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5 from 7 votes
Zosui (雑炊) is a Japanese version of congee. Rice is cooked in flavoured soup with vegetables, egg and sometimes meat or fish. It is often made using the soup from the hot pot to wrap up the wonderful meal of the day. You can imagine how good the soup from the hot pot would be, can’t you?
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Zosui (Japanese Rice Soup)
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
15 mins
 
Zosui (雑炊) is a rice soup or a Japanese version of congee. Rice is cooked in flavoured soup with vegetables, egg and sometimes meat or fish. It is often made using the soup from the hotpot to wrap up the wonderful meal of the day. In this recipe, you will find zosui made from the soup left from yosenabe as well as how to make zoui from scratch.
Recipe Type: Soup
Cuisine: Japanese
Serves: 2
Author: Yumiko
Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)
Making with Yosenabe Soup Stock (note 1)
  • 500ml (16.9oz) soup stock from Yosenabe (note 2)
  • 200g (7.1oz) cooked rice (can be frozen)
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 4 tbsp finely chopped shallots (scallions)
Making from Scratch (note 3)
  • 500ml (16.9oz) dashi stock (note 4)
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • A pinch of salt
  • 40g (1.4oz) carrot, julienned into 2.5cm (1”) lengths
  • 3 small shiitake mushrooms thinly sliced
  • 200g (7.1oz) cooked rice (can be frozen)
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 4 tbsp finely chopped shallots (scallions)
Instructions
Making with Yosenabe Soup Stock
  1. Heat the soup stock over high heat.
  2. When it has started boiling, add rice and mix well ensuring that each grain is separated in the soup.
  3. When it has started boiling again, reduce the heat to medium and add egg, spreading on the surface evenly (note 5), then place a lid on.
  4. Cook for 15-30 seconds or until egg is nearly cooked (note 6).
  5. Sprinkle shallots over and serve immediately.
Making from Scratch
  1. Add dashi stock, soy sauce and salt in a pot and bring it to a boil.
  2. Add carrots and shiitake mushrooms. Cook for a couple of minutes or until the vegetables are cooked.
  3. Add rice and mix well ensuring that each grain is separated in the soup.
  4. When it has started boiling again, reduce the heat to medium and add egg spreading on the surface evenly (note 5), then place a lid on.
  5. Cook for 15-30 seconds or until egg is nearly cooked (note 6).
  6. Sprinkle shallots over and serve immediately (see the photo below this recipe).
Recipe Notes

1. I usually use just egg and chopped shallots to make a very plain zosui like this. This is because I already had all kinds of vegetables, meat and seafood in yosenabe.

But if you are like my son who wants more ingredients in zosui, you could either reserve some yosenabe ingredients or add freshly prepared ingredients such as mushrooms, tofu (cut into small dice), julienned carrots.

If you are adding extra ingredients, you need to cook them before adding rice.

2. The amount of soup left over from yosenabe varies depending on how the yosenabe was cooked and eaten. If you don’t have enough soup stock left, you can add water and adjust the flavour with salt.

3. I used only carrots and shiitake mushrooms, but you can use different ingredients, even add chicken or seafood if you like.

Chicken should be cut into small bite size pieces. You can even dice it into smaller sizes. If adding fish, I would recommend using fillets with the skin on, cut into bite size pieces.

4. Please refer to Home Style Japanese Dashi Stock. You can also use instant dashi stock for this. Please follow the instructions on the packet of the instant dashi for the ratio of water and instant stock.

5. If you use a measuring cup or a bowl with a pour spout on it, you can spread the egg evenly. Try to draw swirls on the surface.

If you don’t have a cup/bowl with a spout, attach a pair of chopsticks or a fork to the rim of the bowl and tilt the bowl to let the egg flow along the chopsticks/fork.

6. The cooking time here depends on the type of pot you are using, strength of heat and your preference as to how much the egg should be cooked.

If you are using a clay pot (donabe), like in my photo, you hardly need to cook it before turning off the heat as it continues to cook after turning the heat off for a long time. With my donabe, I place the lid on after adding the egg and turn off the heat.