Hiyayakko (冷奴) is a Japanese dish made with cold tofu and various toppings.
Among the most common: scallion, katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), soy sauce, but also yuzu, daikon, perilla, myoga (Japanese ginger), umeboshi, okra, mustard, or ponzu sauce, mentsuyu, miso, or taberu rayu (a spicy oil).
Usually, kinugoshi tofu, also called silken tofu, is used. Find the different types in the article dedicated to the Tofu Menu.
Also known as hiyakko or yakko-dōfu: “hiya” means cold, and “yakko” refers to the samurai servants during the Edo period in Japan.
These servants wore a vest with an emblem that meant “remove nails, cut”; therefore, cutting something (like tofu) into cubes was called 奴に切る, yakko ni kiru.
In haiku, hiyayakko is a seasonal word for summer. This is because tofu is often enjoyed cold in summer, hot, and boiled in broth in winter.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Japanese
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 12 oz silken tofu
- 1 scallion
- 2 tbsp katsuobushi
- 4 perilla leaves (or lettuce leaves)
- to taste fresh ginger
Steps
Keep refrigerated until serving.
Cut the tofu into 4 pieces and place them on a perilla leaf.
Season with thinly sliced scallion, katsuobushi, soy sauce, and minced ginger.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
What is a haiku?
A poetic composition that originated in Japan in the 17th century, consisting of three lines with a total of seventeen mora, following the 5/7/5 pattern.
The first line of the haiku establishes the context through a seasonal reference, the kigo or “seasonal word“, specifying the time when the poem is written or to which it refers.
The second and third lines, instead, evoke the sensation; particularly, the third closes the composition but leaves it open-ended.
My HAIKU dedicated to Hiyayakko:
It’s white snow
the soft taste
flows inside me.
