Lindy’s Ono Recipes

Happy New Year !

“Ozoni” is a traditional Japanese mochi soup that is enjoyed on New Year’s Day to give one strength and assure prosperity for the new year.

It is so interesting that this soup is made in so many different ways, according to the prefecture of your ancestors. The one common ingredient is the mochi. Growing up, my mom used to boil a whole chicken and painstakingly shred all the meat off the bones and using the broth as the base for the soup. My husband’s mom taught me the variation of their ozoni. It starts by using dashi konbu to flavor the soup, then adding shiitake mushrooms, carrots, daikon, the special hokkigai clams and mizuna. After the vegetables are cooked, you add in the mochi. It is ready when the mochi starts to soften and float… oishii (delicious)!

The green mizuna is found in the supermarkets and used to be only available during the New Year season, however, much to my husband’s delight, it is now available year-round.