Nagasaki Local Cuisine: Urakami Soboro

Hey there, food enthusiasts! Let’s explore a unique dish from Nagasaki, specifically the Urakami district – Urakami Soboro. Don’t let the name fool you; it’s not your typical “soboro” with ground meat. Instead, it’s a flavorful stir-fry with thinly sliced pork and a colorful mix of vegetables. This dish has an interesting backstory, with ties to the area’s history and cultural exchange.

Dish Name: Urakami Soboro

• Region / Location: Nagasaki City (Urakami district), Nagasaki Prefecture.
• Primary Area of Tradition: Urakami district.
• Main Ingredients: Pork, fried kamaboko (fish cake), konnyaku noodles, bean sprouts, carrots, burdock root.

How It’s Eaten / Served

Urakami Soboro isn’t made with ground meat, despite the name. It’s prepared by stir-frying thinly sliced pork with fried kamaboko, konnyaku noodles, bean sprouts, carrots, and burdock root. The dish is seasoned with sake (or mirin), soy sauce, and sometimes dashi (Japanese broth), giving it a flavor that’s both savory and slightly sweet. While it’s a stir-fry, the addition of seasonings and broth gives it a bit of a simmered quality. The ingredients and seasonings can vary from family to family, but the overall flavor is simple and satisfying.

Cultural Background and Preservation

Urakami Soboro is a local dish that originated in the Urakami district of Nagasaki Prefecture. The story goes that in the late 1500s, Portuguese missionaries who were spreading Christianity in the Urakami area introduced this dish to the local Christians as a healthy way to eat pork, which wasn’t a common food at the time. Over time, the Christians adapted the recipe, using less pork and adding more vegetables, which became the standard way to make it. The name “Soboro” is thought to come from either the Portuguese word “sobrado” (leftovers) or the Japanese phrase “soo-oboro” (roughly chopped), referring to how the ingredients are cut.

While Urakami Soboro has been a beloved home-style dish for many years, it’s becoming less common to cook it at home. However, many restaurants in the area serve it, offering it as a side dish or incorporating it into creative dishes like “Urakami Soboro don” (rice bowl) and “Urakami Soboro yaki udon” (stir-fried udon noodles). There’s even a bento box sold at Nagasaki Station that features whale meat instead of pork.

Urakami Soboro is a regular item on school lunch menus in Nagasaki Prefecture. To promote the dish and its cultural significance, the NPO Urakami Soboro Preservation Society was established in 2019.

Additional information:

• Kamaboko (蒲鉾): A type of Japanese fish cake.
• Konnyaku (蒟蒻): A jelly-like food made from the konjac plant.
• Dashi (だし): A Japanese broth made from ingredients like fish flakes and kelp.
• Mirin (味醂): A sweet rice wine used for cooking.