Hot pot & soups
Hakata Zoni
Hakata zoni — a New Year mochi soup built around yellowtail and a leafy green called katsuo-na
Grilled flying-fish stock carries yellowtail, round mochi, and a bitter green called katsuo-na — Hakata's New Year soup. Yellowtail, a fish that changes names as it grows, is said to be added for luck, and busy merchant households once pre-skewered the ingredients for quick serving.
- Origin: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka
- About 890 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Small round mochi go into the bowl with sliced yellowtail, root vegetables like taro, carrot, and daikon, and katsuona, a mustard-green relative with thick, ruffled dark leaves whose stems are said to carry a faint bonito-like flavor, prized as the one ingredient this soup can't do without. Yellowtail itself is considered an auspicious fish, changing its name as it grows larger and traditionally used for celebratory meals.
How it's made
Yellowtail is added to a dashi made from grilled flying fish, while the mochi and other ingredients are simmered separately. Warmed dashi is then poured into the bowl over the mochi and ingredients; every household varies the mix, but katsuona is never left out, and the New Year's table is also said to carry herring roe and black beans, with the soup traditionally served once a spiced New Year's sake has gone around. Round mochi rather than square is considered the distinctly Hakata touch.
Why it took this shape
In merchant houses with frequent guests, the ingredients are said to have once been threaded onto skewers per serving ahead of time. It's thought the busy women running these households devised the method so a steady stream of New Year's callers could be served quickly without slowing the kitchen down, simply pulling the ingredients off the skewer into a bowl and pouring dashi over. The idea is credited to the resourcefulness of these merchant wives, honored with a respectful title of their own.
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 Fukuoka
- Abutte KamoSmall damselfish are salted overnight, then grilled whole, scales and innards left on — a bony fish often passed over elsewhere, but said to have caught on in Hakata Bay after a Meiji-era glut led someone to salt and grill the excess.
- Achara ZukeWhite melon, eggplant, and lotus root are pickled in a sweet vinegar spiked with red chili — the name is said to trace to the Portuguese 'achar', carried in through Hakata Bay's old trade, and an odd number of vegetables is used for Obon hospitality.
- Amagi no KawatakeA rare wild freshwater algae, found only in the Kogane River in Asakura, is dressed with sweet or three-flavor vinegar — said to have once been presented to the shogun, and now conservation efforts continue as it's listed as endangered.
- Beta MochiWheat dough is flattened, steamed, and topped with soybean flour or sweet red bean paste — named, it's said, for its resemblance to a flat local sole called 'beta', and tied to the feast marking the end of rice planting.
- Kabocha no Dango JiruA giant local pumpkin from Buzen's Mikkado district is simmered soft, then torn wheat dumplings are dropped in — the pumpkin, said to trace some 450 years back to Portuguese traders, was once a lifeline in leaner years.
- ChanraaA noodle dish said to have started at a diner in Moji, Kitakyushu. Chanpon-style noodles go into a Japanese dried-sardine broth closer to udon than to the original pork-and-seafood soup, devised, it's said, for a student who wanted Nagasaki champon but couldn't afford it.