new year

Ozouni or ozohni or ozoni: Mochi soup for the New Year

maki — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:00:24 +0100

Happy New Year! I wanted to post this a little earlier, but better late than never I hope!

During the New Year holiday period, traditionally rice is not cooked, to give a rest to the cook. Instead, dried mochi cakes were used as the carbohydrate. Ozouni (お雑煮おぞうに), which literally means ‘mixed stew’, is a soup with mochi cakes in it. There is no one set recipe, and there are lots of regional variations. This one is a simple Kanto (Tokyo area) style ozouni, the way my mother makes it. It’s very simple, not to mention economical - just clear soup, greens, chicken and mochi. Garnish is optional.

Recipe: Kanto style Ozouni (関東風お雑煮）

For 4 servings

5 cups of dashi stock, using plenty of bonito flakes
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. sake (leave out if you can’t use sake)
1/2 tsp. salt
100g / about 3 oz. dark or light meat chicken, cut into bite size pieces
About 200g / 6 oz (a bunch) of dark greens, such as komatsuna (traditional), spinach, etc. (I used bok choi here)
4 mochi cakes
Pink kamaboko for garnish

Heat up the oven to 200°C / 400°F, or use a toaster oven or grill. Grill or bake the mochi cakes until they puff up a bit. They may get lightly browned on top, which is fine.

Wash and chop the greens roughly.

Heat up the dashi if you premade it. Add the soy sauce, sake and salt. Add the greens, and simmer until limp but still bright green. Add the chicken pieces and simmer a few minutes.

Add the mochi and simmer for a couple of minutes until the mochi is soft, but don’t let it sit too long or the mochi will turn into a sticky goo.

Serve in miso soup bowls, garnished with a slice of pink kamaboko. Other garnishes you can use: mitsuba, chopped green onions, a sprinkle of sansho pepper, zest of yuzu.

Notes

There is a reason for using green　leafy vegetables (菜　な　na) and chicken (鶏　とり　tori). Combined they were ‘read’ na o toru （なをとる）which can mean to advance in life.

Kamaboko is a fish cake. You can find it at any Japanese grocery. The pink kind (actually pink on the outside, white on the inside) is used as garnish here since pink is considered to be a lucky/festive color. You can also use pink-and-white naruto instead.

In the Kyoto area, a white miso soup made with sweet Saikyo miso (see miso primer) is made. It has round vegetables in it for luck and peace - 円満　(えんまん　enman) such as taro roots cut into rounds, slices of daikon radish, carrot, etc.

In other regions they add other things. In Hokkaido they might add salmon, crab, salmon caviar (ikura) and so on.

Mochi cakes are also available at a Japanese grocery store. You can get square or round ones. Round ones are traditionally used in the Kansai (Kyoto-Osaka) region and to the west, while square ones are used in the Kanto (Tokyo) region and east/north. Either one is ok to use.

Please be careful when eating mochi, especially when it’s in ozouni. Mochi is very glutinous and dense. Every year, a few people die in Japan around New Year’s from choking on mochi. ou need to bite off small chunks and chew it well. Be careful of giving it to very small children - cut it into very small pieces for them.

Finally, if you’re watching your weight, be aware that one piece of mochi is about 130 calories, so you might want go easy on things like cheese mochi, delicious as it may be.

Mochitsuki in your neighborhood?

maki — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:15:43 +0100

Mochitsuki photo by Ivva

Mochitsuki (餅つき）is a New Year’s ritual in Japan, where people get together to pound some steamed ‘sweet’ or sticky rice into gooey, sticky mochi in a big wooden barrel. Nowadays most mochi is made mechanically, but this energetic manual pounding is still practiced all over Japan. (My aunt and uncle still do it, even though they are both in their 70s.) If you’ve never had a chance to see a Mochitsuki in action, it can be really fun, with just a small thrill of danger (the mochi turner’s hands could get crushed by the heavy hammer!)

