I Tried Cooking Nagaoka's Specialty: Soy Sauce Sekihan

Soy sauce sekihan is something I really want everyone to try at least once. It was easy to make in a rice cooker.

Delicious memories of the soy sauce sekihan my mother-in-law used to make

My mother-in-law, who loves to cook, once made us soy sauce sekihan, saying she learned it from a friend from Niigata. It was so delicious that I thought, 'If you're going to make sekihan, this is definitely the way to go!'
I reunited with that soy sauce sekihan in Settaya.

Reuniting with a delicious memory in Settaya

While looking at souvenirs at the 'Settaya 6th Street Fermentation Museum / Komegura' in Settaya, I saw packages containing rice and kidney beans lined up. When I looked closer, it said 'Soy Sauce Sekihan,' and my delicious memories came flooding back all at once.
I excitedly showed the kit to my husband, saying, 'Hey, look! This is soy sauce sekihan! The soy sauce-flavored sekihan your mom used to make!!' but he just said, 'What's that?' and didn't remember it at all.

Ignoring my husband's underwhelming reaction, I decided right then and there, 'It's delicious, so I'm buying it!' When I went to pay at the counter where a quiet, middle-aged male clerk was working, he advised me, 'This is definitely better if you cook it in a rice cooker.' Seeing the confused look on my face—thinking, 'Isn't that how you normally make it?'—the clerk added, 'You can make it in the microwave, but it's definitely better in a rice cooker.'

I was surprised and happy that the clerk, who hadn't said a word while I was browsing, suddenly gave me such passionate advice.
Reserved, yet making sure to convey what's important. I felt this was a kind of kindness typical of Settaya, something I had felt at other shops as well.
I introduce walking around the town of Settaya in this article.
↓ ↓ ↓
Nagaoka/Settaya: Not your typical tourist spot. But a town you'll want to visit again.

What is Nagaoka's 'Soy Sauce Sekihan'?

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' 'Our Regional Cuisine', soy sauce sekihan is a local dish from around Nagaoka City that combines kidney beans with glutinous rice seasoned and colored with soy sauce. In this region, many people think of this brown soy sauce sekihan when they hear the word 'sekihan'.

Trying to make it in a rice cooker

I decided to follow the clerk's advice and make it in the rice cooker.
The kidney beans need to be soaked in water overnight.
After soaking overnight, the kidney beans swelled to nearly double their size.

All that's left is to put it in the rice cooker and cook it according to the recipe. I used the 'okowa' (sticky rice) setting.

The beans are more prominent than in regular sekihan. This is how it looked when it finished cooking.

The savory aroma of the soy sauce and the sweetness of the tender kidney beans soak into the glutinous rice, and the kidney beans have a nice, fluffy texture. There was even some scorched rice.

When I served the freshly cooked soy sauce sekihan to my husband, he said, 'This is incredibly delicious.'
It's well-seasoned, so it's satisfying even without any side dishes.
I took some soy sauce sekihan wrapped in plastic wrap as a late-night snack on a day I had to work overtime. It was much more satisfying than eating something from a convenience store.

Traditional preparation method

According to the recipe introduced in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' "Our Regional Cuisines," you don't cook the glutinous rice together with the ingredients; instead, you season steamed glutinous rice with soy sauce and other flavorings.
The soy sauce sekihan my mother-in-law made used the same method.

Later, when I talked to my mother-in-law about soy sauce sekihan, she showed me her recipe.

While I thought about trying to make it by steaming the glutinous rice just like my mother-in-law does next time, I also thought, "That's a bit of a hassle. I wonder if she'll make it for me again."
For the time being, I will continue making it in the rice cooker.