Ozoni New Year's Soup (Kanto style)

[helenjp]

Ozoni New Year's Soup (Kanto style)

Serves 4 as Soup.

This is the Eastern Japanese style ozoni - a clear broth flavored lightly with sake and soy sauce, and featuring shiitake, greens, grilled mochi, and usually chicken and fish sausage, sometimes other ingredients as well.

Common additions and variations:

Mitsuba - boil quickly, tie in a loop or knot - it's more decorative and easier to eat.

Sato-imo - parboil small sato-imo in vinegared water, rub away all sliminess and cook again in separate quantity of broth, reheat in soup broth when ready to serve.

Carrot - preboil

Hakusai - preboil, cut into short lengths that can be served neatly

Shrimp - clean, trim, simmer in equal quantities of sake and water with a pinch of salt

Buri (yellowtail) salted, grilled or simmered in the soup

(Or other types of fish, sometimes fresh, sometimes salted).

Other types of kamaboko fish sausage - cut decoratively, add directly to soup bowl without precooking.

• 4 mochi (rectangular)
  
• 150 g chicken (momo= thigh) pieces
  
• 4 shiitake, dried or fresh
  
• 1/2 narutomaki fish sausage (pink and white spiral cross-section)
  
• 100 g komatsuna brassica greens
  
• 800 ml dashi (made with katsuo, konbu)
  
• 2 T soy sauce
  
• 3/4 tsp good salt
  
• 1 tsp soy sauce (to taste)
  
• shreds of yuzu (citrus junos) zest
  

* Make dashi with a teabag or 20cm dried kelp and 30-40g katsuobushi, add in dried shiitake if using. Strain, reserve broth and shitake caps.

* Cut off and discard stems of shiitake, cut shallow "V" lines to form a cross on top of the cap, or simply stab a cross-shaped cut so that the shiitake cook evenly.

* Quickly cook greens in boiling salted water, refresh in cold water, drain and cut into short lengths.

* Slice fish sausage diagonally, set aside.

* Thinly peel yuzu, cut into shreds, place in small covered container and set aside.

* Bring broth to boil, season broth with salt and sake (quantities above).

* Chicken thigh should still have skin on. Pull out any sinews (fish tweezers are handy) and cut into bite-sized pieces. Pour boiling water over and drain.

* Simmer chicken pieces in seasoned broth. Remove chicken pieces, add soy sauce to broth, and check seasoning.

Up to this point, the soup may be prepared ahead, even the day before. I put all ingredients in a shallow container in the fridge, laid out so that I can quickly assemble a serving, as my family are inordinately fond of this soup and will eat many servings during the day.

* When ready to serve, grill mochi (5 minutes in an oven toaster or grill), drop briefly into cold water, and place one or two in each soup bowl.

* While mochi is grilling, warm ingredients in broth, assemble each serving neatly in bowls.

* Finally pour warm broth over, add a sprinkle of yuzu peel, and serve.

Keywords: Soup, Easy, Japanese

( RG2060 )