Tonjiru – pork and miso soup | Kyoto Bean Soup
In April we had warmer weather and lots of lovely flowers. Of course, we also had plenty of cold, rainy days in April too. It seemed as though the chilly, grey clouds would roll in and hang around for a week at a time, alternating between drizzly, rainy, and threatening. After that, we would get a few days of sunshine (along with terrible humidity) before the next storm came along. Of course, it has been nice most of this week, so I can’t complain too much.
On those grey and rainy days, I found myself thinking of hot, hearty soups to warm myself up. These miso-thickened soups were just the ticket. One difference between my usual soup-making method and a miso-flavored broth is that you have to have a very light hand with the salt. While making my normal soups, I season liberally with salt as soon as I start to saute the carrots, celery, and onions; if I did that for these soups, however, the finished soup would be much too salty. Instead, the seasoning is finished at the end with miso and a small amount of shoyu.
The tonjiru (pork soup) is from Washoku. I follow the recipe pretty closely, adding ingredients here and there to use up tidbits in my fridge. It makes a hearty addition to a meal, thought I don’t think it is quite filling enough to be a main course. I did mix a bowl of leftover rice into my tonjiru the other day for a fairly filling lunch, however. I like to make this soup whenever I find some thinly sliced pork on sale at the market. The secret is to use a cut that is not too lean; very lean meat will tend to dry out and become tough in the soup. I also really love the daikon in the soup. I usually use about twice as much as the recipe calls for.
The Kyoto bean soup is from Japanese Light by Kimiko Barber. I am not sure if I’ve seen rutabagas at all at my local market, and certainly hadn’t on the day I made the soup, so I left them out, but added some potato and a bit of udo that had been in my fridge for too long instead. I also used a regular Gunma cabbage instead of the Chinese cabbage called for in the recipe, and used a yellow onion instead of the red onion since red onions aren’t available at most stores here. Finally, I topped the soup with both sliced green onions and mitsuba leaves. The soup was pretty tasty, but I had to add some extra soy sauce to get the flavor right. I think next time I will try to season it with more miso instead. I am also hoping to try making the soup with thin strips of abura age tofu instead of bacon for a vegetarian variation.
Miso-Thickened Pork and Vegetable Soup
Tonjiru
from Washoku by Elizabeth Andoh, copyright 20051 Japanese leek or small western leek, about 3 ounces
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
6 ounces boneless pork from loin or shoulder, cut into small, thin strips
1 small carrot, about 3 ounces, peeled and cut into julienne
1-inch chunk daikon, about 2 ounces, peeled and cut into julienne
5 to 6 inches burdock root, about 3 ounces, skin scraped off with the back of a knife and cut on the diagonal into thin slices
pinch of salt
splash of sake
2 quarts water
about 12 square inches of kombu
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
1 block firm tofu, about 14 ounces, drained and pressed, then cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 small bunch mitsuba, trimmed, stems cut into short pieces, and leaves chopped
3 tablespoons mugi miso
3 tablespoons sweet, light miso, preferably Saikyo miso
Okonomiyaki 