(Photo by Shoji Kudaka)
Hotou is a hot pot noodle dish unique to Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture dating back to the Heian Period (794-1185).
I encountered this local dish when I traveled around Mt. Fuji with my parents about 15 years ago. We fell in love with the delicious noodles, and it became our family tradition to cook it in our own way.
So, when I learned there was a hotou workshop on how to make it, I knew I had to take it and learn the authentic recipe.
I was looking forward to learning everything from kneading noodles to making the broth.
The workshop was held at Fujiya, a small restaurant about a 10-minute drive from Lake Kawaguchi. To begin, Ms. Muira, the workshop instructor, and I sat in the tatami room of Fujiya to go over the recipe.
“It takes only flour and water to make hotou noodles. Our restaurant uses hard flour, while all-purpose flour is common for home cooking,” Muira said, adding that the noodles I would be making in the class were meant to have a relatively hard texture.
As a fan of chewy noodles, my expectations were soaring.
The first step was to mix 100 grams of flour and 50 cc of water. Using my fingers like a whisk, I quickly moved my hand in a circle until a dough started to form. After, it was time to knead the dough.
According to Miura, kneading fast and strong was key to getting it right. The next step was to spread the dough on a thin sheet with a rolling pin.
“The dough will be stretched into a circle or an oval,” Miura said. “This is okay either way. Don’t fold it, just keep on pressing on the same surface.”
I tried my best to form a perfect circle of dough as if forming the base of a pizza. The more I kneaded, however, the dough morphed into an elongated shape, like a belt.
Good thing the shape didn’t matter much.
The final step was to slice it into noodles. Before I did, I was supposed to fold the dough in three and slice it. Since my dough was too long, I had to fold it four times. I was concerned about the unusual shape of my dough, but Miura said not to worry.
“The edge of the dough may result in an oddly shaped noodle, but it will taste especially great,” she said.
After slicing, I carefully placed my noodles into a bowl, treating them like my babies. Then, it was time to let my noodles bathe in miso-based broth along with squash, carrots, leeks, and other vegetables.
After all the physical labor, it was finally time to try the final product. The gentle taste of the broth went very well with the chewy noodles and veggies. Enjoying the hotou brought back memories of my first encounter 15 years ago.
Off to the side on my table were six small jars of Yamanashi Prefecture’s signature seasoning, suridane. These spicy seasonings included togarashi (chili) powder magma and shibikara (electrifyingly spicy).
I started with a “basic” one, trying to be cautious. One spoonful of miso soup sprinkled with the basic suridane later, I was hooked.
The red chili powder paired with bonito flakes, sesame, garlic and many more spices, created a complex taste that is hard to describe. I ended up trying all the types of suridane, making my soup super red hot and so delicious. Even after the noodles were gone, I couldn’t stop sampling the suradane with the remaining broth.
After eating, I am sure I was sweating like the guests on the YouTube show “Hot Ones.” However, unlike those celebrities, who sweat and start swearing once they can’t eat their spicy wings anymore, suridane somehow made me smile and want to keep eating more. Fortunately, I scored a bottle of suridane as a souvenir to try at home.
(Photo by Shoji Kudaka)
(Photo by Shoji Kudaka)
(Photo by Shoji Kudaka)
(Photo by Shoji Kudaka)
In total, I spent about an hour and a half at Fujiya working on the hotou. The pace of the workshop was partially self-led, so if you’re looking for a class where the instructor is guiding you every step, this is not it. Although the focus of the workshop was mostly on the noodles and not the broth, I still enjoyed the process and working on it at my own speed.
FUJIYA
FUJIYA (Photo by Shoji Kudaka)
FUJIYA (Photo by Shoji Kudaka)
GPS Coordinates: 35.492559, 138.767934
Hours: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
*Closes on an irregular basis
*Reservation required Reserve a spot through (https://houtoutaiken.lp-web.net/contact/)
Houtou
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), hotou dates back to the Heian Period (794-1185) and originated in Yamanashi Prefecture.
Houtou was a staple in the mountainous areas of the prefecture since it was difficult to cultivate rice there, according to MAFF. The recipe was valued as it didn’t take long to cook, and the noodle dish went very well with vegetables and meats, offering great nutritional value. Making the thick noodles in broth was even an important skill for women to learn in preparation for marriage.
As for why the noodle dish is called “hotou,” one theory suggests that the name was after Lord Takeda Shingen (1521 – 1573) cut ingredients with his “hotou” (treasured sword).
Suridane
This spicy and versatile condiment appeared in the Fujiyoshida area during the Edo Era (1603-1868). Suridane is typically made of red chili, sesame, sansho (zanthoxyli fructus), and other spices.
