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Are you cooking your Tonjiru soup the wrong way? Japanese chef shares useful tips.

By on October 20, 2018

Don’t we all love a steaming bowl of  Tonjiru soup when it’s cold?

My family does.

Maesen, a famous tonkatsu restaurant in Omotesando, serves the best Tonjiru soup in Tokyo. But since we can’t always go, I decided to try cooking Tonjiru (pork miso broth) soup at home.  Although I didn’t quite get the exact result I was expecting,  my husband says my tonjiru has improved greatly after two cooking fails. Thanks to a professional chef tutorial I found on YouTube.

Japanese chef Shigehiro Seki who runs five Japanese restaurants in Tokyo says, ” all it takes is a few simple but useful tips”  to get the right umami in your Tonjiru soup.

If you’ve been to many places in Japan, you must have tried many regional variations of the soup. Some add shiitake mushrooms or potatoes while others don’t.

Seki’s recipe for the most part, is simple but chunky.

So, here they are (adjusted for 7 servings)

Thin slices of pork belly (approx 300 grams for a chunky soup)
3 satoimo or taro root, cut in bite-sized pieces
2 gobo or burdock roots, cut into thin strips
3 carrots, thinly sliced
1 block of silk tofu (the smooth kind)
1 small block of konyaku (konjac)
1500 ml of katsuo (bonito) dashi soup stock
few fresh ginger, cut into very thin strips
a little soy sauce
miso paste
mirin
sesame Oil
thinly sliced scallions

Preparation

1. Konyaku is a rubbery, jelly type of food  similar to a gummy candy in texture. It is made from a type of potato and grows only in Asia. Thus, you see it in most Japanese hot pots and soups. Using a sharp knife, Seki cuts the surface lightly in a diagonal direction in order to easily cut the block in bite sized pieces (with a teaspoon).

2. Then he heats sesame oil in a casserole urging you to use a little more than you normally do for stir-frying.

3. Using a Japanese wooden spatula, Seki adds konyaku, satoimo, gobo, carrots tossing and turning them in high heat for a few minutes.

4. The chef stirs in the thin slices of pork belly. “The more meat, the chunkier it gets,” Seki says.

5. Then he adjusts the heat to low while continuously stirring the mixture.

6. Now, he adds the katsuo dashi and lightly stirs it with a wooden spatula. There are two ways to do a Katsuo dashi soup stock. One – by boiling katsuoboshi flakes in water. Two – by diluting katsuo dashi powder (available at Japanese supermarkets) in hot water.

7. Adjust the heat to high and bring to a boil. When it starts to boil, adjust the heat to low and simmer, occasionally skimming off foam. Simmering longer, he adds, “is the secret to getting all the umami flavors in.”

8. When all the ingredients are fully cooked, stir in hand-cut tofu.

9. Seki explains that seasoning in Japanese method follows the basic SA-SHI-SU-SE-SO order:
SA – satou (sugar) sweet
SHI – shio (salt) salty
SU – su (vinegar) sour
SE – seyu (soy sauce)
SO – so, (miso)

He stirs in a pinch of sugar,  followed by a little soy sauce, fresh ginger cut into thin strips, and allows it to simmer further. On a separate small bowl, he dilutes miso paste with broth (taken from the casserole) and mixes it until fully dissolved.

“The right timing to put in miso paste is when all the flavors have fully blended well. You’ll know this by tasting the soup every other few minutes,” says the Chef, while adding in a small amount of mirin followed by miso.  “Mirin gives that elegant finish to the soup,” says Seki.

He takes the bottle of toasted sesame oil and drizzles a small amount to the soup to give it a pleasant charred aroma.

Lastly, he takes a serving and puts it in an individual bowl and tops it with thinly sliced scallions.

Here’s the finished version.

 

About Reena Monahan