This is the week to start looking for mochitsuki events where you are, even if you don’t live in Japan. For example, in London, Japan Centre will hold their annual Mochi Pounding event in-store on January 2nd from 12 midday at 212-213 Piccadilly. In San Francisco, there will be a big Mochitsuki festival complete with taiko (big drums) at the Asian Art Museum on January 3rd.

I haven’t been able to find a lot of info about mochitsuki events online that are current (I’ve found a lot of reports about past years’ events) so look in your local papers, Japanese societies, and so on to see what’s going on. (If you find out anything, please let us know in the comments!)

Toshikoshi Soba or Year-End Soba: A bowl of hot soba noodles to end the year

maki — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:20:23 +0100

Revised and updated: This recipe for Toshikoshi Soba, or Year-End Soba, traditionally eaten in Japan on New Year's Eve, is one of the earliest recipes posted on Just Hungry. I've expanded the directions so that you can use various methods for making the soup. Originally posted December 30, 2003.

Even though Christmas has become big business in Japan in recent years, the real holiday at this time of year is New Year's Day. The end of the old year, called 師走　(しわす　shiwasu), is a hectic time, as people are busily celebrating with friends and colleagues at 忘年会　(ぼうねんかい　bounenkai), "forget the year" parties - besides wrapping up things at work and getting ready to go home for the holidays.

New Year's Eve itself (大晦日　おおみそか　oh-misoka), however, is celebrated rather quietly by many people. There isn't the big urge to go to a party, to send off the old year with champagne and fireworks and tooting horns. In a way Japanese people do things the opposite of how people in the West celebrate Christmas or Hannukah vs. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day: Christmas is an excuse to have a party (it also happens to be a big 'date' day, when couples stay for the night at a luxury hotel for a romantic party of two). New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and the few days afterwards are when you spend time with family at home. On New Year's Eve, you'll stay home and reflect on the old year, watch some year-ending entertainment programs on TV, and perhaps go to the local temple at midnight, while hearing the 108 rings of the bell to "ring away" the evils of the old year.

The traditional evening meal to have while waiting to greet the new year is a bowl of hot soba noodles, called 年越し蕎麦 (としこしそば　toshikoshi soba), which roughly means "end the old year and enter the new year soba noodles". There is no one set recipe for this soba - they are probably as many varieties as there are households. At our house my mother simply prepared a straightforward bowl with hot soup, something on top such as a slice of kamaboko, a rather rubbery fishcake; perhaps some spinach or othe green leavy vegetable, a raw egg dropped on top just before serving. When a raw egg is used like this in a bowl of hot noodles, whether it's soba or udon, it's called 月見　(つきみ　tsukimi) - moon-watching.

Hot soba noodles can be enjoyed at any time of the year of course, but since I usually prefer cold soba, New Year's Eve is usually the only day I have this. It is quite good and comforting.

When I originally wrote this article 5 years ago, soba (buckwheat) noodles, were generally only available at Japanese grocery stores. How times have changed! Now you can buy them at many general supermarkets, health food stores and such. There are many different brands, at all price ranges. Look for one that has smooth, mostly unbroken (a few strands may break) noodles that are fairly thick. Avoid the very cheap brands; with soba you really do get what you pay for.

Recipe: Toshikoshi Soba: Year-End Soba Noodle Soup

Note that the toppings are not that important here. What is important is properly prepared noodles, and a good flavorful soup. I've given three methods for making the soup, ranging from best (using kaeshi) to ok (using storebought readymade sauce).

Per 1 large bowlful:

About 60 g / 2 oz. dried soba noodles
basic dashi stock
Kaeshi, or soy sauce, mirin and sugar
OR instead of the dashi and ingredients above, a bottle of tsuyu or mentsuyu (readymade noodle sauce), available at Japanese grocery stores
Toppings such as kamaboko, spinach leaves, egg (optional)
Green onions, finely chopped
Nanami or shichimi tohgarashi- seven-ingredient red pepper spice (see notes)

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Put in the soba noodles and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook until the noodles are not quite al dente - it should be cooked through. (Dried soba noodles, unlike dried semolina pasta, is rather delicate so you don't want to cook it in a rolling boil.) As soon as it's done, drain the noodles, and plunge it a bowl of cold water. Change the water frequently as you rinse the noodles. The objective is to get rid of any sort of starchy service on the noodles. Once this is done, drain the noodles and set aside in a colander. (See the very detailed instructions on how to cook and rinse soba noodles here.)

