Imoni (Yamagata Taro and Beef Stew)
Cuisine: Japanese
Region: 山形県
Servings: 4〜5人分（丼・大きめの椀）
Imoni (Yamagata Taro and Beef Stew) is a home-style soup. Ingredients and step-by-step instructions are below, with notes for home cooking.
Ingredients
- Taro (satoimo, unpeeled) 500 g
- Konnyaku block 1/2
- Beef (fatty cuts such as belly or trimmings) 150 g
- Japanese leek (negi) 1
- Soy sauce 4 tbsp
- Sugar 1 1/2 tbsp
- Sake 3 tbsp
- Water 800 ml
- Shichimi togarashi, to taste
Steps
- [Preparation] Scrub the mud off the taro with a brush, let the surface dry and then peel (peeling while dry makes your hands less likely to itch). Cut into fairly large pieces of about 4–5 cm. The sliminess thickens the broth, so use it as is without rinsing.
- Tear the konnyaku into bite-size pieces with the edge of a spoon or your hands. The rough surfaces help the flavor cling. Unless the package says no pre-boiling is needed, boil it for 2–3 minutes and drain in a colander.
- Cut the beef into 4 cm pieces and the leek diagonally into 1.5 cm slices.
- [Simmering] Put the water, taro and konnyaku in a large pot over medium heat. When it boils, add just 1 tbsp of the soy sauce first, then cook for 15–20 minutes at a gentle simmer with small bubbles rising. When a bamboo skewer goes through to the center without resistance, move on.
- Add the sugar, sake and the remaining 3 tbsp soy sauce, and spread the beef into the pot, separating the slices. When the meat changes color, grey scum rises; skim it off carefully with a ladle.
- Add the leek and simmer for about 5 minutes until soft and sweet. Turn off the heat and let it stand for about 10 minutes so the taro absorbs the flavor. Taste and adjust with a little soy sauce if needed, then serve in bowls with shichimi if you like.
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Notes
Adding a little soy sauce at the start firms up the surface of the taro so it is less likely to fall apart.
Add the beef only once the taro is tender. If it goes in too early, it shrinks and toughens.
To save time, use pre-peeled washed taro or frozen taro. Add frozen taro still frozen and shorten the simmering time by about 5 minutes.
Adding boiled udon or curry roux to the leftover broth for a next-day finale is also the Yamagata way.
For the Shonai style, use pork and thick fried tofu instead of beef, and replace the soy sauce with miso.
Make-ahead: keeps about 2 days in the fridge. Freezing makes taro spongy and hollow, so avoid freezing.
Origin and history
In autumn, when the taro harvest begins, people in Yamagata traditionally bring big pots and firewood to the riverbanks for imonikai, taro stew parties. Shared with family, coworkers and classmates, this gathering has become as essential a yearly event as year-end and New Year parties.
There are various theories about its origin. According to tradition, in the early Edo period boatmen on the Mogami River, waiting for cargo to arrive, simmered local taro with the dried cod (bodara) they carried on the riverbank around Nagasaki in Nakayama town, and that was the beginning. Beef took the starring role from around the early Showa period.
Tastes differ even within the prefecture: inland, beef and soy sauce are standard, while in Shonai on the Sea of Japan side, pork and miso are the norm. Every September a huge imoni event is held on a riverbank in Yamagata City, where a pot more than 6 m across is stirred with heavy machinery.