Hiyayakko — The Dinner You Don't Cook
There are evenings in a Japanese summer when nobody in the house wants to stand near a flame. For those evenings, Japan long ago perfected a dish with a quiet secret: it isn't cooked at all. A block of cold tofu, a few drops of good soy sauce, a scatter of whatever is on hand. The kitchen stays cool, and dinner is on the table in five minutes.
Hiyayakko is proof that Japanese cooking doesn't begin with skill. It begins with one good bottle.
Serves 2 · about 5 minutes · no stove
Ingredients
- 1 block (about 14 oz / 400 g) silken or soft tofu, well chilled
- Good soy sauce — a few drops per serving
- ¼ tsp toasted sesame seeds
- A few slices of scallion, if you have some
- Optional: torn nori, bonito flakes, grated ginger, a drop of sesame oil — or whatever your fridge suggests
How to make it
- Drain the tofu and pat it gently dry. Cut the block in half — one half per person — and set each on a small plate.
- Top with the sesame and scallion, and anything you like from the optional list.
- Bring the plates and the soy sauce bottle to the table, and pour a few drops over each just before eating. That's it. The stove never comes on.
Tip
With this few ingredients, each one gets to speak — so let the tofu be cold, and let the soy sauce be good. A barrel-aged shoyu lands on cold tofu the way olive oil lands on fresh mozzarella: suddenly the simplest thing on the table is the most interesting.
One of three in our No Stove collection — for the days too hot to cook.
