Zōni 雑煮

History and Origins

The Japanese have a good food of luck which is essential to their celebration. When the new year comes, I will serve the old god with a kiss, but as I go down, I'll have a "coo." At that time, we thank you for the harvest and the safety of the old year, and pray for your new year's prayer and home security. Three New Year's Day is eaten in every country, but there is a variety of local and domestic foods, such as the shape, the materials, and the type of soup. Fukui Prefecture's "coast stew" is a simple thing to put water in a bowl of platecloth, to cook the dough, to taste the sauce, and to taste the sauce, to finish with a casserole. There's a theory that this suit is a "upset of stocks." It's also characteristic of not using a boiling pot but placing it in the daily soup. In the Yamasaka region, "coo soup" in some areas is made of dough and has a black sugar in it. This is because the northern ships that connect Hokkaido and Osaka were in the harbor at the time of exchange, and they were in the harbor at a young age, so they made expensive black sugar.

When It Is Eaten

I can eat on New Year's Eve. In some areas, it is customary not to eat rice on January 1.

How It Is Eaten

Put a thin half-moon coat on the pan, round, water on it, and cook until it is soft. Then add a taster to it, and add a lot of casserole.

Recipe — Serves 5

Ingredients

• 10 round mochi
• 2 turnip
• 2–3 tbsp miso
• as needed bonito flakes
• 1 kelp (konbu)

Method

1. We're going to put a plate on the pan, we're going to put a thin half-month-sized coat on it, we're going to put a bowl on it, we're going to put water on it, and we're going to put it on the middle of the fire.
2. If the cucumber becomes soft, add a taste and stop the fire.
3. It's on a bowl and I'm putting a lot of casserole on it.

More About Zōni

Zōni (雑煮 or ぞうに), often with the honorific "o-" as o-zōni, is a Japanese soup containing mochi rice cakes. The dish is strongly associated with the Japanese New Year and its tradition of osechi ceremonial foods. The preparation of zōni varies both by household and region.

Etymology

Zōni is written in the Japanese language using two kanji characters. Since the first, 雑 means "miscellaneous" or "mixed", and the second, 煮, means "simmer" or "boil", it is thought that the word is derived from the fact that zōni consists of many miscellaneous items of food (such as mochi, vegetables and seafood) being boiled together. Formerly, amongst samurai society, the dish was referred to as "烹雑" (hōzō) with 烹 also being an archaic term for "to simmer" or "to boil".

Origin

It is said that zōni finds its roots in samurai society cuisine. It is thought to be a meal that was cooked on field during battles, boiled together with mochi, vegetables and dried foods, among other ingredients. It is also generally believed that this original meal, at first exclusive to samurai, eventually became a staple food of the common people. Zōni was first served as part of a full-course dinner (honzen ryōri), and thus is thought to have been a considerably important meal to samurai.

The tradition of eating zōni on New Year's Day dates to the end of the Muromachi period (1336–1573). The dish was offered to the gods in a ceremony on New Year's Eve.

Variations

Stock

Zōni has numerous regional variations in Japan. In many regions including the Kantō region, zōni consists of a clear soup called sumashi-jiru which is flavoured with dashi, a stock made from soy sauce, flakes of dried bonito, and/or kombu. In the Kansai region and eastern Shikoku, zōni is made with a stock of white miso, while zōni in the part of Fukui Prefecture is made with a stock of red miso. In the Tottori-Izumo region, a variety of red bean soup is used for zōni.

Mochi

The preparation of the mochi for the dish also varies by region. In the Kantō region and Tōhoku region, the mochi are cut into squares and grilled before being added to the stock. In the Kansai region and the Chūgoku region, a round, boiled mochi is generally preferred. In most of the Kyushu region, a round mochi is popular, but grill-boil difference changes depending on area. In some areas taro or tofu is used instead of mochi. This type of zōni is found on some islands or mountainous areas where rice is not grown to a large extent.

Additions

Common additions to the soup include chicken, fish or meatballs; leafy vegetables such as komatsuna or spinach; mitsuba (a Japanese herb similar to parsley); kamaboko such as naruto and carrot flakes for colour; and flakes of yuzu peel for its citrus fragrance. Regional specialties are often added. A sprinkle of seven-spice chili flakes (shichimi) is sometimes added at the table.

Text adapted from the English Wikipedia article Zōni by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Dish data: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), “Uchi no Kyodo Ryori” (Our Regional Cuisines) database, used under the Public Data License (PDL1.0); translated and adapted from the Japanese original.