Seasoned Rice Soup (雑炊, Zōsui)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide pot or donabe (earthenware pot)
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Sieve for rinsing rice
• •Ladle

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dashi

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. Put it in the cold water and bring it up slowly over low heat, about ten minutes. Pull the konbu when the water trembles and small bubbles climb the sides of the pot. Bring the water to a gentle boil, add the katsuobushi all at once, take the pot off the heat, and leave it alone for two minutes. Strain through a cloth or fine strainer and let it drip without pressing.

   Boiled konbu gives bitterness, and squeezed bonito flakes give strong oily flavors. Clear dashi is protected twice: once by pulling the kelp, once by leaving the flakes alone.
2. 2

   Rinse the rice

   Put the cooked rice in a sieve and rinse it under cold running water, gently loosening the grains with your fingers. Keep rinsing until the water runs mostly clear and the grains feel separate. Drain well. This washes away surface starch so the broth stays light instead of turning thick and pasty.

   This is the first secret of zōsui. Rinsed cooked rice gives you loose grains in broth; unrinsed rice gives you a gluey pot.
3. 3

   Season the broth

   Pour 4 cups of the dashi into a wide pot and add the soy sauce, mirin, and salt. Taste it before anything else goes in. It should be savory and clear, a little more seasoned than you want the finished soup, because the rice and vegetables will soften it.

4. 4

   Cook the additions

   Add the chicken, shiitake, and carrot to the seasoned dashi. Bring it to a quiet simmer and skim any foam that rises. Cook until the chicken is done and the carrot is tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. A hard boil clouds the broth and roughens the chicken, and neither has done anything to deserve that.

5. 5

   Warm the rice

   Add the drained rice and stir once, gently, so the grains spread through the broth. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, just until the rice is hot and slightly swollen. Don't cook it until it collapses. Zōsui should stay lighter than okayu, with grains you can still see.

6. 6

   Set the egg

   Lower the heat so the surface barely moves. Pour the beaten egg in a thin circle over the rice, then cover the pot and wait 30 to 45 seconds. Turn off the heat while the egg is still soft. Gentle heat lets it set in tender ribbons; boiling breaks it into dry little bits.

7. 7

   Finish and serve

   Ladle the zōsui into warm bowls, keeping the rice below the broth's glossy surface rather than mounding it high. Scatter mitsuba or scallion over each bowl and add a fine strip of yuzu peel if you have it. Serve at once, while the grains are still distinct and the egg is tender.

Chef Tips

• •Use Japanese short-grain rice. Long-grain rice won't give the same gentle body, and leftover rice is welcome here because the grains rinse clean and hold their shape.
• •For a meatless table, make the dashi from konbu and dried shiitake. Soak one piece of konbu and 3 dried shiitake in the water overnight, warm gently, then strain. That's honmono in the temple-kitchen line, not a compromise.
• •Choose additions with restraint: one protein, one mushroom, one green finish. Zōsui is not a bin for everything in the refrigerator. The broth should still be able to speak.
• •If you're making zōsui after nabe, a Japanese hot pot, use the leftover broth after skimming it clean. Taste before seasoning, because that broth has already gathered salt and flavor from the meal.

Advance Preparation

• •The dashi can be made up to two days ahead and kept refrigerated. Warm it gently before using.
• •Cooked rice can be made a day ahead, chilled, and rinsed just before cooking the zōsui.
• •Do not finish the soup with rice and egg ahead of time. The rice keeps drinking and the egg tightens, which is how a clear breakfast becomes a sulking porridge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 440g)