January 13, 2012

Tokyo Style Zoni (Mochi Soup)


Zoni is mochi (rice cake) soup commonly eaten on New Year holidays.
Ingredients and cooking method of zoni differ from region to region.
This time, I show you Tokyo style zoni.
We place toasted mochi in small bowls and pour soy sauce tasted clear hot soup.

Ingredients ( for 4 )
-----for making dashi (soup stock)-----
5 cups ( 1 liter) water
10 g kombu (kelp) , wiped with damped kitchen towel
20 g katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
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4 blocks mochi
150 g boneless chicken thighs , cut into bite size and blanched in boiling water
150 g komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach) , washed
(you can cook spinach instead)
8 slices kamaboko (steamed fish paste)
a tablespoon soy sauce
a tablespoon sake

Direction
-----(making dashi soup stock)-----
Bring the kombu and water to a saucepan.
Heat them at medium heat.
Remove kombu just before the water comes to a boil.
When the water comes to a boil , stop heating.
Add the katsuobushi to the water and restart heating.
When the water returns to a boil, stop heating.
Wait until katsuobushi start to sink.
Strain contents of the pan with kitchen paper , and reserve the liquid.
------------------------------------

Boil the komatsuna in boiling water with a pinch of salt.
Put the komatsuna in cold water too cool.
Squeeze out excess water from the komatsuna and cut into 4 cm length.
Heat the dashi at medium heat in a saucepan.
Add the chicken thighs to the dashi.
When the dashi comes to a boil, turn the heat to low.
Add the soy sauce and sake to the dashi.
Simmer them until the chicken thighs are cooked.
Toast the mochi with a oven toaster(or pan-fry with a non-stick pan without cooking oil) until the mochi puff up.
Place the mochi,chicken,komatsuna,kamaboko on each small bowls, and pour the soup on them.

1 comment:

smudgeon said...

i love mochi, very tasty. never knew it was used in soup.

i was in Japan at the end of May, many people told me that it was important to remember the word "oishii"!

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