Hot pot & soups
Zoni
Zoni — New Year mochi soup, Toyama style
New Year's mochi soup varies sharply across the prefecture — the east piles in yellowtail and vegetables, while the western Tonami area keeps it spare with root-on scallion and kelp-rolled fish cake, both said to lean on the same prized local fish cake.
- Origin: Toyama
- About 260 km northwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
In the east, an ingredient-rich soup built on auspicious fish like young yellowtail and filefish alongside vegetables and fish cake; in the west, a simpler version pairing root-on scallion with a kelp-based broth. The two look markedly different — the east said to carry a rich flavor steeped in fish, the west prized for its clear, clean broth. Both are finished with rolled fish cake, its red-and-white color lending a festive air.
How it's made
In the east, grilled fish is flaked and simmered with vegetables in a broth made from kelp and fish heads, then finished with the flaked fish and fish cake. Mochi is boiled separately, placed in the bowl, and topped with the soup and a sprig of trefoil. In the west, root-on scallion is briefly blanched, the broth seasoned with soy sauce, and grilled mochi, scallion, and fish cake are set in the bowl before the broth is poured over — a simpler approach.
Why it took this shape
Because the coastal east and inland west have access to different ingredients, each is said to have shaped its own version of the soup around local bounty, giving rise to the saying that there are as many versions as there are places. Using scallion with its roots still attached is said to carry a wish for long life, and this instinct to favor good omens is said to show up in both the choice of ingredients and how the bowl is arranged.
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 Toyama
- Bai no NimonoWhelks from the deep waters of Toyama Bay are simmered whole in their shells — said to appear at celebrations thanks to a play on words suggesting doubled good fortune, with smaller whelks simmered and larger ones eaten raw.
- BekkoMelted agar is seasoned with soy sauce and mirin, then set with egg trailed in like threads — its amber color flecked with egg said to resemble a tortoiseshell hair ornament, giving the dish its name; in the west of the prefecture it goes by "yubeshi" instead.
- BurishabuThin slices of yellowtail are swished briefly through kelp broth, said to cook only the surface while leaving the center rare — versions using Himi's branded winter yellowtail are considered a particularly luxurious cold-weather treat.
- Genge no MisoshiruEelpout, a deep-sea fish covered in a gelatinous layer, is cut into chunks and simmered into a miso soup — long treated as an unwanted bycatch of sweet shrimp fishing, its flavor has since been reappraised and spread beyond the fishing villages that first ate it.
- Himi UdonA hand-stretched udon developed in Himi, Toyama, in the mid-Edo period by adapting somen-making techniques from Wajima. It was once presented to the Kaga domain as tribute.
- Hoonko RyoriA catch-all term for the dishes served at houonko, the memorial gathering held on the death anniversary of Jodo Shinshu's founder — the season's better vegetables and wild greens are said to be set aside for it apart from everyday use, with the devout Gokayama area of Nanto known for hearty stews of dried greens and local tofu.