Thanks for the Meal

Tag: green onion

  • Salmon and Vegetable Tonjiru Soup: A modern twist on an old classic

    Salmon and Vegetable Tonjiru Soup: A modern twist on an old classic

    AltSalmon Tonjiru Japanese recipehough the weather has been unusually warm and sunny here in the Bay area for the past few weeks, I was craving Tonjiru (豚汁,とんじる), a classic hearty umami-flavored miso-based soul-satisfying pork soup, usually made in the winter. Ton is defined as pork, and jiru meaning soup. Depending on the region, this can also be called Butajiru (豚汁,ぶたじる).

    Although my updated and more modern (or even California) version is so dense with a variety of yummies, that perhaps I should call it a rustic stew? Instead of using the more traditional pork and or pork belly, I replaced it with fresh salmon chunks and added in uncured bacon for an extra layer of flavor and to stay true to the original recipe of Tonjiru. But, you can delete the bacon, although technically it can’t then be called Tonjiru anymore! I even added in kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), a favorite of mine, along with lots of other root vegetables and tofu. You can play around with the ingredients and add in others that you may prefer, such as potatoes. That’s the fun, versatility and flexibility of making Tonjiru. I also used a milder white miso in this dish, which also helped to keep it light, so that it can be enjoyed year-round if you like. This is an easy and quick main course and or substantial soup that is a great addition to your Japanese cooking repertoire.

    I have been asked by many of my Facebook readers recently to post the recipe, so here it is! Be sure to check out the basic miso soup recipe first!

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    Salmon Tonjiru Japanese recipe

    Salmon and Vegetable Tonjiru Soup

    Lucy Seligman
    No ratings yet
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    Course Main Course, Soup
    Cuisine Japanese
    Servings 4

    Ingredients
      

    • 6 cups dashi stock
    • 1 tbsp Japanese sesame oil
    • 3/4 pound salmon fillets*, cut into thick slices, skinned and deboned
    • 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger, or to taste, optional
    • 3 slices uncured bacon*, cut thickly, optional
    • 1-2 tbsps cooking oil
    • 1 white onion, peeled and thinly sliced
    • 1 cup peeled, seeded and cubed Japanese pumpkin (kabocha)
    • 3/4 cup peeled daikon radish, cut into half moon slices
    • 1/2 cup peeled and thinly sliced or shredded gobo (burdock root)
    • 3 satoimo (Japanese taro), peeled and cut into half moon slices
    • 1 carrot, peeled and cut into thick circles
    • 1/2 block konnyaku (konjac), cut in half and thinly sliced
    • 5-6 tbsps white miso**, to taste
    • shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced, optional
    • 1 block firm tofu, drained and cut into medium-sized cubes

    Garnish

    • 1/4 cup minced green onions
    • Shichimitogarashi (7 spice pepper) optional

    Instructions
     

    • Prep all of your ingredients. The goal is to cut all of your ingredients into uniform and similar sizes.
    • Make your dashi and set aside.
    • In a deep pot, saute the ginger and bacon (if using) in sesame oil until slightly browned. Remove the bacon from pot, leaving the ginger, and add in oil. Cook onion and other ingredients such as gobo, kabocha, daikon, taro, and carrot until slightly softened. Add in konnyaku, and mushrooms (if using).
    • Pour in hot dashi stock. Add in salmon and bacon, if using. Bring to a high simmer. If needed, skim off any scum from top of the soup. Cook until all the vegetables are tender.
    • Turn off heat and add in miso using a strainer. Taste. You may want to add in more miso at this point. Add in tofu and gently stir to heat up thoroughly. If you need to reheat do so gently but never boil as you will lessen the flavor of the miso.
    • To serve, ladle into deep soup bowls and top with green onions. Pass shichimitogarashi separately. Eat immediately.

