Oyaki Nagano

Oyaki are Nagano's emblematic dumpling: buckwheat or wheat dough stuffed with nozawana pickled greens, kabocha, eggplant with miso, or sweet azuki, then griddled and steamed. Iroha-do in Zenkoji's temple approach has served them since 1925, hand-forming each dumpling to order. The crispy-bottomed, chewy-topped texture is impossible to replicate outside these wood-fired kitchens.