# Hamokawa Zakuzaku (Zakuzaku Eel Skin) ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Hamokawa Zakuzaku (Zakuzaku Eel Skin)

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
Osaka

## Main Ingredients Used
Eel skin, cucumber

## History, Origin, and Related Events
In Osaka, a city that has prospered from the shipping and commercial industries since ancient times, a large amount of hamo eel has been sold and distributed. Summer is considered to be the popular season, and it is said that the eel becomes delicious when it drinks the water of the rainy season. Therefore, at the Tenjin Festival held in summer, various side dishes using eel are lined up on the tables.In Osaka, eel is used as a raw material for kamaboko paste. When the flesh of the eel is stripped off to make kamaboko, only the skin remains. The small bones of the skin are removed. Soy sauce is added and it is grilled. Then it is mixed with cucumber and sweet vinegar to make “Zakuzaku Eel Skin”. It is a home-cooked dish unique to Osaka that is full of the "spirit of frugality" that uses even the remaining skin deliciously. It also goes well in summer as it is quite light. The name of the dish "Zakuzaku" is said to be the sound made by cutting cucumbers and the sound of eating this crunchy dish.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
It is cooked using eel skin sold at kamaboko shops and supermarkets. In addition to being eaten as a home-cooked meal, it is served as a side dish or drink accompaniment at restaurants. It is often made during the Tenjin Festival held in summer.

## How to Eat
Toss the chopped eel skin with sweet vinegar and mix with thinly sliced cucumber that has been salted and drained.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
It is passed on by being made in homes and restaurants.

## Ingredients
- Skin (shredded) of eel: 30g
- Cucumber: 1 (100g)
- New ginger: 30g
- Salt: 0.5g
- [Seasoning A] Vinegar: 2 tbsp.
- [Seasoning A] Sugar: 1 tbsp.

## Recipe
1. 1. Grill the skin of the fish in a frying pan.
2. 2. Cut the cucumber into thin slices, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, leave for 10 minutes, and squeeze.
3. 3. Cut the new ginger into thin slices.
4. 4. Combine 1~3 ingredients with seasoning A.

## Provider Information
provider : "The Taste of Japan: Naniwa Taste" (Osaka Prefectural Dietary Life Improvement Liaison Council)

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