    Notes

    • *Replace the salmon with the more traditional thinly sliced pork and or pork belly (use up to 1/2 lb). If doing so, then saute with the ginger. Delete the bacon if doing this version.
    • **Don’t use Kyoto white miso in this dish. It would make it too sweet. Just use plain white miso.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
  • Eating Japanese Food While Maintaining Ketosis

    Eating Japanese Food While Maintaining Ketosis

    Following a ketogenic diet is a great way to lose weight, but can you eat Japanese food on keto? The answer may surprise you, but YES! Eating keto, otherwise known as a low-carb-high-fat diet, is beneficial for a number of reasons, but a big part of it is eating in such a way that allows you to still enjoy many of your favorite foods.

    keto diet japanese food

    Anyone who loves sushi knows that you’re only ever one artfully made tuna roll away from a better mood, and the same can be said for good Japanese food in general. While you might think that a sushi restaurant isn’t the most ideal place to eat when you’re counting carbs…prepare to be pleasantly surprised. Japanese cuisine, while it has a few carby pitfalls, is full of dishes that focus on simply prepared fish and vegetables designed to let the food speak for itself.

    If you’re not already familiar with Japanese food culture, then you will almost certainly have some questions about the various fruits, vegetables, sauces, and preparations that you will be experiencing and that’s fine. The goal here is to familiarize yourself somewhat so you can make better informed food choices that are not only delicious, but also allow you to sample some of the best techniques that Japanese cooking offers. Of course all of this was written keeping in mind that you want to maintain ketosis while eating delicious food and not stressing about the type of restaurant that you’re at; Japanese food is more than just sushi, after all!

    The Wonderful World of Osechi: Japanese New Year’s Recipes

    New Year’s is one of the best times in Japan, at least for eating and relaxing. Get Lucy’s Osechi cookbook, full of recipes that are fast to make, easy, and quite delicious for your New Year celebrations (along with the history and traditions and little tidbits Lucy always includes). Get the book!

    Makes a great gift too! Did you know on the Amazon page there’s an option to give it as a gift?

    Osechi cookbook Japanese New Year

    Keto Japanese Food

    Japanese Keto Appetizers

    While tenpura is a mainstay in Japanese restaurants in the US, there’s are plenty of non-fried starters you can enjoy instead.

    Miso soup is a thin, broth-based soup made with fermented soybean paste. It has a very unique flavor, with a high degree of umami while still being light and refreshing. Often it’s simply populated with cubes of tofu and some vegetables like cabbage. This is a delicious and often cheap start to a meal that’s keto-friendly. It’s worth noting too that if you’re avoiding soy but don’t have a good reason to (like allergies) other than word-of-mouth that it’s somehow bad for you, then stop avoiding it. Soy is healthy and a good source of protein, and it’s reasonably low in carbs.

    Oshinko vegetables are essentially pickles and often includes daikon, lotus root, seaweed, and burdock. Daikon is a type of radish, burdock is similar to artichoke, lotus root is its own thing altogether, but delicious and still low carb friendly.

    Edamame isn’t super low carb, but again most people avoid it because of some odd aversion to soy. In small amounts, edamame fresh from the lightly salted pod is a delicious way to whet your appetite.

    Grilled vegetables are another way to enjoy an appetizer in a new way without overloading on sugar or carbs.

    While you can’t enjoy the many splendors of sushi in all its forms, you can still enjoy the flavors and freshness by eating sashimi. Sashimi is essentially the same cuts of fish your sushi chef has available for rolls or maki, served with the same familiar additions as sushi – pickled ginger, wasabi, soy sauce – just without the rice. The best part of sashimi is the fact that because you don’t have the nori or rice to cover up imperfections, you will likely get the best cuts they have available.

    Depending on where you are, most Japanese restaurants specialize in both sushi and hibachi. Hibachi grills are incredible both for the delicious food cooked right in front of you, but also because of the beautiful knifework and performance art that goes into the cooking. Dazzling displays of cutting, flipping, and searing are the visual appetizers to a main course of grilled meat or fish and Japanese vegetables. Just ask for your chef to hold the rice and you can stay keto friendly very easily at a hibachi.

    Even if you don’t have a hibachi at your restaurant of choice, you can still likely get whatever meat they have offered in other dishes grilled simply to your liking and it never hurts to ask.

    Shabu-Shabu is an interesting course that consists of very thin slices of beef and vegetables that are served with a very hot bowl of broth that you actually cook yourself at the table. Because of how hot the broth is and how thinly the food is cut, it takes just a minute or less to cook perfectly. I’ve got to be honest – it’s also really fun!

