Editor’s note: In the Taste of Life series, cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.

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Ai Hosokawa is an expert cook who moved to Kumamoto from Tokyo after she married. She continues to create unique dishes that incorporate elements from Italy, where she lived after graduating from university, as well as Asian countries, which she began visiting frequently after moving to Kumamoto.

Hosokawa says she has been interested in day-to-day life since she attended kindergarten. She liked to browse through a home interest magazine, to which her mother subscribed, rather than look at picture books. Cooking in particular intrigued her and reading cookbooks became one of her favorite pastimes.

Hoping to see more of the world, Hosokawa went to Italy after she graduated from university.

She attended cooking classes and a vocational training school to learn how to cook. But her most memorable moments was when she home-cooked for families who helped her during her stay.

“In Toscana, Sicily and Puglia, many families took me under their wing as if I was their daughter or grandchild, and we sat down for the daily meals,” says Hosokawa. To this day she treasures the numerous recipes and food diaries she wrote down back then.

Hosokawa held her own wedding and banquet in the garden of her home in Kumamoto. “One of the memorable dishes served during the feast was ‘kuri-dago’ (chestnut dumpling) made by our family friends,” she recalled.

In the Kumamoto dialect, “dago” means “dango,” or dumpling. They are made of flour kneaded with water and can be turned into sweets or meals. Something similar to the “suiton” (flour dumpling) dough can be found in Italy also in the form of handmade pasta. The idea of making batches of the stuff and enjoying them with everyone reminded her of the meals in Italy and she grew to cherish the dish.

Hosokawa makes dago-jiru (dumpling soup) of the four seasons using seasonal vegetables such as “sansai” (edible wild plants) in the spring, tomato and eggplant in the summer, chestnut in the fall and Chinese cabbage in winter. “Adding the dumplings to the soup after boiling them, like pasta, is my twist to getting a clear and fine flavor,” says Hosokawa.

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Ai Hosokawa: Born in Okayama Prefecture in 1972, Hosokawa went to Italy after she graduated from university and learned cooking at restaurants and the kitchens of homes around the country. Marriage brought her to the city of Kumamoto, where she offers cooking classes and exhibitions at “taishoji,” an atelier she set up in one of the outbuildings of former Taishoji temple. She is the author of “Ryorishu: Teiban” (Collection of dishes: Staple) published by anonima studio and other books.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

Main ingredients (Serves 2)

To make dumplings (60 grams local flour, 30 ml water), 400 ml water dashi stock (made by adding 10 grams small dried sardines [iriko] and 10 grams dried kombu kelp in 1 liter water and refrigerating overnight, then straining), 10 ml sake, satoimo yam, chestnut, “mukago” (propagule or fleshy spherical bud), turnip, mushrooms of your choice, some “yuzukosho” (paste made of yuzu zest, chili pepper and salt) and soy milk

1. To make dumplings, place flour in bowl in a heap. Make dent in the middle, pour water little by little and mix by hand. Form a lump and knead well on a board. Once surface becomes smooth, form into ball with seam at the bottom. Cover with bowl and leave for about 30 minutes.

2. To make soup, steam satoimo yam, chestnut, turnip and mukago until tender beforehand. Pour dashi stock, sake and salt in pot and bring to a boil. Add mushrooms and simmer on low heat. When they are cooked, add steamed vegetables and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Turn off stove and let flavors settle.

3. Hold dumpling dough with one hand, pinch dough with thumb and index finger of dominant hand and tear into flat pieces.

4. Bring water to a boil in another pot and cook dumplings. Chop turnip leaves and cook together. When dumplings are cooked to desired hardness, scoop with sieve and add with turnip leaves to pot with warmed soup. Adjust salty taste. Serve soup in individual bowls while piping hot and add yuzukosho and soy milk to taste.

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From The Asahi Shimbun’s Jinsei Reshipi (Life Recipe) column