Ozōni (Clear Soup with Rice Cake)
Ozōni is a special dish that most Japanese households serve on New Year’s Day. It is a clear soup with cooked rice cakes and colourful ingredients such as prawns, shiitake, and mitsuba (wild Japanese parsley). Ingredients can vary and you can even make it vegetarian.
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 15 min
- Yield
- 2 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 2 small to medium size cooked prawns ((shrimp) (note 1))
- 25g (0.9oz) chicken thigh fillet, no skin (note 2)
- 2 shiitake mushrooms
- 4 thinly sliced bamboo shoots ((note 3))
- 4 slices of narutomaki ((note 4))
- 4 rice cakes
- 400ml (13.5oz) dashi stock (note 5)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp light soy sauce
- 4 stems of mitsuba ((note 6))
Instructions
- 1
Peel the shell of the prawns leaving head and tail intact.
- 2
Cut chicken thigh into 4 bite size pieces.
- 3
Remove the stems of shiitake mushrooms and cut into quarters (or half if small).
- 4
If the stems of mitsuba are long enough to make a knot, then take two stems together and tie an overhand knot.
- 5
Place the rice cakes under the griller. When the surface of the rice cakes start to burn with a bit of black on the surface (about 3 minutes), turn them over (note 7).
- 6
Cook further 3 minutes until the rice cakes puff up (this means all cooked and soft inside). Remove from the heat.
- 7
While grilling the rice cakes, add clear soup ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium high heat.
- 8
Add chicken and cook for a couple of minutes, then add shiitake, bamboo shoots and narutomaki slices. Cook for ½ -1 minute and turn the heat off.
- 9
Place two rice cakes in each serving bowl.
- 10
Divide ingredients in the soup into two equal portions and scatter them in the serving bowls.
- 11
Place a prawn in the centre of each bowl and add the soup.
- 12
Garnish with mitsuba and serve immediately.