February 24, 2011

Tochio Aburage/栃尾あぶらげ

Tochio city in Niigata prefecture is famous for its jumbo aburage. Aburage is short for abura age.
新潟県の栃尾市はジャンボあぶらげで有名です。「あぶらげ」とは「あぶらあげ」(油揚げ)の省略形です。

I bought one today because it was on sale for 98 yen. Compare the size with the normal-size abura age on the right.
98円で安売りしていたので、一枚買いました。右側の通常サイズの油揚げとサイズを比べて下さい。

You can see a hole in the upper part of the Tochio aburage on the left, which was made when the aburage was pierced with a skewer to drain the oil after deep-frying.
左側の栃尾あぶらげの上部に穴が見えます。これは、揚げた後に油を切るために串に刺した時にできたものです。

You can see how thick the Tochio aburage is from the photo. Note that the bag on the right contains three normal-size abura age.
この写真で栃尾あぶらげの厚さが分ります。右側の袋には通常サイズの油揚げが3枚入っています。

I'll add a photo of a dish using this Tochio aburage later.
後でこの栃尾あぶらげを使った料理の写真を追加します。

Edited to add a photo:

Slightly pan-fried to make the surface crispy and topped with chopped naga negi and katsuobushi, with some soy sauce poured over it.
表面をカリカリにするため軽く焼き、みじん切りの長ネギと鰹節を乗せ、しょう油を少しかけました。

5 comments:

Arudhi said...

That katsuobushi topping is genius! I have one Jogi aburage left in the fridge and I think I`m going to have it with katsuobushi too tonight. And probably with ra-yu too. Thank you for the recommendation!

Hiroyuki said...

Arudhi: Shichimi togarashi 七味唐辛子 is a nice addition, too!

Sissi said...

This topping brings back the memories of the wonderful discovery of your onion salad... I still have it very often. Thank you again!
I love aburage, I could have it every day (luckily I am able to control myself).
By the way, I have just seen the smelly bug (from Arudhi's blog) on my window sill. It is very similar and also smelly in Switzerland (when crushed to death).
I would prefer the giant aburage to be so international and widely available rather than smelly bugs ;-)

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Giant aburage is tasty enough (should be much tastier if eaten fresh from the pot of hot oil), but I personally prefer atsuage because it's dense. I think you remember episode 5 of Shinya Shokudo (you said you remember very well), where Komi-cchan ordered atsuage.

Sissi said...

The one with the restaurant critic? Yes, I really like that one! I'm thinking now maybe I should watch once more all the Shinya Shokudo before the new season starts...