Cook the local flavors once more

Kyoto-style ozoni (white miso New Year soup)

From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse

White miso ozoni topped with mitsuba

Ozoni in and around Kyoto is built on kombu dashi and white miso, with round mochi, taro, carrot and daikon. White miso is said to have been born in Kyoto and eaten since the Heian period, and ozoni made with it is also called kyo-zoni. The mochi is usually boiled rather than grilled, so as not to overpower the delicate miso. Ideally I would have used kashiraimo, the mother corm of the taro, and small ozoni radishes, but on the road I kept it simple.

Ingredients

Round mochi
White miso
Red carrot
Taro
Mitsuba (Japanese wild parsley)

How I made it

Slice the carrot into rounds, cut them into plum-blossom shapes and score the petals
Peel the taro and simmer it with the carrot
Dissolve the white miso into the pot
Soften the round mochi in hot water without grilling it, and put it in a bowl
Add the carrot and taro, ladle the broth over, and top with mitsuba

Sources: maff.go.jp maff.go.jp tabi-mag.jp

This moment in the journey

Trying Kyoto-style ozoni

On the way back I passed through a narrow lane lined with bicycles. Ozoni, the soup no Japanese New Year is complete without, differs from region to region, which I find fascinating. I decided to try making the Kyoto version.

I washed a red carrot, sliced it into rounds, cut them into plum-blossom shapes and scored the petals. I peeled taro, simmered it in a pot and stirred in Kyoto white miso. Ideally I would have used kashiraimo, the large mother corm of the taro, and the small radishes grown for ozoni, but on the road I kept it simple.

The mochi here is round, and it is not grilled. I softened the rounds in hot water, set them in a red bowl with the carrot and taro, and ladled the white miso broth over them; the plum-blossom carrots floated up through the white. Topped with mitsuba, it tasted sweet and gentle. Now I was all set for the New Year.

Watch this scene on YouTube3:07

Read this scene in the full journey