Cathy Katin-Grazzini

Ozoni

This classic Japanese miso soup is savored at New Years. Every family tweaks its contents to its tastes, but typically, ozoni includes carrot, daikon, shiitake mushrooms, spinach, and delightfully chewy (sometimes, crispy) mochi - sticky rice - dumplings.

Here, I used purple and white daikon and added a yellow beet, which rendered the broth a gorgeous golden hue with a lightly sweet, earthy note. Only sweet, sticky white rice mochi (mochigomi) is commercially available at Japanese groceries. To make whole-grain mochi, I made my own, using Japanese whole brown sweet sticky rice. In my Kirimochi recipe I share a simple, fast method using brown mochigomi flour.

Prep Overnight to soak kombu and shiitakes, plus 30 minutes

Cook 20 minutes

Serves 6

6 cups water

2x4-inch piece of dried kombu (kelp)

6 small preservative-free dried whole hana (“flower”) shiitake mushrooms, stems removed

1 carrot, peeled and cut in ⅜-inch slices. Or unpeeled and punched out in daisy shapes with a vegetable or cookie cutter

½ medium daikon radish, peeled and cut in ⅜-inch slices. Or unpeeled and punched out in daisy shapes with a vegetable or cookie cutter

1 long yellow beet, peeled and cut in ⅜-inch slices. Or unpeeled and punched out in daisy shapes with a vegetable or cookie cutter

2 cups baby spinach or komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach)

6 small mochi dumplings or roasted kirimochi pieces (see my Kirimochi recipe)

1 to 2 tablespoons white miso paste per serving

Take 2 medium bowls. Fill one with 3 cups of water and add the piece of kombu. Place it in the fridge overnight to rehydrate.
Break off the shiitake stems if they snap off easily. Otherwise you can cut them off after soaking. Fill the other bowl with 3 cups of water and add the dried shiitake mushroom caps. Place it in the fridge overnight to rehydrate.
When you are ready to make ozoni, discard the kombu. Remove the shiitake caps, cut off their stems, and set them aside. Combine the soaking water from each bowl. This is now our dashi soup broth. Pour the broth into a pot and heat to a simmer.
Add the shiitake caps. Cook for 10 minutes. Then add the carrots. Cook for 5 minutes. Now add the beets and daikon. Cook for 5 minutes.
When the vegetables and mushrooms are nearly crisp-tender, add the cooked mochi dumplings or roasted kirimochi pieces and the spinach for the final 5 minutes.
Serve ozoni in warmed bowls, first adding the broth. Flavor the broth in the bowl with white miso paste to taste. A good way to do this is to push it through a small strainer into each bowl to dissolve it quickly into the broth. Then use chopsticks or small tongs to arrange each of the vegetables, a piece or two of mochi, and a shiitake cap in each bowl.