Japanese New Years Celebration Food
We have come into the New Year and I’m hoping that this will be a way better year than last. I am not going to say Happy New Year in respect to those who are still suffering from the Tsunami of 311 to those who are morning from my uncle who lost his battle to cancer last month.
2011 was a very difficult one for so many of us. The pain is still there but I think all of us are strong and supportive that we can try to be strong and help those who need help to move on. I also believe that it is important to not forget that people in the Tohoku area of Japanare are still suffering from having no jobs, no homes, and no more family members and we should try to help in whatever way we can think of.
Since this is the year of the Dragon, I am “Toshi onna”, which means that I was born in the year of the Dragon. Every 12 years that year comes and becomes my special year. I feel that this year will give me strength in many things and bring me happiness and strength in getting me where I want to be.
There are many things that I’ve given up since the birth of my kids and I am starting to get back into some of the things that I have been missing the most. Creativity. Since last Spring, after the Tsunami, I have opened my eyes to the fact that you never know what will happen to you in your life and life is shorter than what you think it is. I want to make it count. I want to do the most that I can. Work towards what I really want, and do what makes me happy. I think for a while I was only thinking of what my family needed and not myself. Now, I believe that it’s important for me to do things that will make me happy in order to be good to my family.
I started Hula last Spring to take my mind off of things and help me be happy. It’s been the most help to my life and I can’t get enough of it. This was my first step to a better me. Since then, I really started being more creative and inspired to do more things. And I want to do more.
The year of the Dragon will bring me these opportunities to better me, my family, and all what I care about. That is my hope and I think I’m off to a good start. After over a 14 year of blank, I got back into pottery this year. I used to love wheel throwing and I was pretty good at it too. It’s meditating and relaxing. Even after such a long blank of not even touching clay, it’s like riding a bike, I made and squashed about 10 bowls and voilà. A beautiful bowl was made.
I was actually wanting to make something the size of a large Donburi but these are a bit too small for what I was thinking of. Next try I will make a good size Donburi. I’m quite excited on seeing how these will turn out after the firing. Oh, the possibilities of things to make. I would say this was the best Christmas gift so far.
Since this is too small to be a Donburi, but a bit too large for a rice bowl, I think it can be a big soup bowl. One of my favorite New Years dishes is “Ozouni“. It’s a soup that has vegetables and mochi in it that Japanese people have for New Years.
Here’s my recipe: Ozoni (Ohitashi)
- 4 cups of water
- 2 tsp of dashi or you could make your own dashi.
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp sake
- 1 chicken breast or 2 thighs cut into about 2 cm
- 1 carrot 1/2 cm thick “cut into a little flower if you’d like”
- about 10 cm of daikon cut 1/2 cm into and then cut into a quarter like the shape of a fan.
- 1 or 2 taro root cut into about the same size as the carrots
- about 10 cm negi (long onion) sliced
- pieces of kamaboko (enough for all the guests and you)
- and some cut and blanched spinach for garnishing.
- a piece of mochi
In a large pot, simmer the water and add the dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sake and chicken.
Clean all the little chicken fat that could cloud up the soup and bring down to a slow simmer.
Add the carrots, daikon, taro root, and negi and let simmer until cooked through.
At the end, add the pieces of kamaboko cover and turn off the heat.
Cook the mochi in a toaster oven or whichever way you like and when done, put into a small serving bowl and add the soup, with at least one piece of each vegetable and meat in it. Garnish with some spinach that you have blanched in hot water in advance and there you go. A nice breakfast or midnight snack.
After eating my Ozoni and starting out the year with some fun activities, I am looking forward to a positive year of me.
