Kenchin Jiru

This past week we've all been sick and the weather's been cold. So once I managed to get back out of bed I wanted some nice warm soup.

So I made a Japanese favorite called kenchin jiru. It's a hearty vegetable soup flavored with sesame oil, soy sauce and miso. The traditional recipe calls for tofu, carrot, burdock root, shitake mushrooms, konyakku, lotus root, and mitsuba. I didn't have most of these ingredients, so I improvised with the vegetables in my fridge.

1/2 package firm tofu
4 shitake mushrooms
1 strip kombu seaweed
1/2 sweet potato
1 carrot
1 medium red skin potato
1/4 daikon
1/4 cauliflower
1 bunch mitsuba (can substitute spinach or other green leafy)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
3 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce
2 tablespoons miso
seven spice pepper (optional)

Start by making the stock (dashi) using the dried shitake mushrooms and kombu seaweed. Place together in a pot with 4 cups water, and soak 2 to 6 hours (If you don't have time, you can skip the soak and it will still come out fine).

After soaking, bring the mushrooms and seaweed to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut up your vegetables, taking care that they are all about the same size so that they will cook evenly. Remove shitake from stock and slice.

Add sesame oil to a soup pot and saute vegetables until aromatic. Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and stir well. Add dashi and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are just tender.

While the soup is simmering, tear the tofu and marinate in the remaining 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

When vegetables are tender, add tofu plus soy marinade and mitsuba or spinach. Cook 2 minutes or until tofu is warm and greens are wilted. Turn off the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of miso.

Serve sprinked with shichimi togarashi (seven spice pepper), or a few sesame seeds.