    Negamaki is a delicious alternative to other sugary dishes, being that it’s simply grilled beef wrapped around green onions or sometimes asparagus, served with soy sauce. While I’ve had it both as an appetizer and as a meal, I think you could get it as either.

    Things to avoid

    Of course like any restaurant there will be a number of things that won’t work well with your keto lifestyle, the most obvious of these being rice and noodles. There are some other things to avoid though, and it might require you to speak with your server or chef to determine what might be lurking in the dishes you have your eye on.

    Tenpura, though lightly fried and crispy, it still a flour batter and so should be avoided. Even a small piece of tenpura vegetable can have upwards of 8g of carbs and that’s just not doable on a keto diet.

    Most sauces that go beyond simply soy sauce – like teriyaki for instance – are going to be sugar or corn- syrup based and absolutely not compliant with a keto meal.

    As sad as it makes me, seaweed salad is often quite sugary, despite being delicious. You can typically get a small green salad with Japanese dressing on the side so any added sugar is negligible, or again just opt for grilled or pickled vegetables to be safe.

    Potstickers, called gyoza, are delicious but of course are made with a type of flour that is filled with carbs. Best to avoid them.

    I remember avoiding going out to eat with my friends when I first started keto if they were going to a place where I simply couldn’t imagine eating low carb. Outside of a pizzeria or pasta house, however, you can adapt almost any cuisine to a low carb lifestyle, Japanese included.

    Meshiagare!

    Author Bio

    Fit2Father Tony LozziTony is a HealthyWage winner father of two who enjoys finding ways to turn his favorite carby foods into keto recipes (like his infamous air fryer steak bites and keto chicken tenders!) Be sure to check him out on Pinterest!

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    AbeBooks.com. Thousands of booksellers - millions of books.

    Need books?

    I’m buying mine from Abe Books now in an effort to support smaller businesses. They have new and used options and harder to find books, including all of my favorite Japanese cookbooks! You can support Thanks for the Meal by clicking on this banner to buy your books.

    Arigatou Gozaimasu / ありがとうございますいます –Lucy

  • Kaminari Dofu aka Thunder Tofu

    Kaminari Dofu aka Thunder Tofu

    Kaminari Dofu - Thunder TofuLet’s face it, tofu can be bland, but also quite versatile in any number of Japanese dishes. That’s why I am always looking for innovative ways to make it more tasty and interesting. Used as a foundation for a recipe, it can take on very assertive flavors. Kaminari Dofu (aka Thunder Tofu) is no exception. This is one of my all-time favorite tofu recipes.

    It is my adaptation of a recipe from the Edo Period (1603-1868), adapted from a recipe of Kyoiku-shashin-sho’s “Tofu Hyakuchin.” Kaminari (translated as thunder)  Dofu is called that because of the PARI PARI sound when you saute tofu in oil, as tofu contains a lot of water. When you make this dish, listen for this!

    Tofu What is tofu (bean curd) made of?

    It is pressed soybean milk and which is then fermented so that they coagulate into curds, similar to cheese. The curds are pressed into molds which are then allowed to drain, encouraging the curds to stick together. It has a high protein content.

    There are number of Japanese tofu varieties, based on its level of firmness.

    Soft Tofu (Kinudofu):
    Soft (or silken) tofu is fresh tofu with a smooth, custard-like consistency.

    Regular (Firm) Tofu:
    Firm tofu has a much sturdier, drier texture than soft tofu. As a result, it stands up better to cooking. It is available in a number of varieties, ranging from soft to extra firm. Momentofu – The second firmest tofu has a medium consistency. It can also be known as regular, coarse, spongy, cotton, or wool tofu. Yakitofu is lightly grilled and as a result is the firmest.

    Deep Fried Tofu (Aburaage and Atsuage):
    There are several varieties of deep fried tofu common to Japanese cuisine: Aburaage  and Atsuage are the most common.

    Freeze Dried Tofu (Koyadofu):
    Koyadofu is freeze dried tofu. It has a spongy texture that absorbs whatever sauce, nabe or soup it is placed in.

