Time-honored Japanese foods eaten to celebrate the New Year, or Oshogatsu, are called osechi, and the very first dish happily consumed on New Year's morning in every household is a steaming broth called ozoni.
"The tradition is that the family enjoys ozoni together on the first morning of the New Year," said Barbara Nagaoka, a member of and employee at Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church on Beacon Hill.
The prefix "o" in ozoni is an honorific denoting respect while zoni means "broth with toasted rice cakes," which are called mochi. The broth base is historically composed of dried bonito shavings called dashi and kombu, a dried kelp.
Made from glutinous rice, which has been steamed and pounded to a smooth, sticky mass, mochi are now available year round in the freezer case of any Japanese grocery. Mochi can also be made at home with proper equipment. However, traditionally mochi were prepared only during the last week of December outside villagers' homes.
Partaking of the ozoni and mochi marks the beginning of three days of New Year's festivities.
"During my growing up years we visited with friends and family over these days. Quite a few dishes are fixed ahead in order that the lady of the house has time to enjoy the fun with her family," Nagaoka related.
Many of the food names have special meanings or sound like words that mean good things and so are served to wish family and friends great fortune in the new year. Mochi, for example reminds people of the rice fields but also recalls the word motu, meaning "to have" as in "to have wealth and long life."
"After my late husband and I were married 60 people would come over (to our home) on New Year's Day," said Suzanne, a friend of Nagaokas who wished to remain anonymous. "My husband's family came in the afternoon; my family came just after the Rose Parade."
She added that housewives prepared dishes depending upon which part of Japan their families had come from.
"The Japanese custom was that only the man of the household made New Year's visits," Suzanne specified. "We had one man from Japan [in the neighborhood] who used to show up at our door every New Year's day at eight in the morning. I'd serve him and my husband ozoni. But finally I told him not to come to our house so early. Our kids weren't even up yet."
Nagaoka stated that she had never made these New Year's Day visits in any formal way until she became a wife.
"When my husband and I were married we began making the rounds as a couple to call upon his relatives every January first," said Nagaoka. "I remember visiting each of his aunties, and then comparing how each one prepared those tiny fish."
The tiny fish are tasty dried anchovies, called tatsukuri. They are fried in a skillet with water, mirin (sweetened rice wine), sugar, shoyu (soy sauce) and grated ginger and stirred continuously until they become very firm and crisp. The tiny fish symbolize wholeness or completeness because they had not been cut up.
One particular fish is the visual highlight of the Japanese New Year's Day table. This centerpiece is historically prepared with tai, meaning sea bream, considered "king of fish" by the Japanese. Always presented with the head and tail, tai symbolizes longevity and wholeness.
Prized for its beautiful russet, bright pink or rich red color this flat fish has a delicate, sweet flavor. Now too expensive for most families, the sea bream is often replaced by perch or red snapper.
Other families use a salted, broiled whole lobster, it's curved spine representing old age, hence longevity and bright red being festive.
To prepare the tai, the fish is first well salted, then skewered on a curved metal rod. Both head and tail are raised so that the fish will appear to be jumping from the water in an arching shape. Slow broiling ensures that this form will be maintained when the skewer is removed.
Many other New Year's Day dishes are on the traditional menu, but as the Sansei (third generation) Japanese Americans ancestry grow older, "many of them just want to eat potato salad and sliced ham" for New Year's, Nagaoka stated.
"The idea is that families get together, have fun together, prepare good food and eat together to welcome the New Year. Sharing love, warmth and good wishes," both Nagaoka and Suzanne emphasized, despite the lack of culinary tradition in some homes.
Ozoni
Some families prefer a very simple broth adorned with toasted mochi floating in each bowl. Others add onishime, a combination of vegetables (with or without meats such as boneless chicken and shrimp).
Each vegetable must be blanched separately, and meat and fish should be lightly poached separately. Each addition to serving bowls, such as carrots or chicken, should be made individually after the broth and mochi.
The vegetables include rounds of carrot, small slices of daikon (a large, white radish that's cut into hexagonals to resemble a turtle shell and thus long life), and shungiku or kikuna, which are the leaves of the edible chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemum leaves must be blanched only for about a minute, then dipped into very cold water to halt the cooking. This preserves their spring green color.
Frozen mochi should be thawed in the refrigerator until somewhat pliable. Place mochi onto an ovenproof dish or pan and broil, watching carefully until they are toasted but not burned. They will bubble a little. Now they are ready to be used in ozoni.
Another special treat is to dip toasted mochi into heated shoyu, sprinkle with a bit of sugar and eat!
For the broth:
Broth can be as simple as a homemade or commercial chicken broth or the more traditional dashi-kombu broth-base combination. Small packets of dashi soup base can be found in Japanese grocery stores, however a very basic stock can be made as follows: Figure on 6-8 ounces plain broth per serving.
Ichiban Dashi (primary stock)
1 quart cold water
1 ounce giant kelp (kombu, also spelled konbu)
1 ounce dried bonito flakes (hana katsuo)
Place water and kombu into a large saucepan or pot. Heat water to just below a boil and remove kombu. If you don't, it emits a very strong odor when boiling.
If the thickest part of the kombu is still stiff, return to pot with 1/4-cup water to stop boiling and simmer for 1 or 2 minutes more before removing.
Return broth to vigorous boil and immediately add 1/4-cup cold water to stop boiling. Add bonito flakes. Stirring is unnecessary.
Bring broth to a quick boil and immediately remove pot from heat as broth will become too strong and bitter if bonito flakes are allowed to boil.
Skim any scum from surface of broth and strain through a damp cheesecloth or strainer to remove bonito flakes. Broth can now be used for ozoni.
Shinnen Omedeto Gozaimasu!
Happy New Year!
Georgia Wantanabe may be reached through editor@sdistrictjournal.com.[[In-content Ad]]
