C T salt Gail some time ago you requested some information about Ozoni the Japanese National Dish for New Years. There are probably as many recipes for Zoni as there are cooks busy preparing the dish but they are all fairly similar. Slice the chicken very thin and sprinkle with the cornstarch. Then pound the chicken with the back of a knife to enlarge the pieces. Boil in water for 5 minutes Slice the Kamaboko into 6 pieces 1/4 inch thick Slice the carrot into thin slices and after peeling the taro slice them into thin round slices. Boil the carrots and taro in 1/2 C of dashi. When soft add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp shoyu. Boil the spinach or watercress in hot water being sure to remove them from the boiling water when still very green. Cut the greens into 1 inch lengths. Slice the Yazu into thin strips to represent pine needles. Toast the Rice cakes. Boil 6 cups of dashi and flavor with the 1 tbs. Salt and the 1 Tbs. Shoyu. Add the Kamaboko, carrots , taro and the greens. Place two pieces of the toasted Mochi, two slices of the chicken, 1 slice of the carrot, 2 slices of taro, 1 slice of the kamaboko and a little of the greens in each of six bowls Pour the hot soup over them and then float the yazu needles on the top. Naturally any good Japanese family in Japan would have had a drink of the special Toso wine prior to the Zoni. With the master of the house drinking first, then the mistress followed by the children and the the servants last. This wine laced with medicinal herbs and spices is believed to have disease dispelling qualities and is similar to the wines served on New Years by several other countries in the world. Fuku-cha is another manditory item in their New Years (it is the tea of Good fortune) and can either be green tea or seaweed tea which is served in tiny cups with a pickled plum in each of the cups as a protection from illness during the coming year. These formal ritualistic observances of the New Year are becomming less common throughout Japan now that they have had so much of the Western influence however in the rural areas they are still followed religiously. It is a shame to see some of these interesting observences gradually disappearing due to the influence of the western world.