Make the basic dashi stock, and use an extra handful of bonito flakes. (You can also use vegetarian dashi stock if you prefer.)

If you are using kaeshi, mix 1 part kaeshi to 5 parts dashi stock. Vary to your tastes (don't make it too weak or too strong, but remember that you'll be putting soba noodles in it, so make it just a bit stronger/saltier than you think is necessary).

If you are using soy sauce and mirin straight, first mix the soy sauce and mirin in a 2 to 1 ratio (e.g. 2 Tbs. soy sauce and 1 Ts. mirin). Add a little sugar (for 2 Tbs. soy sauce add 1/2 tsp. or so of sugar). Add dashi to taste, at about the same 1 (soy sauce + mirin + sugar) to 5 (dashi) ratio.

If you are using store-bought tsuyu or mentsuyu (noodle sauce) in a bottle (such as this one), add plain water to the until it tastes right to you. The ratio depends on the brand and type. Note that even ones that say they are 'straight' (as in, not concetrated) will need to be thinned out for hot noodle soup, since they are meant to be used 'straight' for cold noodle dipping sauce, which is a lot stronger.

Heat up the soup. Put in the rinsed soba noodles, and gently simmer until the noodles are heated through.

Put noodles into serving bowls. Add soup, and any toppings. If you're adding a raw egg (be sure you're only adding a 'safe' egg!), add it at the last moment.

Garnish with a little of the chopped green onion and/or shichimi tohgarashi on top. You could also add a dab of wasabi, a small sheet of nori seaweed, and so on.

Notes

七味唐辛子　（しちみとうがらし　shichimi tohgarashi or nanami tohgarashi) is a mixed ground spice, containing red pepper, dried citrus skin, sesame seeds, etc. It's a commonly used table spice. You could use ground up red papper flakes as a substitute, though it won't have the same complex flavor and aroma. It's quite inexpensive and lasts a long time, so look for it at a Japanese food store. (Or you can buy it from Amazon Groceries.) I consider it to be a very important ingredient in my Japanese pantry.

Soup made with dashi, soy sauce and mirin is used for most Japanese noodles. The saltiness or strength of the soup is controlled by the ratio of soy sauce to dashi - the more dashi, the thinner the soup.

See this kitsune udon recipe for a vegan topping alternative (simmered aburaage or tofu skin). Of course, you could just enjoy the noodles with no topping, just the green onion and shichimi tohgarashi.

Japanese people usually don't do much drinking on New Year's Eve, because it's considered to be a good thing to greet the New Year bright and early. (Drinking during the New Year's festivities is another matter.)

Memories of New Year's feasts in Japan

maki — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 21:31:14 +0100

I love Christmas celebrations, and Thanksgiving when I'm in the U.S., but the holiday that has the most memories for me is New Years. This is the biggest holiday celebrated in Japan.

When I was a kid (when we lived in Japan and not elsewhere) we went to my grandparents' house every year. All of the relatives on my mother's side gathered there. Since my mother has 5 siblings, all of them plus their spouses and children made for quite a large party. Usually at least half of them would stay over for a night or two, and the futons would be lined up from edge to edge over a huge expanse of tatami mats, over three rooms with the shoji screens opened up. Besides the family there were all the neighors, employees of my grandfather and uncle, and other visitors who dropped by.

For this crowd, my aunt, who was in charge of the kitchen, had to prepare huge amounts of food. She wasn't into prettiness, but somehow managed to keep everyone overfull with her abundance. She would spend hours preparing everything before New Years day - vats of kobumaki (konbu seaweed wrapped around dried anchovies and cooked in a broth), nimono (sort of a generic term for stewed/braised vegetables and some sort of meat, usually chicken, or tofu), and so on. Ostensibly all the New Year's traditional foods are prepared in advance to allow the cook or housewife to rest during the first few days of the New Year, but it means a lot of preparations beforehand.

