Opening 2013 with a Kyoto style o-zoni soup


Akemashite omedeto ! Happy New Year ! Bonne année !
Well, I’m not too much into wish-wish, my first concern this year was as usual : What do we eat in 2013 !
Ozoni ! It’s explained here.

The classic Kyoto o-zoni is caracterized by its simplicity, elegance, traditionalism and refinement. Mine is even simpler than planned… I’ve forgotten to add tofu. It was still delicious.
Kohaku, red and white are the good luck color of New Year and this soup follows this color code.

Mochi. Ozoni is mochi.

Dainty soup with a base of Saikyo miso and a dashi broth of the finest hana-katsuo, flower bonito fish shavings. I had to cheat, I’ve added a little sake kasu.

Traditional seasonal veggies. Ginnan are the gincko tree’s nuts. Kyoto’s small taro satoimo and ultra-red Kintoki carrot.

The veggies are boiled separately as they don’t go well together. These small round mochi get soft by poaching them a few minutes in boiling or near boiling water. If you had a big mochi, you’d need to slice it.

Fill the bowl with a mochi, veggies, tofu if you have. Cover with broth and top with a mount of fish flakes. Take the photo quick as the fish flakes disappear like in moving sands.

Creaming of a white cakemass…

White and red like a Santa cosplayer…

…it melts in the mouth.

Nothing new (it’s this one). I slightly progressed at covering it, and it’s not fresh strawberry season.

Yes, I did a better job, but there is a margin to improve even more. The night version was a charlotte, shaped in a circle, which is easier.

Je les ai cueillies dans la glace, couvertes de gelée et placées sur du sucre glace. Puns are lost in translation, roughly, jelly prevents the frozen berries to turn into ugly sponges as they thaw.