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Hiyayakko (冷奴, cold tofu) is a Japanese dish made with chilled tofu and toppings.
Variety of toppings
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The choice of toppings on the tofu vary among households and restaurants, but a standard combination is chopped green onion with katsuobushi (dried skipjack tuna flakes) and soy sauce. Other toppings include:
- perilla leaf
- yuzu rind
- daikon radish
- sliced myoga ginger
- grated ginger
- sliced okra
- plum paste
- mustard
History and background
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Hiyayakko is also known as hiyakko or yakko-dōfu. Hiya means cold, and yakko refers to the servants of samurai during the Edo period in Japan. They wore a vest on which the "nail-puller crest" was attached, on the shoulders; therefore, cutting something (e.g. tofu) into cubes was called "cutting into yakko" (奴に切る, yakko ni kiru). "Hiyakkoi" or "hyakkoi", the Tokyo dialectal term equivalent to the standard Japanese "hiyayaka" (冷ややか), is also a possible etymology.[1]
In the Tofu Hyakuchin, it is said that hiyayakko is so well known that it needs no introduction.
In haiku, hiyayakko is a season word for summer. This is because tofu is often enjoyed cold in the summer, warm and boiled in a broth in the winter.
See also
- Japanese cuisine
- List of tofu dishes
References
- ^ Sugimoto, Tutomu (2005). Gogenkai. Tokyo: Tokyo Shoseki Co., Ltd. ISBN 978-4-487-79743-1.