, or , is a mild and thin
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese
rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
soup
Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...
akin to a rice-based
vegetable soup
Vegetable soup is a common soup prepared using vegetables (including leaf vegetables, and sometimes loosely mushrooms) as primary ingredients. It dates to ancient history, and in modern times is also a mass-produced food product.
Overview
Vege ...
. It is made from pre-cooked
rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
and dashi or water seasoned with either soy sauce or miso and cooked with other ingredients such as meat, seafood, mushrooms, and vegetables.
It is generally served to those who are sick or otherwise feeling unwell, and is usually only served in the winter.
Leftover soup from
nabe is often re-used for zosui. Instead of rice,
udon
Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a soup as with a mild broth called made from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. It is usual ...
and
ramen
is a Chinese noodle dish popularized in Japan. It includes served in several flavors of broth. Common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen h ...
noodles are recent alternatives.
History
In the days when it was difficult to keep cooked rice warm, the only way to reuse cold rice was to combine it with miso soup, so this was widely done in households across Japan. Nowadays, it is more often used to make meals for the sick or those feeling unwell rather than in everyday meals.
Varieties
There are a number of varieties of zōsui, including (made with
Chinese softshell turtle
The Chinese softshell turtle (''Pelodiscus sinensis'') is a species of softshell turtle that is native to mainland China (Inner Mongolia to Guangxi, including Hong Kong) and Taiwan, with records of escapees—some of which have established intr ...
), (made with
pufferfish
Tetraodontidae is a family of marine and freshwater fish in the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowers, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfis ...
), (made with
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
), (made with
crab
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...
), , and . For
home cooking
Cooking, also known as cookery or professionally as the culinary arts, is the art, science and craft of using heat to make food more palatable, digestible, nutritious, or safe. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling fo ...
, leftover broth and rice is combined with whatever ingredients are at hand.
Ojiya
The word ojiya often has the same meaning as zōsui, but was created as part of the ''
nyōbō kotoba'', or "court ladies
cant CANT may refer to:
*CANT, a solo project from Grizzly Bear bass guitarist and producer, Chris Taylor.
*Cantieri Aeronautici e Navali Triestini
CANT (''Cantieri Aeronautici e Navali Triestini'', the Trieste Shipbuilding and Naval Aeronautics; also ...
". Its origins are unclear, though it has been suggested that it came from the sound made by the rice cooking, or possibly from ''
olla
An olla is a ceramic jar, often unglazed, used for cooking stews or soups, for the storage of water or dry foods, or for other purposes like the irrigation of olive trees. ''Ollas'' have short wide necks and wider bellies, resembling beanpots or ...
'', the Spanish word for ceramic cookware (pronounced in Japanese).
Many people use the words ojiya and zosui interchangeably, and usage varies by region and household. However, the following list shows some common differences between them:
*Zōsui is prepared by rinsing the rice first to increase its stickiness. This is not the case with ojiya.
*In zōsui, the broth and rice are brought to a boil together, preserving the shape of the rice. With ojiya, the shape of the rice is not preserved when boiled together with the broth. The rice grains fall apart and distort in shape.
*While being flavored with miso or soy sauce, the broth in ojiya remains light or white in color. In contrast, the broth of zosui is only flavored with soy sauce.
Jūshī
The
Okinawan dish (originally ) is considered to be derived from zōsui.
However, it is generally made with uncooked rice and far more water is used when making it. This is the origin for the name ''jūshī''. Strictly speaking, these rice dishes are called (or ), and zosui is (or ). There are a huge variety of styles in which this is made, including using large amounts of
lard
Lard is a Quasi-solid, semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering (animal products), rendering the adipose tissue, fatty tissue of a domestic pig, pig. or
margarine
Margarine (, also , ) is a Spread (food), spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The ...
. Ingredients like
ribs
The rib cage or thoracic cage is an endoskeletal enclosure in the thorax of most vertebrates that comprises the ribs, vertebral column and sternum, which protect the vital organs of the thoracic cavity, such as the heart, lungs and great vessels ...
,
hijiki
(''Sargassum fusiforme'', syn. ''Hizikia fusiformis''), sometimes called hiziki, is a brown sea vegetable that grows wild on the rocky coastlines of East Asia.
Hijiki has been a part of the Japanese culinary sphere and diet for centuries. H ...
,
carrots
The carrot (''Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the Daucus ...
,
shiitake
The shiitake (; ''Chinese/black mushroom'' or ''Lentinula edodes'') is a macrofungus native to East Asia, which is cultivated and consumed around the globe.
Taxonomy
The fungus was first described scientifically as '' Agaricus edodes'' by ...
, and
konjac jelly are also commonly used. Yafarā jūshī commonly contains ribs or pork, , , and .
See also
*
Okayu
Congee ( , derived from Tamil ), is a form of savoury rice porridge made by boiling rice in a large amount of water until the rice softens. Depending on rice–water ratio, the thickness of congee varies from a Western oatmeal porridge to a g ...
, a dish made of rice cooked to a watery consistency
*
List of Japanese soups and stews
This is a list of Japanese soups and stews. Japanese cuisine is the food—ingredients, preparation and way of eating—of Japan. The phrase refers to the makeup of a typical meal served, but has roots in classic '' kaiseki'', '' honzen'', and ' ...
References
{{Rice dishes
Japanese rice dishes
Japanese soups and stews
Okinawan cuisine