Wondering what to try in new year days?
How about trying colorful Osechi-ryori （御節料理）during New Year days.

Traditionally, rice cake soup (Zōni 雑煮) is served on 1st January to celebrate the New Year in Japan. Zōni (雑煮), a soup of mochi rice cakes, the recipe for the soup differs from region to region. Eastern Japan new year soup is in clear broth wheareas in western Japan miso broth is used to prepared the Zōni.

Tokyo-Style New Year’s Soup

Ingredients: (4 servings)

150g chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
1 tsp sake
5cm length white radish (daikon), peeled sliced into rounds then quartered
1/4 carrot, peeled and cut into shpes with vegetables cutter
2 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stem discarded, shallow cuts made on caps to form desired pattern
8 slices naruto fish paste cake
4 rice cakes

Dashi:
1 litre water
12cm piece konbu (dried kelp)
30g bonito flakes

Seasoning:
1 tbsp sake
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soy sauce

Garnish:
1 small bunch trefoil (mitsuba), cut into 2cm lengths
1 yuzu rind, cut into fine strips

Preparations:

Prepare dashi. Put water and kelp into a sauce pan and leave for 30 minutes. Place over medium heat and when small bubbles appear from bottom, remove kepl.
When water is boiling, add bonito flakes, then reduce heat and simmer for a few seconds. Remove from heat, then leave until bonito flakes sink to the bottom of saucepan. Strain stock and discard solids.
Marinate chicken with sake for about 10 minutes.
Pour dashi into a pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken, radish, carrot, mushrooms and fish cake. Simmer for about 10 miuntes.
While soup is boiling, grill rice cakes in a preheated oven at 200 C or toaster for 5 ~ 10 minutes until slightly puffy and light brown in colour.
Mix seasoning ingredients together and stir into soup. Remove from heat.
Place a grilled or toasted rice cake into each individual serving bowl and ladle soup over. Garnish with trefoil and yuzu rind. Serve hot.

Tokyo-Style New Year’s Zoni Soup

I Wish you A Very Happy New Year 2009.

新年、明けましておめでとう御座います。 旧年は大変御世話になりました、本年も宜しくお願いします。m(_)m

Today is the 1st day of year 2009. Let’s talk about the Japanese Osechi-Ryori.

Osechi (御節) originally referred to a season or significant period. New Year’s Day was one of the five seasonal festivals (五節句 gosekku) in the Imperial Court in Kyoto. This custom of celebrating particular days was introduced from China into Japan. These days are called Jinjitsu (人日, January 7), Johshi　(上巳, March 3), Tango　(端午, May 5), Tanabata (七夕, July 7), and Choyo (重陽, September 9). Japanese celebrated these seasonal festivals (節句) with the special dishes ’Osechi’.

But, nowadays Osechi ryori is taken over as the special New Year cuisine eaten from January 1 through January 7 (Jinjitsu 人日). Osechi are easily recognizable by their special boxes called jūbako, which resemble bentō boxes. Like bentō boxes, jūbako are often kept stacked before and after use. The most common is a stack of three boxes.
The dishes that make up osechi each have a special meaning celebrating the New Year.
Some examples are:

• Daidai (æ©™), Japanese bitter orange. Daidai means “from generation to generation” when written in different kanji as 代々. Like kazunoko below, it symbolizes a wish for children in the New Year.

• Datemaki (伊達巻 or 伊達巻き), sweet rolled omelette mixed with fish paste or mashed shrimp. They symbolize a wish for many auspicious days. On auspicious days (晴れの日, hare-no-hi), Japanese people traditionally wore fine clothing as a part of enjoying themselves. One of the meanings associated with the second kanji includes “fashionability,” derived from the illustrious dress of the samurai from Date Han.

• Kamaboko (蒲鉾), broiled fish paste. Traditionally, slices of red and white kamaboko are alternated in rows or arranged in a pattern. The color and shape are reminiscent of the rising sun, and have a celebratory, festive meaning.

• Kazunoko (数の子), herring roe. Kazu means “number” and ko means “child”. It symbolizes a wish to be gifted with numerous children in the New Year.

• Konbu (昆布), a kind of seaweed. It is associated with the word yorokobu, meaning “joy”.

• Kuro-mame (黒豆), black soybeans. Mame also means “health,” symbolizing a wish for health in the New Year.

• Tai (鯛), red sea-bream. Tai is associated with the Japanese word medetai, symbolizing an auspicious event.

• Tazukuri (田作り), dried sardines cooked in soy sauce. The literal meaning of the kanji in tazukuri is “rice paddy maker”, as the fish were used historically to fertilize rice fields. The symbolism is of an abundant harvest.

• Zōni (雑煮), a soup of mochi rice cakes in clear broth (in eastern Japan) or miso broth (in western Japan).