How To Make Ozoni Soup With Ivan Ramen
To learn more, read "A Soup for New Year's Day" in our National edition.
Recipe adapted from Ivan Orkin, "Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint" (Ten Speed)
Traditional Ozoni Soup
Ivan Orkin of Ivan Ramen has one New Year's tradition: Start the new year with a bowl of ozoni, the traditional Japanese breakfast soup. Read more!
Prep Time
25
minutes
Cook Time
30
minutes
Servings
3
servings ozoni, plus 6 cups extra dashi
Total time: 55 minutes
Ingredients
- Dashi
- 2 ounces kombu (about 5 (6-by-7-inch) pieces)
- 2½ ounces iriko niboshi (dried sardines) (about 1½ cups)
- 3½ ounces geso (dried squid tentacles) (about 2 cups)
- 10½ cups water
- 2 ounces katsuobushi (shaved dried bonito)
- Ozoni
- 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed
- 1 (2-inch) piece of daikon, peeled
- 1 medium carrot, peeled
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups dashi
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sake
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 3⅓ ounces skinless boneless chicken thigh, sliced into bite-size chunks and seasoned with salt
- 4 squares of mochi
- 4 sprigs mitsuba (Japanese wild parsley) or celery leaves
Directions
- Prepare the dashi: Wipe the seaweed with a damp cloth and place it in a large bowl with the dried sardines and the dried squid tentacles. Cover with cool water and let soak for at least 2 hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.
- Drain the soaked seaweed, sardines and squid tentacles and place them in a large stockpot. Cover with the water. Over medium heat, bring the water up to 140°F. Once it reaches temperature, skim all of the scum from the surface, then strain the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer. Gently press the strained ingredients against the sides of the strainer to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids.
- Pour the liquid into a clean pot. Over medium heat, bring the liquid to 176°F and hold it as close to that temperature as possible. Add the shaved bonito and cook for another 3 minutes, keeping the liquid at a constant 176°F.
- Strain the liquid again through a fine-mesh sieve, again pushing down on the ingredients to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids.
- Cool the liquid to room temperature (you can use an ice bath to speed this process, if desired), then store in the refrigerator. Dashi doesn't have the best shelf life--it keeps for a couple of days in the refrigerator--so make this as close to the day you'll use it as possible.
- Make the ozoni: Preheat a toaster oven or full-size oven to 400°F.
- Cut a shallow "x" into the top of each mushroom. Thinly slice the daikon into rounds, then cut each round into 4 wedges. Thinly slice the carrot on the bias.
- Combine the chicken stock, dashi, soy sauce, sake and mirin in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken, mushroom, daikon and carrots and simmer gently until everything is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
- Bake the mochi directly on the oven rack until they become puffy and the edges turn golden brown, about 10 minutes.
- Set out 4 small bowls and divide the soup among them. Put a mochi cake into each bowl, garnish with mitsuba, and serve.