    When I lived in Tokyo, I took a cooking class where we made fresh tofu.  I can remember the taste to this day. I’ve noticed that in recent years at many high-end Japanese restaurants here in the States, house made tofu is often offered. Try it! I have loved it every time it has been available. You can often find fresh tofu at Japanese markets as well and well worth the search. Add some freshly made Japanese rice, a bowl of miso soup, and you have a very tasty, easy, quick and delicious meat-free meal!

    My recipes may include affiliate links, so without costing you anything extra, I’ll earn a small percentage of the sales if you purchase these items through these links. Thank you for your support!

    Leave a note in the comments section if you make this dish!

    Kaminari Dofu - Thunder Tofu

    Kaminari Dofu

    Lucy Seligman
    5 from 1 vote
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    Course Main Course, Side Dish
    Cuisine Japanese
    Servings 4

    Ingredients
      

    • 2 blocks momen (cotton) tofu
    • 4 tablespoons Japanese sesame oil
    • 4 tablespoons Soy sauce or to taste
    • grated Daikon radish to taste, drain off excess water
    • 1/2 cup green onions, finely chopped
    • Togarashi (dried red pepper) or cayenne pepper to taste
    • Wasabi horseradish to taste

    Instructions
     

    • Place the tofu between 2 plates and leave for 20 to 30 minutes. Drain off the excess water,  and mash the tofu between your fingers.  Wrap in a clean towel (or cheesecloth) and firmly press out as much remaining water as you can. 
    • Heat the oil in a wok. Add the unwrapped tofu and stir quickly. Add soy sauce and continue cooking over high heat for a few minutes.
    • To serve, place the tofu mixture in bowls, topped with grated daikon, sprinkle with green onions and togarashi. Put a dab of wasabi in the center and serve piping hot. You can also serve this family style, in a large bowl.

    Notes

    Have all your ingredients prepped and prepared as this dish needs to be served piping hot.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    Osechi book by Lucy Seligman

     

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  • Nanbanzuke: Marinated Fried Fish from Nagasaki

    Nanbanzuke: Marinated Fried Fish from Nagasaki

    NanbanzukePortuguese and Spanish missionaries started trickling into Japan to spread the teachings of Christianity near the end of the Muromachi era (1392-1567), and their first foothold in Japan was Nagasaki. The Japanese took to referring to all Europeans as Nanbanjin or “Southern barbarians,” and gradually the term “nanban” came to mean anything related to European civilization; even the ship that brought the missionaries to the shores of Japan was referred to as nanbansen.

    In addition to importing a different religion and culture, the priests also sparked a culinary revolution of sorts. Nanban ryori (“Southern barbarian cuisine”) was a style of cooking characterized by deep-frying and the use of dried hot red peppers and onions, both of which the newcomers employed liberally in their cuisine. However, since the onion didn’t come to Japan until the seventeenth century and wasn’t popular until the Meiji era (1868-1912), Western cooks took to using Japanese leeks instead. The Japanese liked what they tasted and began creating dishes that used these two ingredients.

    One example is kamo nanban – soba with wild duck and leeks. By the Edo era (1603-1867) many cookbooks referred to any dish using leeks as nanban-style cooking. The preferred method of cooking in this Nagasaki regional cuisine was deep-frying. The frying of food, including tempura, can be traced back to the meatless Fridays the devoutly Catholic Europeans observed for religious reasons.

    Nanbanzuke (aka Nanban-zuke) is one facet of Nagasaki’s regional cooking style, and among its most enduring variations is Aji no Nanbanzuke. To make this dish, small horse mackerel are deep-fried and then marinated in a vinegar-based sauce that includes red peppers and leeks. Summer is considered the best season for horse mackerel, which is often served as sashimi, salt-grilled, boiled, or deep-fried. Many people think the latter is the best of all.

    During a recent trip back to Japan this summer, I not only enjoyed Aji no Nanbanzuke, but I helped cook a home-style version of this style of cooking using chicken and assorted vegetables. (I will post that recipe in the future.) What I like is that this is a pretty forgiving dish; an easy and delectable way to eat a lot of vegetables during hot and humid summer days, not to mention succulent fish and or chicken, and surprisingly light despite it being a fried dish!

