables and chicken are fried and thoroughly simmered. It is said that the dish was created when Hideyoshi Toyotomi was sending troops to Korea during the Imjin War. When his large army encamped in Hakata, they caught many softshell turtles in Hakata's inlets and marshes, simmered them with vegetables, and ate the stew. That was the origin of the dish. At the time, softshell turtles were called "river turtles" or "mud turtles," and then the dish was named "gameni (turtle stew)." Today, the dish doesn't use turtles; it uses chicken. The dish lives on as a special dish on special days. It is eaten during festivals such as the Okunchi festival and celebrations such as New Year's.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
Gameni is a regional dish that is indispensable for festivals and celebrations. So it is placed on dining tables as one of the dishes prepared for the New Year's holidays. Also, it is served as a refreshment during the Okunchi festival, a fall festival held in various parts of Saga Prefecture.

## How to Eat
Rehydrate the dried shiitake mushrooms. Peel the lotus root and burdock, chop them into chunks, and parboil them. Boil the Konjac, remove the scum, and cut the Konjac into bite-sized pieces. Pour oil into a pot, put in the chicken, which was cut into bite-sized pieces, and fry it. Then put in the other ingredients and fry them quickly. Add soy sauce, sugar, sake rice wine, mirin sweet rice wine, and the water, in which the shiitake mushrooms were soaked, into the pot. While removing the scum, let the food simmer thoroughly. After filling a bowl with the stew, sprinkle the stew with boiled peas whose strings have been removed. It may also be garnished with strips of ginger.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
(Outline of the traditions, the preservation society, social media use, modern approaches at commercialization)In addition to being typically made at home, one can enjoy it at restaurants in the prefecture.

## Ingredients
- Chicken (thighs): 120g
- Dried shiitake mushrooms: 2 small ones
- Taro, lotus root: 60g each
- Bamboo shoots, burdock, Konjac: 40g each
- Carrots: 30g
- Green beans: 20g
- Broth: 200cc
- Sugar: 1 tablespoon
- Soy sauce: 1 1／2 tbsp
- Sake rice wine, mirin sweet rice wine: 1 tbsp each
- Ginger: a small quantity

## Recipe
1. 1. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Rehydrate the dried shiitake mushrooms.
2. 2. Boil the lotus root and burdock in vinegar diluted with water. Then remove the skins. Peel the taro and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Do the same with the bamboo shoots, carrots and konjac.
3. 3. Put the ingredients and broth into a pot and simmer them. Add the seasonings. When the water starts to boil, remove the scum. Place a wooden lid directly on the food in the pot and let the food simmer thoroughly.
4. 4. Fill a bowl with the stew. Garnish the stew with boiled green beans and strips of ginger.

## Provider Information
provider : Food of Long Life at Saga

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