New Year’s Soup

Name: New Year’s Soup (O-Toso)
Yield: Serves four
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 4 mitsuba sprigs, root part removed; 4 spring onions (scallions), white part only, trimmed; 50 g/2 oz carrots, peeled; 50 g/2 oz daikon, peeled; 50 g/2 oz satoimo or Jerusalem artichokes; 30 ml/2 tbsp sake; 300 g/11 oz salmon fillet, skin on, scaled; 4 large raw tiger prawns (shrimp), peeled, but with tails left on; 8 canned gingko nuts (optional); 4 dried shiitake mushrooms; 1 yuzu or lime; salt; 300 g/11 oz chicken thighs, bones removed and reserved; 8 mochi slices; 30 ml/2 tbsp shoyu

O-Toso

Preparation info

Serves
four

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Japanese Cookbook

By Emi Kazuko and Yasuko Fukuoka

Published 2024

About

The elaborate New Year’s Day celebration brunch starts with a tiny glass of spiced warm sake, o-toso. Then, this New Year’s soup, O-zoni, and other festive dishes are served.

Ingredients

4 dried shiitake mushrooms
300 g/11 oz chicken thighs, bones removed and reserved

Asia
Japan
Soup
Brunch
New Year

Method

First, make the soup stock. Soak the dried shiitake overnight in 1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups cold water. Remove the softened shiitake and pour the water into a pan. Bring to the boil, add the chicken bones, then reduce the heat to medium. Skim frequently to remove scum. After 20 minutes, reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by a third