    Leave a note in the comments section (see below) if you make this dish!

    Nanbanzuke

    Aji no Nanbanzuke

    Lucy Seligman
    No ratings yet
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    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Japanese
    Servings 4

    Ingredients
      

    • 8 small whole fresh aji (horse mackerel or sardines), cleaned, scaled, gutted, and deboned
    • 1 ½ teaspoons coarse sea salt
    • All-purpose white flour as needed
    • Vegetable oil for deep-frying

    Nanbansu (vinegar sauce)

    • 7 tablespoons cold water
    • 1 ½ tablespoons white sugar
    • 3 tablespoons sake
    • 2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
    • 1 or 2 small dried red peppers, seeded & sliced thinly
    • 3 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar, or to taste
    • ½ Japanese leek, white part only, charred & quartered or replace with 1 small onion, peeled & thinly sliced

    Garnish

    • Minced green onion to taste

    Optional Additional Vegetables if desired:

    • 1 or 2 piman (Japanese green pepper), seeded, cored and thinly sliced into strips
    • 1 small carrot, peeled and thinly sliced into strips

    Instructions
     

    • Wash the cleaned fish and sprinkle them with the sea salt. Let sit for 15 to 20 minutes, then wash the salt off in cold water and dry the fish well with paper towels. Dredge in flour. Deep-fry in the vegetable oil until the fish start to float and turn golden-brown. Drain quickly on paper towels, then place the still-hot fish in a shallow, nonaluminum container.
    • While the fish are being salted, make the sauce. Bring the water, sugar, sake, soy sauce, and red peppers to a boil. Turn the heat off and add the vinegar, leeks, and any other vegetables if using. Pour the sauce over the fish, let cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to two days, turning occasionally.
    • To server: Drain the fish and vegetables, and place on a serving plate. Sprinkle the fish generously with the minced green onions and drizzle a little of the sauce over them. Serve cold.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    Photo copyright: kandki / 123RF Stock Photo

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  • Real Eel: An Electrifying Dish from Nagoya

    Real Eel: An Electrifying Dish from Nagoya

    Once tasted, the delicate flavor of eel (unagi), prepared according to the special ways of Japanese cuisine, will linger in your memory forever. Since the Edo period (1603-1867), eel has traditionally been eaten in the height of midsummer on the Day of the Ox (July 23); popular custom has it that anyone who eats eel on this day will have extra stamina to cope with the summer heat. This is a custom I follow to this day! But the true gourmet’s season for eel consumption is late fall to winter (the time of spawning), when eel are at their best, even tastier than usual.

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    chopping eel

    There are many ways to serve unagi: the most popular is kabayaki, eel grilled in sauce, served separately from rice; if served on rice, it is called unaju. Or there is shirayaki, eel grilled without sauce, served with wasabi (horseradish) and soy sauce. A more unusual dish, unagi kamameshi, is the creation of Torisuzu, a chain of restaurants in Nagoya, where I lived for a number of years. It combines flavored rice and grilled eel with a tasty stock poured over the top, and wasabi and chopped green onions for an extra flourish. After tasting this dish just once, you’ll be a convert for life.

    Be warned, this recipe needs constant attention – no running away from the stove while it’s cooking.

    Buy the unagi sauce from a Japanese supermarket or supplier as it is virtually impossible for the home cook to make – in the kitchen at Torisuzu, a large vat of unagi bones, soy sauce, sugar, and mirin (sweet sake) is kept specially heated and cooking for a full three months before use. It’s also advisable to buy ready-grilled kabayaki eel (frozen if necessary), as grilling fresh eel is an intricate art unto itself.

    eel

    Unagi Kamameshi

    Lucy Seligman

    5 from 1 vote
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    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Japanese
    Servings 4

    Ingredients
      

    • 3 cups short-grain Japanese white rice
    • 4 ½ cups water
    • ¾ cup unagi sauce
    • 14 oz. kabayaki (grilled eel, thickly sliced), Look in Japanese supermarkets, they are usually sold in vacuumed sealed packages in the frozen section.

