The fishing town of Mori on the eastern coast of the Oshima Peninsula is famous for three things; sweet farmed scallops, bountiful catches of Pacific herrings and an abundance of Japanese flying squid. It was this easy-to-catch and incredibly popular squid that, with the ingenuity of a local shopkeeper, would help rice rations stretch twice as far during WWII and go on to become the regional dish of Hokkaido. A bentō shop in Mori railway station came upon the idea of filling the cavity of the plentiful squid with the slowly dwindling rice supply before boiling it in a seasoned broth, the added bulk of the squid making the precious rice go that bit further. As with so many other modern classic dishes, frugal cooks and wartime necessity had resulted in the creation of something delightful.
Plump, burnished squid stuffed to almost bursting point with sweet, pearlescent rice and glazed with a thick, sticky soy sauce have remained a station bentō favourite since they won their creator first prize in the annual Keio department store ekiben competition, which sought to find the best regional delicacies from around Japan. Ikameshi makes an impressive but deceptively simple centrepiece for a meal, and is perhaps at its most hauntingly beautiful when served in a dimly lit, traditional izakaya accompanied by a handful of good friends and a glass or two of the local spirit. We’ve shortened the preparation time of our ikameshi by steaming the rice before filling, which means that the squid cooks in about five minutes, preventing it from becoming tough.
kakuni 