Today soup recipe is a Japanese famous soup recipe of nameko mushroom tofu soup.
Nameko mushroom also called a butterscotch mushroom, or Pholiota nameko is a small, amber-brown mushroom with a slightly gelatinous coating that is enjoyed in miso soup and nabemono. In this soup recipe, I am using the hatcho miso which has less in water and salt content combine with silken tofu with dashi stock base. Hatcho miso is a unique flavour miso which is made from high-quality soybean, salt and water. Cooked and mashed soybeans are shaped into small balls and mixed with salty water. Then, the Miso ferments for 3 winters. The name Hatcho came from “Eighth street”, to the west of Okazaki castle.

Japanese Soup Recipe : Nameko Tofu Soup with Hatcho Miso

If you have a recipe for nameko mushrooms and hatcho miso and you can’t find any in your area, you can try using shiitakes and shiro miso as a substitute.

Ingredients: (4 serving)

1 pack nameko mushroom
1 block silken tofu, drained and cut into cubed
3 1/2 cups dashi stock
3 1/2 tbsp hatchomiso
pepper to taste

Preparations:
Wash nameko mushroom with running water, drain it.
Bring dashi stock to boil in a saucepan. Add in nameko mushroom and return to the boil. Add tofu, simmer for 1 minute. removing the scum from the surface with a spoon or paper towel.Turn off heat, stir in miso and dissolve it. Transfer the soup to serving bowl. Garnish with the pepper and serve immediately.

Miso soups (味噌汁) is the simplest and easy soup recipes to prepare. It is also very versatile where the ingredients can vary among vegetables, seafood, tofu, pork and chicken. The taste of the soups may be different depending of the ingredients, quantity of ingredients to be used. To cook a simple and smooth miso soup, always remember the rules / important point here – “Do not overcooked the miso” as miso require only a VERY short cooking time. Overcooking miso destroys the natural fragrant and the texture of the soup becomes rough to the tongue. As such, always cook other ingredients first, then just before serving, add in miso and stir until it dissolves.

Okay.. Having read the above point of cooking in Japanese miso soup recipe, let’s try soups of the day – “Miso soup with clams” (アサリの味噌汁).

Ingredients (Yields 4 servings)

400g asari (clams)
1 kombu(10cm)
4 cups water
3 1/2 tbsps red miso
salted water
chopped scallion
shichimi to taste

Preparations
Put the clams into a colander and place the colander in a large bowl of salted cold water (1 tbsp salt to 1 quart water). Let the clams stand in a cool place for 2 ~ 3 hours to expel any sand. Then wash and rinse the clams under cold running water. Add in the clams, kombu and water in a medium pot. Bring the mixture to boil over medium heat. When the water turns turbid white (muddy white), take out the kombu, reduce the heat, gently take the foam and white scum on top out. Boil for about 7 mins or until all clams are open. Turn off heat and add in the miso, wait for it to dissolve. Trasfer into individual bowls, top with chipped scallion, shichimi and serve hot with steamed rice.

Japanese Daikon Spare-Ribs Recipes

Spare-Ribs Simmered with Daikon Radish

This is another Japanese simmered recipe using daikon radish. I am using spareribs instead of chickens as it will give me the best taste of soups, in addition, I really enjoy the bite on those “soft-bones”.
This is actually an 1 recipe in 2 Dishes where you can enjoy both :

1) Spare-ribs simmered Daikon Soups
2) Spare-ribs and Daikon Misoni

Spareribs simmered Daikon Soups

Ingredients:

2 tsps vegetables oil
300g spareribs, cut into bite-sized pieces
50g daikon, peeled, halved length-wise, cut in 1cm slices
2 tsps dashi powder dissolved in 250ml water
2tsps sugar
2 tsps soy sauce
2 tbsps mirin
1 stalk leek, to garnish

Preparations:

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add spareribs and fry until lightly browned about 3 minutes. Add dashi mixture and bring to boil. Turn to low heat and simmer for 2 minutes removing the scum from the surface with a spoon or paper towel. Stir in daikon, sugar, soy sauce and mirin, cover and simmer for another 15 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the leek into thin, matchstick-size pieces then soak in cold water, drain and set aside. Remove lid and continue to simmer until cooking liquid has almost evaporated and vegetables are tender. Drain from cooking liquid and serve in small bowls topped with drained leek pieces.

Daikon Spareribs Miso

Ingredients:

4 tbsps miso paste
2 tbsps sugar
4 tbsps dashi mixture
1 tbsp lime/lemon juice
lime/lemon to ganish

Daikon and spareribs (* as prepared above)

Preparations:

Mix the miso paste, sugar,dashi mixture, lemon juice into a bowl and heat for 1 minute in microwave oven. Take out and mix well, add in some soups if it is too dry and heat for another 30 seconds in the microwave oven. Transfer daikon and spareribs in a plate, pour the miso on top. Garnish with the lemon.

