Hot pot & soups
Azuki Zouni
Azuki Zouni — soft rice cakes in a sweet simmered red bean broth
Soft round rice cakes are added to a broth of simmered red beans, the mainstream style of New Year's zoni in Tottori. Red beans have long been thought to ward off misfortune, and the dish is said to be simmered on New Year's morning with the year's first water and a purified flame, then shared among family.
- Origin: Tottori
- About 500 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
New Year zoni in Tottori is dominated by "azuki zoni," soft rice cakes simmered in a broth of red beans, closer in character to what other regions would call "zenzai" or "shiruko" sweet red bean soup. Some households make it with plenty of broth, others with beans piled thick and little liquid, and while most sweeten it with sugar, a few families are said to prefer it salted instead. In the town of Misasa in the central region, rice cakes made with horse chestnuts sometimes replace the ordinary mochi.
How it's made
Red beans, with their bitterness removed, are boiled until soft and sweetened with sugar. Round mochi rice cakes are simmered soft in a separate pot, then added to the bean broth to finish. The balance of seasoning, beans, and broth differs by household, and in the mountain areas some families season the dish instead with soy sauce or miso. In Misasa, a local variation uses mochi made from horse chestnuts gathered in the hills.
Why it took this shape
The exact origin is not well documented, but the red color of azuki beans has long been believed to ward off evil, which is said to be why they came to be used for festive occasions. Prepared on New Year's morning in a single pot with the year's first-drawn water and a purified flame, the dish is described as a sacred food meant to give people vitality, and sharing it together is said to have become a way for families and relatives to affirm their bonds, cementing its place at the center of the New Year meal.
Before you go
- Foods to look for in winterA guide to foods often seen in Japan around winter — nabe hot pot, fugu, oysters, crab, year-end soba, and osechi — with rough pointers for finding them.
- Osechi and zoni for the New YearA guide to the meaning behind osechi's tiered boxes, the regional differences in zoni (square vs. round mochi, clear vs. miso broth), and the nanakusa-gayu custom.
- Setsubun: ehomaki and lucky beansA guide to ehomaki, the uncut sushi roll said to be eaten facing a lucky direction on Setsubun, and to mamemaki, the bean-throwing custom with roasted lucky beans.
Dishes in the same style
- Aichi Miso OdenA pot of sweet red miso sits in the center of the simmering pot, and daikon, tofu, and other ingredients simmered in dashi are dipped into it before eating. While soy-based Kanto-style oden spread in Edo, Aichi is said to have settled on dipping in soybean miso instead.
- Aichi ZoniSquare mochi and mochina, a traditional Owari green, are served in a plain clear broth for New Year — a notably simple zoni. It's speculated that using miso so often in daily cooking is exactly why a clear broth is chosen for this festive occasion, deliberately leaving miso out.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Tottori
- Ago ChikuwaChikuwa made from the surimi of flying fish, called "ago" in Tottori. A knife through the firm grilled skin sends up a fragrant crackle, and it turns out darker than ordinary chikuwa. It's a taste of early summer, in season through the fish's spawning run from spring into summer.
- Akagarei no KomaburiRoe-bearing red flounder is sliced into sashimi and tossed with its own boiled, crumbled eggs, a dish from around the Amijiro area of Iwami Town. Said to have descended from a similar dish made with crucian carp roe, it pairs rich eggs with mild, fatty winter flounder for festivals and New Year's.
- Daisen-doriA branded chicken said to be raised end-to-end, from breeding stock to processing, by producers at the foot of Mount Daisen — free-ranged longer than usual on an antibiotic-free feed aimed at balancing fat and flavor.
- Daisen OkowaShiitake, burdock, and chicken are cooked into sticky rice seasoned with soy, a dish from the foot of Mount Daisen. Said to trace back to warrior monks preparing it before battle to pray for victory, it was later served at the horse-and-cattle market by Daisen-ji temple and carried on into festivals and hospitality since.
- Daisen RubyBred at Tottori Prefecture's livestock station by crossing a sow of the oleic-acid-rich Daisen Akabuta line with a Berkshire boar, said to inherit both breeds' fat quality and tenderness.
- Dondoroke MeshiNamed for the crackling sound of tofu frying in hot oil, likened to thunder — "dondoroke" in local dialect — this is a rice dish from eastern and central Tottori. It's said to date to when each hamlet had its own tofu shack turning home-grown soybeans into tofu, using nothing but local ingredients.