Miso Soup with Root Vegetables: A from-scratch recipe that turns the famed Japanese soup into a full meal
CBC Life | Posted: March 7, 2019 6:38 PM | Last Updated: March 7, 2019
This recipe brings winter veggies into the mix for a soup that’ll warm you from the inside out
Miso soup, a traditional Japanese favourite, is one of those dishes that soothes with every sip, and we enjoy it just that much more in the colder months when warming meals take precedence. That’s why we loved this take on it from Meg and Zenta Tenaka’s new cookbook Cibi — the recipe brings in loads of hearty root veggies, transforming the classic accompaniment into the main event. While some ingredients, like konnyaku*, may not be available at your local supermarket, you’ll be able to pick them up from most East Asian grocery stores.
‘Eat Your Soup’ Miso Soup with Root Vegetables
By Meg and Zenta Tanaka
In this recipe, miso soup becomes a hero dish rather than a side. I sometimes see people drink the broth in miso soup and leave the fillings behind, but this soup is definitely meant to be eaten. Miso soup is like a Japanese version of minestrone — lots of vegetables, and made with mum’s (or grandma’s) love. Just as each family or region in Italy uses different minestrone ingredients and flavours, Japanese miso soup varies too. I put lots of wintery root vegetables in mine. If you add small pieces of sliced pork, it becomes a ton-jiru (buta-jiru), or pork soup.
*Konnyaku is a Japanese taro plant. In processed form, it is available in little packets, in water. These packets are often dark grey in colour and gooey like jelly. Konnyaku is rich in fibre and is often said to cleanse your stomach. I love its texture, and adding it to this soup makes us feel healthy. If you cannot find konnyaku, that’s totally fine; you can make beautiful miso soup without it.
Ingredients
- Konnyaku (Japanese taro)*
- 1 medium onion, finely sliced
- 1 medium carrot, quartered and sliced
- 8 oz, about 1 medium potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
- 5 ½ oz, about ¼ daikon (white radish), quartered and sliced
- 54 fl oz Dashi (recipe below) or vegetable stock
- 1 turnip, cubed
- 4 ½- 5 ½ oz, about ⅓ sweet potato, cubed
- 7 oz hakusai (Chinese cabbage), cut into 1 ½” squares
- 1 piece Japanese bean curd, rinsed with hot water, drained and cut into ½ x 1 ½” strips
- 3 ½ oz red miso paste
- 2 tbsp chopped spring onion (scallion), to garnish
- 2 tbsp sesame oil, to garnish
- 1 tsp shichimi-togarashi (Japanese seven spice), to garnish
Dashi:
- 4 x 2” piece kombu
- Approximately 1 handful (or 1 cup) bonito flakes
Preparation
For dashi:
Combine 4 cups water and the kombu in a large saucepan and simmer over a low heat. Just before the water starts to boil, remove the kombu.
Add the bonito flakes to the saucepan*. Cook over a low heat for 2 minutes and gently skim any foam from the surface using a fine-mesh strainer. Don’t stir — doing so will make it bitter.
Turn off the heat and drain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Discard the bonito flakes. Dashi will keep in the fridge for 2 days, and can be frozen in resealable bags.
For soup:
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and cook the konnyaku* for 5 minutes to remove its harshness. Drain it and let it cool down enough to handle. Break it into ¾ in” pieces with your fingers.
In a large stockpot, combine the onion, carrot, potato, daikon, mushrooms and konnyaku*. Add the dashi and bring it to the boil. Cook for 15–20 minutes over a medium–high heat, until the ingredients are soft and cooked through. Add the turnip and sweet potato and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the hakusai and bean curd and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Remove the stockpot from the heat and add the miso. If you have a miso strainer, it is very handy at this stage. Otherwise, scoop the miso onto a ladle, slowly lower it into the soup and stir it gently with chopsticks until the miso is completely dissolved. Reduce the heat to low and return the stockpot to cook for another few minutes, then turn off the heat.
Divide the soup between 4 bowls and garnish with spring onion. Drizzle over the sesame oil and sprinkle the shichimi-togarashi on top.
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Excerpted from Cibi: Simple Japanese-Inspired Meals to Share With Family and Friends by Meg Tanaka and Zenta Tanaka. Recipes Copyright © 2018. Excerpted by permission of Chronicle Books. All rights reserved.