Hot pot & soups
Zoni
Zoni — New Year's mochi soup where eastern and western customs meet
A New Year's soup with mochi, made distinct by Mie's position at the meeting point of eastern and western Japan — square and round mochi, clear broth and miso broth, vary by district. A prefectural museum survey found the custom splits into nine regional patterns across Mie.
- Origin: Mie
- About 320 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Mie-style zoni is a New Year's soup of mochi simmered with taro, daikon, komatsuna, and other vegetables. The shape of the mochi differs by area, with both round and square cakes said to coexist within the prefecture. This is said to reflect Mie's position where eastern and western culture meet: some areas boil the mochi straight into hot broth, others start it in cold water, and others grill it first before adding it to the soup, so the same dish looks very different from town to town.
How it's made
In areas that boil the mochi directly, it goes in once the other ingredients are cooked and the broth is bubbling. In areas that grill it, the mochi is grilled on both sides and placed in the bowl first, with the broth and other ingredients poured over it afterward. Some areas make a clear broth, others a miso broth, and the ingredients vary too: komatsuna in the Hokusei area, taro and daikon in Nakanansei, and tofu added in Iga, among other regional differences.
Why it took this shape
Mie is said to sit at a crossroads where eastern and western culture meet, and mountain ranges are said to have blocked the eastern square-mochi custom and the western round-mochi custom from fully replacing one another, so both flowed into the prefecture and settled side by side instead. The Shima region, tied closely to Ise Grand Shrine, and the islands of Ise Bay are said to retain even older customs. This layered history is thought to be why zoni looks so different from one part of Mie to the next.
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 Mie
- AhodakiOld takuan pickle, once its flavor and aroma have faded, is desalted and simmered again in soy sauce, a pantry staple from the Hokusei area. Its name — playfully self-deprecating, roughly "doing a foolish thing" — nods to eating it well past its prime, a frugal way to waste nothing.
- Arame MakiRehydrated arame, a brown seaweed once offered to Ise Shrine, is wrapped several times around sardine or saury and simmered in soy sauce and sugar. The choice of fish shifts by locality along the Toba coast.
- Bon JiruA miso soup packed with seasonal vegetables such as burdock, eggplant, and pumpkin. Following Zen Buddhist practice of avoiding killing during Obon, it skips bonito or dried-fish stock, relying instead on fried tofu and a generous mix of vegetables for its savor.
- ChagayuRice is cooked in water steeped with a bag of roasted tea leaves. Born in Iga, where farmland was scarce and rice precious, the extra water was a way to stretch the grain further; in summer some households chill the porridge before eating.
- ChatsuJulienned daikon, carrot, lotus root, kelp, and fried tofu are simmered in vinegar and sugar, a dish from Asahi town. Its name is said to come from "chatsu," the red-lacquered vessel once used to serve vegetarian temple food, and soy sauce is deliberately left out to keep the dish pale.
- Fuki DawaraRice cooked with soybeans is wrapped in butterbur leaves into a small rice-bale shape, an Iga-area harvest offering. It is set before the rice-paddy deity at planting time to pray for a good crop, and doubles as a portable snack for breaks between farm work.