>nurunuru/nuranura-textured yam paste, tororo とろろ

When little baby birds thrust their open beaks straight up in the air, eyes closed and mouths fully open, they are expecting some regurgitated goo to drop from their parents' beaks.

Not sure how this relates to slippery, viscous goo meant for adult human consumption. The strange fact is, slimy texture (likened to... puke ... and various body fluids...) is precisely what some people crave and relish. How can I possibly put a positive spin on it after that observation? Explore slime advocates' Jungian psyche? Oooh... primordial goo...

Better known examples of this texture are stringy natto with mucus threads (糸ひき納豆) and raw eggs with rice (卵かけご飯).

The featured dish today is tororogohan,とろろご飯, yam paste-topped rice. The glutinous paste is made from certain kinds of yam (山芋, 自然薯, 長芋) roots, grated into tororo (とろろ). This dish is surprisingly common in home cooking, but it flies under the radar. Grated yam is also used on udon (とろろうどん) and soba (とろろそば).

Gross? Too gluey? Go for "crunchy" then, (paripari ぱりぱり, sakusaku さくさく, zakuzaku ざくざく), and stay away from anything nurunuru ぬるぬる or nuranura ぬらぬら.