The “Ajisai Chirashi – Aji no Oshizushi Iri” (Aji Chirashi with Aji Sushi) is a boxed lunch from Ofunaken, a long-established company that has been selling station bento at Ofuna Station since 1898, ten years after the station opened.
It consists of a colorful chirashi-zushi with many ingredients on a bed of sweet vinegared rice topped with a broiled egg and oboro, plus two pieces of Ofunaken’s traditional oshizushi of horse mackerel.
There are nine kinds of ingredients. Vinegared shrimp, scallop stew, conger eel stew, salmon roe soaked in soy sauce, smoked trout salmon, smoked albacore tuna, vinegared small sea bream, shiitake mushroom stew, and green peas are on top. This is quite an enjoyable bento with more variations in taste and texture than meets the eye, such as the firm texture of the pickled shrimp, the sweet and thickly seasoned shiitake mushroom stew, and the petite salmon roe in soy sauce.
The distinctive feature is that the seemingly raw trout salmon and albacore tuna are actually smoked, and when you try them, you will be surprised by the very strong smoky flavor.
The ingredients are boiled, marinated in soy sauce and vinegar, or smoked, and there are no raw ingredients, perhaps because this is an ekiben that is not necessarily eaten immediately after production. The appeal of this dish is that it can be enjoyed like a seafood rice bowl, and yet it is also unexpected.
This delightful chirashi-zushi is accompanied by two pieces of Ofunaken’s traditional 100-year-old pressed horse mackerel sushi. The ingredients of the chirashizushi are all made with a touch of soy sauce and vinegar, so they go very well with the vinegar-cured oshizushi of small horse mackerel, and the whole bento comes together very well. Each piece of oshizushi is also quite large, so the taste and quantity are ample, making this a very satisfying bento in that aspect as well.
© Source travel watch