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As soon as Christmas time is over, Japanese people start preparing for the new year holiday.

Today I would like to introduce “Ozouni”, a special, traditional Japanese dish for the new year. Ozouni is normally a clear soup cooked with vegetable, chicken/fish and grilled rice cakes (mochi). There are many variations and styles of preparing this soup, according to regions belief or family tradition. Sometimes the soup is not clear but cloudy with miso, and sometimes the rice cakes have sweet red bean paste in them. (>>this is quite amazing to me!)

Here is a recipe for typical “ozouni” from Cooking with Dog. If you can find some mochi at stores in your country, maybe you should try Ozouni for the new year 😉

[Ingredients for Ozoni]
(serves 2) 

4 Kirimochi – Rice Cake 
50g Chicken Meat (1.76 oz) 
Daikon Radish 
Carrot 
1 Satoimo – Japanese Taro 
2 Shiitake Mushrooms 
60g Komatsuna – Japanese Mustard Spinach (2.12 oz) 
Kamaboko – Steamed Fish Cake 
Yuzu Peel 

Ozoni Soup Stock 
(serves 4 – amount easy to make) 
20g Kombu Kelp (0.705 oz) 
20g Katsuobushi – Dried Bonito Flakes (0.705 oz) 
1100ml Water (4.65 u.s. cup) 
1/3 ~ 1/2 tsp Salt 
1 tsp Usukuchi Soy Sauce (saltier and lighter in color than koikuchi)

This is JAPAN Style!