One New Year's tradition that my aunt has even kept up to this day, is to make some mochi with my uncle, in a real wooden hisu. He would wield the tsuki (the heavy wooden pounder), while she should rapidly turn the pounded rice mass. I was always amazed at how perfect their rhythm was. If he'd slipped and brought down the pounder too fast, he would have crushed her hands, but it never happened.

Mochi is a very glutinous, sticky sort of dough made by pounding steamed short-grain rice (mochi mai). Nowadays barely anyone makes their own mochi, and if they do they use an electric mochi machine that turns and pounds and kneads the rice. (A bit of trivia: the inventor of the original bread machine got the idea from seeing how a mochi machine operated.) Most people however just buy dried cakes of mochi. Mochi is eaten year round, but is most popular for New Years where it's made into zoh-ni. Basically, a cake of fresh or grilled mochi is stewed briefly in a clear dashi stock based soup with other ingredients. The ingredients vary widely depending on what part of the country you come from. Since we lived in the Kanto region, we had the rather boring combination of chicken pieces and komatsuna (mustard greens), though I always thought it was delicious.

Mochi was traditionally consumed during the New Year period for various reasons: partly for luck, and partly so that the cook or housewife didn't have to make rice during that time. Besides the mochi that's eaten in soups and such, stacked rounds of mochi, called kagami mochi (mirror mochi), is displayed in front of the family kamidana (shrine). This is usually left for weeks after the New Year, until it's rock hard, then broken up with a hammer. Both my aunt and my mother used to break it up into small bits then deep fry the bits for a delicious kind of rice cracker.

Other New Year's foods are also full of significance. Various bean dishes are served, such as stewed kuromame (black beans). Beans are meant to be for fertility, as is tazukuri, small dried fish coated in sticky sweet caramel. Colors are important too: kinton, a dish of pureed sweet potatoes with sugar syrup and beans or chestnuts, is colored a bright yellow with the seeds of the nadeshiko flower, and supposed to invoke gold, signifying prosperity. Namasu, a sort of sweet-sour instant pickle made with daikon radish or turnips, has a bright red added to it in the form of carrots or hot red chili peppers. Red and white together is considered lucky and festive. And so on. These foods were served in beautiful stacked lacqured bento boxes called juubako.

The irony is, that these traditional New Year's foods are not that well suited to the modern palate in Japan, and so they are consumed less and less. Gone are the days when people ate kinton and kobumaki and zoh-ni until January 7th, the end of the New Year's period. Nowadays, popular New Year's foods are things like sliced cold roast beef and chirashi-zushi (sashimi and other things on a mound of sushi rice), hardly full of significance of any sort. Still, some people do at least have small amounts of the traditional foods, perhaps in a one-layer juubako.

I myself don't like the traditional foods enough to go to the extra effort of trying to make them here. Still, I will make perhaps some kinton and some zoh-ni on New Year's day, just to bring back some memories.

(Three years ago, I wrote about the New Year's Eve food tradition: Toshikoshi soba.)

Blini, caviar and local sparkling cider

maki — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 22:05:25 +0100

Happy new year!

Last night, we had two favorites for our little New Year's Eve party - blini with caviar and smoked salmon, with a local speciality called Blauacher Chlöpfmoscht.

First about the Blauacher Chlöpfmoscht. This is a sparkling wine made from apples - so I guess you could call it a cider. But what a delicate, lovely thing it is. It's a very pale champagne white, with a faint scent of fresh apple, sparkly and very festive. (The color is so delicate in fact, that I couldn't get a good photo of it...I'll try again next time we get a bottle.) By local, I really mean local - it's made at a farm that is about 3 minutes walk from our house, Müller. The town where we live is not that rural really - we are about 30 minutes by commuter train from the center of Zürich - but there is still plenty of farmland around. And we are very lucky to have Herr and Frau Müller, who operate a small organic farm where we can buy the most delicious fresh, large eggs, not to mention totall chemically free beef. Unfortunately their operation is too small for them to ship their products, including the Blauacher Chlöpfmoscht. Whenever we go visiting and know that our hosts appreciate wine, we try to bring along a bottle, and it's always appreciated.

