Kansai-Style Ozoni Recipe: 3 Tips for Making Ozoni
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 20, 2023 • 3 min read
In many households, the first morning of the Japanese New Year is greeted with a bowl of ozōni—Japanese New Year mochi soup.
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What Is Ozōni?
Ozōni is a celebratory dish of chewy, stretchy mochi rice cakes served in a simple miso soup with various garnishes. Ozōni is considered part of osechi ryori—a traditional New Year’s Day assortment of symbolic and ceremonial dishes, most of which are served in lacquered jubako boxes to ring in the new year. Common garnishes for ozōni include a zest of yuzu, toasted mochi, or thinly sliced green onion.
What Are the Main Types of Ozōni?
In Japan, ozōni recipes vary by region and individual household. Generally, the stock and mochi preparation fall under the following main categories:
- Kansai-style: The Kansai region, which includes Osaka, pairs kombu dashi with sweet white miso and a round piece of boiled mochi. Other ingredients may include daikon radish, kamaboko fish cake, carrot, and satoimo (taro root). The soup is traditionally garnished with katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes).
- Kanto-style: The Kanto region, which includes Tokyo and its surrounding areas, favors a clear soup stock called sumashi-jiru, flavored with a katsuo dashi, featuring rectangular slices of grilled or toasted mochi. Kanto-style ozōni soup may feature kamaboko fish cake, sake-marinated chicken, carrot, slices of renkon (lotus root), shiitake mushrooms, and leafy greens like komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach), and mitsuba (Japanese parsley). This style of ozōni is often garnished with a few slivers of aromatic yuzu peel.
3 Tips for Making Ozōni
Most ozōni recipes encourage personal interpretations and favored flavors, so if you’re not a fan of something, skip it, but note that the essential components of ozōni are the broth and the mochi. Here are some tips for making the comforting soup:
- 1. Search for the right ingredients. You can find most ingredients for making either style of ozōni in Asian grocery stores, but some may need to be sourced online, like prepared mochi cakes, also known as kirimochi, or “cut mochi cakes.” (Both rectangular and round shapes fall under this category.)
- 2. Select the right type of miso. Traditional Kansai-style ozōni uses a sweeter variety of Kyoto-style white miso known as saikyo miso, but basic shiro miso (also known as white miso) will also work.
- 3. Try carrot flowers. If you want to capture the traditional Japanese look of ozōni, make carrot flowers using specific vegetable cutting molds—just like cookie cutters—which you can find online or in some specialty kitchen stores.
Kansai-Style Ozōni Recipe
makes
2prep time
5 mintotal time
8 hr 15 mincook time
10 minIngredients
- 1
The night before you plan to make ozōni, combine the kelp and the water in a medium pot. In the morning, remove the kelp.
- 2
Add the taro, daikon, mushrooms, and most of the carrots (reserve a few for garnish) to the dashi and bring it to a boil. Skim off any film that rises to the surface as a result of the taro with a fine-mesh spider strainer. Reduce to a simmer, and cook partially covered until the vegetables are tender but not mushy, about 5 minutes.
- 3
Meanwhile, bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Using a vegetable cutter, cut a few carrot coins into flower shapes. Add the flowers to the boiling water for a few minutes until they are tender, then drain and set them aside.
- 4
When the vegetables are ready, remove them from the heat and add the miso to the soup, passing it through a fine-mesh strainer to ensure even distribution. Taste and season with shoyu (soy sauce) as needed.
- 5
Place the mochi in a toaster oven, and cook it until lightly puffed and soft, just a few minutes. Alternatively, boil according to the package instructions.
- 6
Using a ladle, pour the soup into serving bowls, then top them with mochi, kamaboko, katsuobushi, and mitsuba, if using.
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