Japanese Podcast: Typical Japanese dishes for New Year
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Vietnamese New Year is coming soon, isn't it? Are you excited about the Lunar New Year? Are you ready yet? In Japan, we celebrate the New Year by the Gregorian calendar, but Vietnamese people celebrate the Lunar New Year. This must be a cultural difference between Vietnam and Japan.
What do Vietnamese people usually eat on the Lunar New Year? Banh chung, deep-fried spring rolls, boiled chicken, etc. are the standard. During this time, Japanese people often enjoy toshikoshi soba, osechi cuisine, and hot pot dishes. Another thing is mochi. Mochi has been an essential food for New Year in Japanese households since ancient times.
Today, let's look into mochi, a typical Japanese dish for New Year. There are sweet mochi and salty mochi, but the traditional sweet bean paste is famous. It is made by steaming glutinous rice and then pounding it with a mortar and pestle until it becomes sticky. Traditional Japanese mochi is round and white, and filled with red bean paste. As it symbolizes harmony, Japanese people eat mochi to pray that everything will go well in the new year.
According to legend, mochi originated in China and came to Japan around 300 BC. At first, it was a dish that only aristocrats and emperors could eat, a symbol of good luck and a talisman for marital harmony. Nowadays, mochi is not only a daily dessert, but also an essential offering to the gods on New Year's Day, and it is said to bring good luck.
An interesting story about mochi is the legend of the rabbit, which Japanese children love. It comes from Indian mythology, and a god asked three animals, a monkey, a fox, and a rabbit, for food. The monkey hurriedly climbed a tree and got a lot of fruit, and the fox stole offerings from the grave, but the rabbit could not bring anything. So the rabbit said, "Please eat me," and jumped into the fire. The god was moved by this action and took the rabbit to the moon. Japanese people believe that a rabbit lives on the moon, and they make and eat round rice cakes the same size as the moon during the moon viewing festival.
Have you ever heard of Kagami Mochi? Kagami Mochi is an essential offering to the gods during New Year's, and according to ancient documents, it has been around since the Muromachi period. Kagami means mirror in Japanese, and it means worshiping the gods. Kagami Mochi is made by stacking two round rice cakes, one large and one small, like a gourd, and a daidai is often placed on top to pray for the prosperity of the family. Every year on January 11th, Japanese people cut Kagami Mochi into small pieces and eat it with soup or stew.
One of the traditional dishes that uses Kagami Mochi is Ozoni. It has been around since the Heian period, and there are various ways to make it depending on the region. For example, there is a clear soup made with kelp stock and ingredients, and one made by adding white miso and dashi. Ozoni is a dish made by simmering grilled rice cakes and vegetables in miso or soy sauce-flavored dashi, and each ingredient is imbued with a meaning of good luck or good things.
So, today I talked about Japanese New Year's dishes, but what did you think? I hope you enjoy this dish.
Thank you so much for listening to me today. Please follow and subscribe to the Injavi podcast. Until next time. Bye!