Kenchin-Jiru is a traditional Japanese soup recipe cooked and eaten all over Japan. Classic versions of kenchin-jiru are not enriched with miso though you could thicken the broth of either, or both, with your favorite fermented bean paste. If you do, omit the soy sauce and mirin. This hearty Japanese soup recipe matched perfectly with steamed rice. With the combination of tofu-dashi stock in the soup, it energize and keep you warm especially during the cool winter. So, you may wanna cleaning out the fridge with this Japanese soup recipe. Add in the vegetables that you have in the fridge, and try out the hearty kenchin-jiru today! Ingredients: (4 serving)

1 block tofu, drained and crumbled into small pieces
80g chicken thigh, cut into bite sized
6 fresh shiitake mushrooms
6 taro (satoimo), peeled and cut into quarters lengthwise
1 carrot, peeled and cut into thin rounds
10 cm Japanese radish (daikon), peeled and cut into quarters lengthwise
1/2 burdock root (gobo), scrubbed and sliced diagonally into thin ovals
1 stalk Japanese leek negi, thinly sliced
1/2 konnyaku (konjac), cut into bite-size pieces
1 1/2 tbsp salad oil
6 cups dashi stock
1 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt

Preparations:
Wipe the caps of the mushrooms to remove any soil or grit that may be clinging to them and remove their stems. Cut each cap into eighths, making narrow pie-shaped wedges.
Heat oil in pot over high heat, add chicken and saute until almost cooked. Add taro, carrot, daikon, burdock root and konnyaku, cook until edges turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Add dashi stock and tofu, simmer over medium-heat until vegetables are almost done. Scoop out some soup stock from the pot. Add in salt, mirin and soy sauce and stir to blend. Transfer the soup to serving bowl. Garnish with the Japanese leek and serve immediately.

Japanese soup recipe : Kenchin-Jiru

Osumashi (Japanese Clear Soup)                Miso (Soybean Paste Soup)

Free and easy Japanese soup recipes – Osumashi vs Miso Soup Recipes

Soups play an important main role in most Japanese meals. They are classified into two broad groups: clear soups and thick soups and usually serve together with meal in Japanese restaurant. Clear soup (osumashi/suimono) is usually served at the beginning of a meal. This delicately flavored soup can be varied by the addition of many different kinds of garnishes. The slightly thicker, sweeter soups flavored with red of white soybean paste (mishoshiru) are generally served toward the end of a formal Japanese meal. Both kinds of soups can be made with dashinomoto, a powdered soup base available at specialty grocery stores.

Osumashi (Basic Clear Soup) Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cup water
1 tsp dashinomoto
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soy sauce
4 mushroom slices for garnish
chopped chives for garnish

Preparations:

In a saucepan, bring water to boil add in dashinomoto, salt and soy sauce. Remove immediately from heat. Pour into 4 small bowls and garnish each with a mushroom slice and a pinch of chives. Ready for serve.

Misoshiru (Soybean Paste soup) Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cup water
2tbsp dashinomoto
1/2 tofu age (deep fried tofu)
1/2 cup miso
1/2 block tofu cut into cubed
wakame seaweed cut into bite size
2 scallions, chopped into thin rounds for granish

Preparations:

In a saucepan, bring water to boil add in dashinomoto and miso. Add tofu, tofu age, wakame seaweed and bring mixture to a boil again. Remove from heat, pour into 4 small bowls and garnish with scallions. Ready for serve.

Japanese Tonjiru Soup

Ton or another word called Buta which mean pork in Japanese. Thus, pork play the main role in this traditional japanese soup – Tonjiru. This a wonderful dish in winter where you can feel the touch of heart from the people who cook this. This homestyle hearty soup (Aijyo soup) is rarely found in restaurants outside Japan nowadays, though, it is easy recipe to make at home.
So, try this fabulous traditional japanese taste blended pork and various kinds of vegetables with miso flavor recipe. Enjoy and share the “Aijyo” with your family and diet with soup.
Below are vegetables* (ingredients) that mostly used in preparing this soup.

Daikon – large white radish
Carrots
Gobo – burdock root
Satoimo – type of taro
Satsuma imo – Japanese sweet potato
Renkon – lotus root
Shiitake – mushroom
Konnyaku – Konjac
Aburage – tofu pockets
Tofu cut into small cubes
Negi (Japanese leek) – garnish for the soup

Ingredients:

• 200g pork thinly sliced
• any of the ingredients listed above, cut into slices
• 5 cups of water or dashi
• 5 tbsp of miso
• 2tbsp vegetable oil

Preparations:

Cook taro into boiling water for about 10 ~ 15 minutes in a pan. Add in vegetable oil and saute the pork together with the vegetables* above. Put dashi soup stock in, bring to boil and slimmer for 30minutes in low heat. Scoop out some soup stock from the pan and dissolve miso in it. Gradually return the miso mixture in the soup. Stir the soup gently. Garnish with the thinly sliced Japanese leek.