Ozoni
Date: Jan 9th, 2009
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Ozoni is a traditional Japanese cuisine especially eaten in New Year’s day, as I’ve mentioned in my blog post. It’s interesting that how to cook Ozoni is different from which part of Japan we are from. The ingredients, the shape of Mochi (rice cake, there’s a related post here) and whether it’s boiled or baked, and whether the soup is miso based or soy sauce based, etc. are all different from one region to another. So if you look into the recipe, you will find several other ways of making Ozoni.
For example, in east Japan as in Tokyo, we’ll use square-shaped baked Mochi and soy sauce based soup, while in west Japan as in Kyoto, they’ll use round-shaped Mochi, which they woun’t bake but just simmer in the soup. The soup is white Miso based. (Miso usually has red one and white one. Red one tastes saltier, and white one tastes sweet. It’s common for most of us to use mixed one.)The ingredients also vary depending on the regions. Followings are what I’d use for my Ozoni. -chicken The ingredients, except for Mochi, are to be cut into appropriate size to eat. It’s not any difficult to cook Ozoni. “Ozoni” actually means several ingredients mixed & simmered. It’s just a soup with Mochi. So all you have to do is just boil the vegetables and chicken in the soup until they get heated, and then simmer them while you season the soup with Miso or soy sauce. It’s easier if you bake the Mochi in an oven and just add it/them into the soup and simmer it/them. |