    For the stock:

    • 3 cups water
    • 1 ½ teaspoons dashi (fish stock granules)
    • 1 ½ teaspoons low-salt soy sauce
    • 1 ½ teaspoons sake
    • A pinch of salt

    To garnish:

    • ½ cup minced or finely chopped green onions
    • Wasabi horseradish to taste

    Instructions
     

    • Wash the rice until the water runs clear. Drain and let sit for 30 minutes prior to cooking.
    • Place the rice and water in a heavy, deep, medium-sized saucepan with a well-fitting lid. Boil vigorously, uncovered, for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. To keep from boiling over, tap the top of the pan a number of times with a spoon. Most of the water should disappear – if it evaporates too quickly, turn down the heat during the last few minutes of cooking to avoid burning.
    • Pour in the unagi sauce and mix well, then turn heat down to medium-simmer, cover the pan, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the eel slices, cover again, and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes.
    • Meanwhile, prepare the stock. Heat water and stir in the dashi until dissolved. Add soy sauce and sake and adjust seasoning.
    • To serve, mix the eel into the rice and serve in individual bowls. Pass the stock, green onion, and wasabi separately, allowing each person to mix in as they desire.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    Not only can you find a number of recipes from Nagoya on Thanks For the Meal, but we have a whole collection of regional Japanese recipes from across the country.

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    eel in package
    Here’s the one I purchased at my local Asian mall.  Leave a note in the comments section (see below) if you make this dish!

  • Miso: More than just a Seasoning

    Miso SoupMiso (fermented soybean paste) is not only considered a condiment, spice, and seasoning in Japan but a way of life as well. I can think of no equivalent food in Western cuisine that has had such a powerful impact on culinary culture, not to mention societal relations.

    Miso is believed to have been created in China, brought to the Korean Peninsula, and then introduced to Japan – the same route taken by many of Japan’s fermented and preserved condiments, including soy sauce. By the Nara era (710-84), miso was being made and sold in the city of Nara, and was even being taxed. The Engishiki, compiled in 927, was the first historical document to mention miso. A popular form of miso among aristocrats during this period was name (“licking”) miso, a form of highly spiced and salted miso mixed with pickled vegetables that the nobles enjoyed while drinking sake.

    By the Kamakura era (1185-1333), Buddhist strictures were influencing everyone from the higher classes and samurai down to the peasantry. Zen monks, highly experienced at making miso because it was one of the key components of shojin ryori (vegetarian Buddhist cuisine) helped introduce the flavorful paste throughout Japan.

    Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) did much to popularize miso soup as the first Japanese power breakfast. He recognized that miso would assist warriors during times of battle by supplying them with the necessary protein they needed to fight on. By 1600, a typical breakfast consisted of miso soup, rice, and pickles, which to many Japanese constitutes the perfect breakfast even today.

    Currently there are several hundred types of miso being sold, each made according to the climate and taste preferences of the region in which it is produced. Miso can range in color from a rich brownish-red to light yellow; typically, the darker the miso, the higher the salt content. It is often said that hatcho miso, made in Aichi Prefecture since the early 1500s, is one of the few remaining traditionally made kinds of miso in Japan, and one of the most flavorful. Try some of this delicious deep red miso in your next bowl of miso soup as a variation.  If you prefer a milder version, then use white miso.

    Miso Soup

    Basic Miso Soup

    Lucy Seligman
    No ratings yet
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    Course Soup
    Cuisine Japanese
    Servings 4

    Ingredients
      

    • 3 1/3 cups hot dashi fish stock (can be made from kombu kelp, katsuobushi [dried bonito flakes], or a combination of the two; instant dashi granules or powder also acceptable)
    • 4 tbsps miso (use red, white, or light-colored miso or a combination thereof)

    Instructions
     

    • Place the stock in a saucepan and heat until very hot. Add whatever ingredients you are planning to use (see recipe notes for 3 of my favorite variations), and cook until done.
    • Place the miso into a small bowl and mix with a little of the stock, using a miso muddler to make a thick paste. Just before serving, add the miso paste to the soup; reheat it if necessary, taking care not to boil the soup after adding the miso, since this will make it taste bitter.
    • Ladle the soup into soup bowls – lacquerware ones not only retain heat well; they also add a touch of authenticity – then garnish and serve immediately.

