Shodoshima Island is the second biggest island within the Seto Inland Sea after Awaji Island. Among other products, it’s quite well-known for its soy sauce, somen noodles and olives. This time we bring you a recipe from this treasure trove of delicacies!

During our visit to Café Chuzaemon, which we introduced in a previous article [http://eng.mg/3bb95], the staff taught us how to make “hishio-don”, a local dish made with soy sauce fermenting mash (‘moromi’) and local vegetables.

*The following is a slightly reworked version of the recipe we learned at Chuzaemon.  

How to make Café Chuzaemon style hishio-don (4 servings)

Ingredients:

Pumpkin (1/8)
Potato x 1
Sweet potato x 1 (small)
Carrot x 1 (small)
Turnip x 1 (small)
Eggplant x 1 (small)
Onion x 1 (small)
Bell peppers x 4
Sea bream x 4 fillets
Somen noodles x 1 bundle
Inoue Seiko-en pure olive oil x 1 cup
Inoue Seiko-en extra virgin olive oil from ripe olives (EX oil) x 1 cup

Moromi sauce
Finely chopped ginger x A pinch
Water x 40 cc
Moromi miso x 100 g
EX oil x 50 cc

Rice

Rice x 3 ‘go’ (540 ml)
Dashi up to the 3 ‘go’ mark on the rice cooker measuring scale
Soy sauce x 1 tablespoon
EX oil x 1 tablespoon

Method:
(1) Place all the ingredients under ‘rice’ into a rice cooker and cook.
(2) Boil the somen noodles al dente and wrap them inside the sea bream fillets. Pour the pure oil into a frying pan and deep fry the wraps. (These will later also be baked in the oven, so just fry lightly to give them some color.)
(3) Cut all the vegetables into quarters. Part boil the pumpkin, potato, sweet potato, carrot and turnip without peeling.

(4) Lay (2) and (3) on a baking sheet on a baking tray and sprinkle on some EX oil.

 (The photograph shows the quantity for a single serving.)

(5) Preheat the oven to 200℃ and bake (4) for around 5 minutes.  

(6) While baking, prepare the moromi sauce. Mix all the ingredients in a small pot. Heat the mixture on low heat for 6-7 minutes being careful not to burn it. The sauce is then ready.

(7) Sprinkle some EX oil (in addition to the amount indicated above) on the cooked rice, and then pour an appropriate amount of moromi sauce on top. 

(8) Lay the baked ingredients on top of the rice, and season again with more moromi sauce as a finishing touch. 

Let’s eat! 

Yum, yum, yum…  Believe it or not! The sweet and salty flavor of the moromi sauce combined with the olive oil’s rich flavor result in a deliciousness I had never tasted before! Although the size of the portion is quite big, as it’s mainly vegetables we recommend it even for those on a diet.

Hints

To allow the flavor of the natural ingredients and the fragrance of the olive oil to be enjoyed fully, the vegetables are purposely left unseasoned.

Any seasonal vegetables are okay. The restaurant uses whatever fresh local vegetables are in season at the given time.

That’s all for now from this island of olives. Do try the recipe at home!

−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−

Café Chuzaemon

Location: 2267-5 Ikeda, Shodoshima, Shozu district, Kagawa prefecture (Within the Inoue Seikoen olive garden)
Open: 11:00-17:00 (On weekdays meals are served until 15:00. Evening use is possible upon advance reservation)
Closed: Tuesdays (Open everyday from April thru November)
Tel: 0879-75-0282
http://www.inoueseikoen.co.jp/cafe/
Café Chuzaemon Official Homepage: http://www.inoueseikoen.co.jp/ (Japanese)
Inoue Seikoen Online Shop: https://inoueseikoen.com/ (Japanese)

(The English site introduces different items)

Setouchi Finder Photo-writer: Izumi Furukawa