NANI COOKS! - Ozoni; Japanese New Year Soup (Kanto Style)
New Year (正月, shōgatsu) is one of the most important holidays in Japan. Likewise, Chinese New Year when Chinese would start spring cleaning, purchasing new clothes, setting up the house with festive ornaments weeks beforehand, the Japanese will also practice many traditions to prepare them for their new year! Check out the similarities and differences between the Japanese New Year and Chinese New Year here!
January 1, the Japanese New Year typically starts with catching the first sunrise of the year and visiting the temples and shrines to pray for good fortune and blessings - Hatsumode (初詣). Various kinds of traditional New Year dishes are also served on this day, and it includes Osechi Ryori (a box of traditional foods enjoyed only during the Japanese New Year), Otoso (sweetened rice wine), and also Ozoni (a soup with mochi).
For most Singaporeans, the easiest and most fuss-free way to host Chinese New Year gatherings is to gather your family and friends around the table for a hotpot sesh. The Japanese are no exception too! While we indulge in the conventional chicken soup or the sour and spicy Tomyum broth, with an assortment of different meats and vegetables to ring in the new year, the Japanese celebrate the new year with Ozoni; also known as Japanese New Year Soup!
Join us today for another NANI Cooks! recipe, our latest cooking series where we recreate Japanese recipes at home to show you that you don’t need fanciful ingredients and equipment to create an authentic and delicious Japanese meal. The recipes are quick, easy, and delicious with most of them taking less than one hour to recreate. Check out some of our previous recipes - Okonomiyaki, Tebasaki Wings, and Gyudon here!
What is Ozoni?
Source: Just One Cookbook
Ozoni, is an important dish for the Japanese New Year. This dish is a mochi soup that the Japanese typically eat along with Osechi Ryori on New Year’s Day in Japan. There are currently two different styles of Ozoni, the Kansai style which features a milky white broth, and the Kanto style which is a clear dashi-based mochi soup with chicken and seasonal vegetables! The preparation for Ozoni also varies by household and region, as each family has their own unique way of preparing the mochi soup!
As Ozoni is a New Year’s dish, the ingredients that go into the soup are added for auspiciousness or harbour a special meaning. Mochi is stretchable, therefore symbolizing longevity. Local produce is added to represent a bountiful harvest in the new year!
Ingredients
Mochi Ingredients (Serves 2)
450g Glutinous rice flour
100ml Water
1 tsp Sugar
30g Corn flour/Potato starch
Soup Ingredients (Serves 2)
1 Chicken thigh
100g Spinach
Handful of mochi
2 Stalks of parsley
1/2 Tbsp Sake
1/4 tsp Salt
480ml Dashi stock
1/2 Tbsp Soy sauce
Another 1/2 Tbsp Sake
Another 1/2 Tbsp Salt
Step 1
Combine your glutinous rice flour, sugar, and water in a mixing bowl.
Mix well till it forms a paste!
Step 2
Cover the bowl loosely with cling wrap, then microwave for 1 minute!
Step 3
After 1 minute in the microwave, your mochi dough should form a thick paste! Use a wet rubber spatula to mix the dough, before microwaving it for another 30 seconds!
Step 4
Coat your plate or work surface with corn flour/potato starch to prevent the mochi from sticking!
Pro tip: Avoid touching the mochi with your bare hands as it is extremely hot at this point!
Step 5
Roll your mochi dough into little balls, and set aside!
Pro tip: Work fast! Mochi is extremely easy to work with when it is still warm. Once they cool down completely, it will be more difficult to roll them into a nice ball shape!
Step 6
Cut your chicken thigh into bite-sized pieces!
Step 7
Marinate your chicken with Sake and 1/4 tsp of salt for 15 minutes!
Step 8
Blanch your spinach in boiling water till it is tender, then submerge in ice water immediately and set aside.
Step 9
Pour your Dashi stock into a pot. Once it boils, add your chicken pieces, soy sauce, Sake, and 1/2 tbsp of salt.
Pro tip: Prepare your Dashi stock beforehand, or use ready-to-cook ones!
Step 10
Toast your mochi balls on a heated pan till crispy!
Final Step:
Scoop your soup into a bowl, and add your spinach, toasted mochi, and parsley into the bowl, and you’re done!
Viola!
This bowl of Ozoni was definitely worth the effort! If we have to describe it, say the broth tasted similar to Sukiyaki broths we would normally have in hotpot restaurants. The mochi, chicken, and spinach added different textures to the dish, and it was overall a very interesting experience from the making of the mochi to the plating. I could understand why this dish is one of the highlights and specials of Japanese New Year dishes!
With this, before the year-end is approaching, I will take a second here to wish everyone a Happy New Year. よいおとし”を!
Video recipe available!
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