Kyabetsu mochi(Cabbage rice cake) is a local dish from Fukushima Prefecture. It has been enjoyed in the Ouse area of Kōriyama City for over 80 years.
It is said to have been created by farmers who cultivated rice and cabbage as part of a self-sufficient lifestyle, and it is a delicious dish featuring a contrast in textures between sautéed cabbage and freshly made rice cakes.

In recent years, various dishes have been created, such as combining rice cakes with cabbage and cheese to make spring rolls, or adding shiratama dumplings instead of rice cakes, and the dish has become very popular in home cooking and school lunches. Given the ingredients it contains, it’s a dish rich in umami!

Kozuyu is a colorful soup made from dried scallops reconstituted in dashi, mamefu — small balls of wheat gluten, shiitake, carrots, taro root, wood-ear mushrooms, and konnyaku noodles. The soup is seasoned with soy sauce, salt, and sake making an elegant, lightly seasoned soup. Kozuyu is served in an Aizu lacquer bowl which is a traditional craft of Fukushima. The soup, also called kaitsuyu, started as a celebratory dish served in the Aizu region for special occasions.

Nowadays it’s served on special occasions and included in the New Year’s traditions. Part of the hospitable ritual is encouraging diners to have refills of the soup. Each home has its own recipe which is passed down to daughters-in-law who are taught the recipe to her husband’s home. It’s a good omen to have many ingredients. For good luck an odd number of ingredients will be included. The dried scallops are rich in umami making this an opulent dish that is nutritionally balanced with the many ingredients.