Salmon and Vegetable Tonjiru Soup
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.