Shōyu-mame Dorayaki

"Soy Sauce Beans" is a traditional local food of Kagawa Prefecture

I bought “Shōyu-mame Dorayaki” made by “Jinya Confectionery” in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture. I was curious about the unexpected combination of soy sauce and dorayaki.

I looked up “Shōyu-mame” and found that it is one of the local dishes of Kagawa Prefecture, where dried fava beans are roasted and soaked in a seasoning solution of soy sauce, sugar and chili pepper while still hot. It is made by roasting dried fava beans and soaking them in a soy sauce, sugar and chili pepper mixture while hot.

It looks like an ordinary dorayaki. The dough is soft and fluffy and has the texture of a pancake.

When split in half, the red bean paste made from “shoyu beans” appears. It looks like a sweet bean paste, but it has a soft aroma of soy sauce.

Surprisingly, the taste of soy sauce is not so strong. The aroma of soy sauce is strong, but the bean paste itself is sweet and refreshing, and goes well with the dorayaki crust. Soy-sauce bean paste is a traditional local dish of Kagawa Prefecture, and is eaten in a variety of ways.