Ozoni

serves 8

Ingredients

    Soup Base

  • 8 cups (½ gallon) water
  • 1 sheet dashi kombu (kelp), whatever size it comes in
  • 1 cup katsuobushi (bonito flakes; replace with another sheet of kombu for vegan ozoni)
  • ½ cup white miso
  • zest of 1 yuzu or 1 Meyer lemon (optional)

    Solid Foods

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 daikon radish, with greens
  • 8 dried shiitake mushrooms (or 1 cup pre-sliced)
  • 8 mochi (store-bought kirimochi work too)
  • 1 uzumaki kamaboko (fish cake; remove for vegan ozoni)

Instructions

Soup Base

  1. Cut slits in dashi kombu. Rinse the kombu if you so desire, then soak in 8 cups water for 30 minutes.
  2. Slowly bring dashi kombu and water to a boil. Once the water is near boiling, remove the kombu. Boil katsuobushi for 30 seconds.
  3. Turn the heat off, letting your pot sit for ten minutes. Strain out katsuobushi.

Solids

  1. Soak dried shiitake in 2 cups water for 1 hour. Slice if whole.
  2. Slice kamaboko to your preferred width. Have mochi ready.
  3. Rinse and peel vegetables. Cut the carrot and the daikon root into batonnets. Cut off the daikon top, chopping the greens.

Combining the Ingredients

  1. Simmer the batonnets in the soup base. Add the greens, shiitake, and kamaboko to the pot.
  2. Stir miso into the shiitake water. Add it to the pot, with the stovetop set to "low." Mix again.
  3. Toast, grill, or boil mochi if desired. Spoon soup into bowls, garnishing each with yuzu zest and a mochi.

NOTE: Ozoni makes for poor leftovers. Eat it while it's hot.