Kansai White Miso New Year Soup (上方雑煮, Kamigata Ozōni)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Miso koshi (miso strainer), or a small bowl and small whisk
• •Small saucepan for boiling mochi
• •Lacquer soup bowls (wan), or deep individual bowls

Instructions

1. 1

   Steep the konbu

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. Put it in 5 cups cold water and warm it slowly over low heat, 12 to 15 minutes, until the water trembles and small bubbles climb the sides. Lift the konbu out before the water boils. The pale bloom on the kelp is flavor, and a hard boil pulls bitterness and slipperiness into the dashi.

   You're steeping konbu, not cooking it to death. The rule is short for protect the clean edge beneath the white miso.
2. 2

   Add the katsuobushi

   Bring the konbu dashi to a gentle boil, add the katsuobushi all at once, and take the pot off the heat. Let the flakes sink on their own, 2 to 3 minutes, then strain through a cloth-lined sieve. Do not stir and do not squeeze. Stirring and squeezing press strong, oily flavors into the stock, and even under white miso that heaviness shows.

   For a meatless table, use the shiitake soaking liquid with the konbu and skip the katsuobushi. Strain it cleanly; konbu and dried shiitake dashi is temple-kitchen honmono, not a lesser bowl.
3. 3

   Prepare the roots

   Peel the satoimo and trim any dark spots. Rub them with the salt, rinse, then parboil in plain water for 3 minutes and rinse again. This removes the slippery surface starch that would muddy the pale broth. Cut the daikon and carrot into rounds about 1/4 inch thick; bevel the edges if you want them neat, because softened edges keep the pieces from breaking.

   Satoimo can make some hands itch. Gloves are not a failure of courage; they're just sensible.
4. 4

   Simmer the vegetables

   Return 4 cups of the strained dashi to a clean pot, adding a little water if needed to make the amount. Add the satoimo, daikon, and carrot and simmer gently until a skewer slips through the satoimo, 10 to 14 minutes. Keep the liquid quiet. The vegetables should sweeten and soften without knocking each other into ragged edges.

   Cook the roots before the miso goes in. Miso is the finishing seasoning here, not a liquid for long boiling.
5. 5

   Boil the mochi

   While the vegetables simmer, bring a small saucepan of plain water to a gentle boil. Add the round mochi and cook until soft and slightly swollen, 2 to 3 minutes for fresh mochi or 5 to 7 for firm packaged mochi. Lift each piece with a wet spoon. Boiling the mochi separately keeps loose rice starch out of the soup, and the soft, pale mochi is the Kamigata character here.

   Don't let the mochi melt into the water. It should stretch when pressed, not collapse.
6. 6

   Dissolve the miso

   Lower the soup to the barest heat, or take it off the burner. Put the white miso in a miso koshi, a small miso strainer, or a bowl, loosen it with a ladleful of hot dashi, and stir it back into the pot. Do not boil after the miso goes in. Sweet white miso is fragrant and rounded when treated gently; boiling makes it sharper, duller, and a little grainy.

   Start with 150g. White miso varies widely; add the last spoonful only after tasting.
7. 7

   Serve the ozōni

   Warm four lacquer soup bowls or deep bowls with hot water, then empty and dry them. Set one mochi in each bowl, place the satoimo, daikon, and carrot around it, and ladle over the white-miso broth. Finish with yuzu peel and, if your table is not meatless, a small pinch of katsuobushi shavings. Serve at once, while the mochi is yielding and the surface still looks calm.

   Leave a little open broth in the bowl. New Year food doesn't need to crowd itself to look generous.

Chef Tips

• •Use sweet white miso, not a dark rice or barley miso. A darker miso can make a good soup, but it is no longer this New Year bowl; the color, sweetness, and aroma all move.
• •Round mochi is the shape of Kamigata. Packaged maru mochi works well. If square mochi is all you have, boil it rather than toast it, because the soft texture matters more than making corners behave like circles.
• •Choose satoimo that feel firm and heavy, with no soft spots. Parboiling is not a decorative step; it keeps the broth from turning sticky and grey.
• •For a meatless table, soak konbu and dried shiitake overnight and strain the liquid cleanly. That's temple-kitchen honmono, not a compromise. Don't use instant powder when the first bowl of the year is built on the stock.
• •Mochi is chewy and demands attention. Serve smaller pieces for children or older guests, and eat it in calm bites. The New Year is a poor time to hurry.

Advance Preparation

• •The konbu can soak in the 5 cups cold water overnight in the refrigerator for a rounder dashi. For the meatless version, soak the dried shiitake with it.
• •Finished dashi keeps 2 days refrigerated. Reheat it gently and stop before a hard boil so the stock stays clean.
• •The satoimo can be peeled, rubbed with salt, parboiled, and refrigerated a day ahead. Daikon and carrot rounds can sit covered in cold water overnight; drain them before simmering.
• •Boil the mochi only just before serving. Cooked mochi firms as it sits and becomes awkward in the bowl, and New Year asks enough patience already.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 330g)