    Notes

    Some Favorite Combinations:

    Tofu and Wakame Miso Soup – Use ½ block of silky tofu, cut into small cubes, and 1 ounce (30 grams) of rinsed and chopped raw wakame kelp. Garnish with mixed green onions or negi (Japanese leeks).
    Clam and Trefoil Miso Soup – Soak 1 ¼ cups of small clams for 30 minutes in a bowl of cold salt water to rid them of sand and impurities. Drain and rinse well. Place in the hot stock and bring to a boil, discarding any clams that don’t open. Turn heat down to a simmer and add 4 tablespoons of akadashi (a type of mixed miso) to the soup. Garnish with chopped mitsuba (trefoil) or seri (Japanese parsley).
    Pumpkin and Abura-age Miso Soup – Cut up 2 ounces (60 grams) of unpeeled kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) and ½ sheet of abura-age (fried tofu). Prior to using the fried tofu, pour boiling water over it to get rid of any excess oil. Garnish with minced Japanese leeks or green onion (white part only).
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    Photo attribution: Copyright: jedimaster / 123RF Stock Photo

    Leave a note in the comments section (see below) if you make this dish!

    miso

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  • The Art of Ramen: Salt Flavoring for Ramen Soup

    The Art of Ramen: Salt Flavoring for Ramen Soup

    This recipe uses another traditional ramen ingredient, namely menma (Manchurian wild rice stems), which I love. Along with fishcake (naruto), spinach, lard, and green onion or Japanese leek, the garnishes add a nice touch to the salt flavoring.

    This is part of the “Art of Ramen” series. The basic chicken stock for ramen that’s used in this recipe is also part of this series.

    ramen salt flavoring

    Salt Flavoring for Ramen Soup

    Lucy Seligman
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    Ingredients
      

    • 5 cups strained chicken stock
    • 2-1/2 teaspoons salt
    • Black pepper to taste
    • Garnishes:
    • Manchurian wild rice stems (menma or shinashiku) to taste
    • 4 slices fishcake naruto
    • 8 leaves parboiled and trimmed spinach cut into thirds
    • 2 teaspoons lard
    • Minced green onion or Japanese leek to taste

    Instructions
     

    • Heat stock and add the salt and pepper to taste. Place garnishes on top of the cooked noodles in the salt flavored soup. Add ½ teaspoon lard to each serving and serve piping hot.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
    Salt Flavoring for ramen soup

    Want More Ramen Recipes?

    Check out the Art of Ramen post with the history or ramen, ramen cooking tips, and all 5 reciepes in the Art of Ramen series:

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  • The Art of Ramen: Soy Sauce Flavoring for Ramen Soup

    The Art of Ramen: Soy Sauce Flavoring for Ramen Soup

    This is a traditional, yummy and simple Soy Sauce flavoring for Ramen noodles.

    This is part of the “Art of Ramen” series. The basic chicken stock for ramen that’s used in this recipe is also part of this series.

    Ramen noodles

    Soy Sauce Flavoring for Ramen Soup

    Lucy Seligman
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    Ingredients
      

    • 2 large garlic cloves peeled
    • 2 knobs ginger peeled
    • 1 Japanese leek white part only
    • 4 tablespoons mirin sweet sake
    • ½ cup + 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
    • ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons sake
    • 5 cups strained chicken stock

    Instructions
     

    • Mash the garlic, ginger and leek together. Mix together the mirin, soy sauce and sake. Add all the ingredients to a small saucepan and let cook slowly, over low heat, for five minutes. Combine the soy sauce flavoring with hot stock.
    • Place garnishes on top of the cooked noodles in the soy sauce flavored soup. Add ½ teaspoon lard to each serving and serve piping hot.

    Notes

    Garnishes:
    Manchurian wild rice stems, (menma or shinashiku) to taste
    4 slices fishcake (naruto)
    8 leaves parboiled and trimmed spinach, cut into thirds
    2 teaspoons lard
    Minced green onion or Japanese leek to taste
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    Soy Sauce Flavoring for ramen

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    Check out the Art of Ramen post with the history or ramen, ramen cooking tips, and all 5 reciepes in the Art of Ramen series:

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