Blini, on the other hand, can be made anywhere, with the right ingredients. It's the perfect buttery yet bland carrier for caviar - the sturgeon kind, or salmon eggs, or even (undyed!) lumpfish. Any kind of smoked fish goes well on it too. A dollop of creme fraiche or good sour cream, or unsalted butter, never hurts. You can also try sweet toppings like butter and marmelade. Unlike crepes, blini batter contains yeast. Blini are great make-ahead party food. Just make a big stack, lay out the toppings, and let everyone go at it.

Below are two variations. The first uses buckwheat flour. The second uses some ripe desem. Both recipes make a lot of blini. Blini freezes very well, stacked with a piece of parchment or waxed paper in between each and then wrapped in several layers of plastic wrap.

Buckwheat blini

2 cups buckwheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour (all purpose, or soft - not bread flour)
2 packets of dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
4 cups 2% milk (or 3 cups whole milk + 1 cup water)
120g or 4 oz. or 1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
5 large eggs
Oil for cooking

Sift together the buckwheat and white flours.

Dissolve the yeast and about a 2 tablespoons of the sugar in the lukewarm water. By lukewarm, that means if you put your finger in, it should feel a bit warm but not hot. Let it proof (bubble up) for a bit, about 5 minutes.

Mix together 1/3 cup of the flour mixture with the yeast-water mixture. Cover and let proof (bubble up) for 30 minutes to an hour. If you leave it for the longer time, the yeast flavor will dissipate more - which I prefer. I don't really like the flavor of commercial dry yeast that much.

Add 2 cups of the milk (or milk and water mix), the rest of the flour, salt, the rest of the sugar, beaten eggs and melted butter to the dough, and mix. Add more flour if necessary to bring to the consistency of mayonnaise. Cover and let proof (bubble up) for about 30 minutes. It will get quite bubbly, so be sure your bowl is big enough to avoid a countertop volcano effect.

Heat up the rest of the milk (it's easiest to do this in the microwave). Pour it over the batter and mix gently to make a thinnish but not too thin batter. It should be the consistency of unwhipped cream.

Heat up a griddle or a couple of nonstick frying pans over medium heat. Put about 2 Tbs. worth of batter in the pan or on the griddle, let the batter spread to about 4 inches / 10 cm diameter. Cook until the batter on top of drying out, then flip to briefly cook the other side. Repeat often until you end up with about 50 blini. Enjoy with whatever toppings you like.

Desem blini

1 1/2 cups ripe desem
1 cup unbleached white flour (all purpose, or soft - not bread flour)
1 packet of dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
4 cups milk
120g or 4 oz. or 1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
5 large eggs
Oil for cooking

Mix together the desem, lukewarm water mixed with yeast and 1 Tbs. of sugar (see above), and about 1/2 cup of the white flour. Let proof (bubble up) for 1 hour, no less. Desem seems to need a bit of time to get used to the yeast (and note there's only 1 packet of yeast, since desem has its own leavening power.)

Add 2 cups of the milk, the rest of the flour, salt, beaten eggs and melted butter to the dough, and mix. Add more white flour if necessary to bring to the consistency of mayonnaise. Cover and let proof (bubble up) for about 30 minutes. It will get quite bubbly so be sure your bowl if big enough.

Scald (bring to boil) the rest of the milk. Pour it over the batter and mix gently to make a thinnish but not too thin batter.

I think you could substitute whole wheat flour for the white flour in the desem blini recipe, though I haven't tried this myself. The desem blini has a slight sourness which is very good with fishy toppings like caviar.