🍚 Zoni (Japanese Soup Containing Rice Cakes and Japanese Mustard Spinach)

Depending on the region that it is made, "zoni" is prepared differently. The ingredients used to make dashi (=Japanese soup stock), the flavor of the soup, the ingredients used, the shape of the mochi (=rice cakes) vary from region to region. "Zoni" is eaten during the New Year holidays. In Aichi prefecture, rectangular-shaped mochi and a traditional vegetable from the Owari area named "mochina" (=Japanese mustard spinach) (komatsuna can be used as well) is served in a "sumashi-jiru" (=clear soup). There are three major theories as to how this simple "zoni" was born. The first is that Tokugawa Muneharu, a lord of the Owari Domain, who was enjoying a sumptuous meal was scolded by the shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune. The second is that the simple "zoni" respects Tokugawa Ieyasu's motto of living simply and frugally. The third theory is that the word “na” (rape) and mochi (rice cake) were used to bring good luck, based on the word “na wo mochi ageru” (to gain fame) (to make Nagoya prosperous). Aichi prefecture is famous for "Hatcho miso" (=dark red miso with a distinctive flavor), a type of soybean miso, however, miso is not used to make "zoni" in this prefecture. It is speculated that since miso is used daily, for New Year's and other celebrations, the local people prefer to make "zoni" with "sumashi-jiru" (=clear soup). However, in some limited areas of Aichi, "zoni" is made using miso. "Mochina" (=Japanese mustard spinach) is an indispensable ingredient when making "zoni" in Aichi prefecture. Another name for this vegetable is "shogatsuna". This vegetable has been cultivated in the Owari area for a long time and is like komatsuna, another type of Japanese mustard spinach, but is softer and sweeter with less bitterness. "Mochina" can also be eaten raw or blanched.