Zosui is a savoury rice porridge made by simmering cooked rice in seasoned dashi — or, classically, in the broth left at the bottom of a hot pot — until the grains soften and drink up the soup. The rice is rinsed of its surface starch first, so the grains swell but hold their shape in a clear, light broth seasoned with soy sauce or miso. A beaten egg is usually stirred in at the end to set in soft ribbons, with chopped scallion, mushrooms, leftover vegetables or seafood folded through. It is the standard shime, the dish that finishes a nabe meal by turning the spent broth into a second course, and is also eaten on its own as gentle, warming food in winter.
Zosui (雑炊) means 'miscellaneous cooking' — cooked rice simmered together with whatever broth and odds and ends are at hand. It is an old household economy dish rather than one with a recorded inventor: before rice could be kept warm easily, families would combine cold leftover rice with miso soup and reheat it into porridge. Its best-known role today is as the shime ('finish') of a nabe hot pot, where rice is added to the umami-rich broth left after the meat, seafood and vegetables have been eaten. It is closely related to, and often confused with, ojiya; the two terms are used interchangeably in many regions and households.
A bowl of soft, swollen rice grains suspended in a clear, savoury broth, threaded with pale ribbons of egg and flecks of green scallion. The first spoonful is mild and soothing — the grains give with almost no chewing, the broth carrying the deep savour of dashi or the funk of miso, plus whatever the nabe left behind: sweetness from cabbage, richness from pork or crab. It should be loose enough to drink, not a stiff paste; eaten steaming hot, it warms from the inside, which is why it is winter and sickbed food.
Zosui depends on two things: starch and umami. Rinsing the cooked rice washes off loose surface starch so the grains stay separate and hold their shape rather than collapsing into glue; simmering them only briefly lets them swell and absorb broth without breaking down. The flavour comes from the broth's umami — most powerfully when it is leftover nabe stock, which has had hours to draw glutamate and inosinate from kombu, bonito, meat and vegetables, the two compounds multiplying each other's savour. The egg is added last and barely cooked: stirred into the hot broth off a hard boil, its proteins set into tender curds and lightly thicken the soup rather than seizing into rubber.
Variations
The dish is named for whatever goes in: tori zosui (chicken), kani zosui (crab), kinoko zosui (mushroom), fugu zosui from the broth of a pufferfish hot pot, and so on. Its near-twin is ojiya — by the usual distinction, ojiya uses unrinsed rice so the grains break down into a thicker, stickier porridge, while zosui keeps the rinsed grains whole in a lighter broth, though the names are swapped freely by region. Tamago zosui, finished with egg, is the plainest everyday form. It differs from okayu, which is simmered from raw rice rather than built on cooked rice and broth.
On the Palate
Where Zosui sits in the Japanese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 2
How it's made
7 steps · 10 min
- 16 min
If not using leftover nabe broth, prepare dashi and season it lightly with soy sauce or miso, plus a little salt and mirin, to a sippable savoury broth.
- 22 min
Rinse the cooked rice in a sieve under cold water to wash off surface starch, then drain well.
Watch outRinse the cooked rice under cold water to wash off surface starch — skip it and the grains dissolve into glue instead of staying separate.
- 34 min
Bring the broth to a gentle simmer and add any firmer ingredients — mushrooms, chicken or seafood — to cook through.
- 44 min
Add the rinsed rice and simmer gently for a few minutes, just until the grains swell and warm through without falling apart.
- 51 min
Beat the eggs and pour them in a thin stream over the surface, then stop stirring for a moment so they set into soft ribbons.
Watch outPour the beaten egg in a thin stream and stop stirring a moment so it sets into soft ribbons — over-stir off a hard boil and it hardens into tough shreds.
- 61 min
Fold through gently, taste and adjust the seasoning.
- 71 min
Ladle into bowls, scatter with chopped scallion, and serve at once while piping hot.
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