Miso Soup with Egg Tomato and Enoki

Miso Soup with Egg Tomato and Enoki

This is quite a modern recipe in Japan - I came across it on my last trip back home earlier this year. The recipe contains tomatoes, which you might be surprised to learn are not a traditional Japanese cooking ingredient. Like the humble potato, the tomato was introduced into Japan by Portugese and Dutch during the 17th century. When I looked into this, what surprised me was that tomatoes were not originally considered a food source. The plants were first imported and cultivated for ornamental gardens. It took about a hundred years before the tomato began to make it into Japanese cooking and then about another hundred years before people began eating tomatoes in their raw form. Today, the tomato is used in salads and pastas but still not so much in more traditional Japanese dishes.

So, this miso soup (unusually) contains tomatoes. It also features enoki mushrooms, beaten egg, some chopped spring onions and of course, a tablespoon and a half of miso. You can use any miso you might have to hand - just remember the simple rule about miso - the darker it is the saltier the taste. I used a lighter miso here so if you use a dark miso, you might want to adjust the amount accordingly. I also used a few baby tomatoes in this soup but by all means use a couple of chopped tomatoes instead if that's what you have available.

This is an easy soup that you can make in not much more than 10 minutes. It's tasty, healthy and nutricious - I can't say much more than that!

I serve this soup in a charming chalky white

Mino-ware soup bowl provided to me by the

Mino ware Soup Bowl by UTSUWABI

Japanese company Utsuwabi. Utsuwabi has a 75-year history of selling beautiful Japanese tableware made in Japan by the artisan potteries for which the country is famous. Utsuwabi has an English language website and can deliver worldwide.

If you are interested in fine Japanese tableware, you can go to their website by clicking the following link:

https://utsuwabi.com

If you would like to try out this recipe, you can find the Youtube tutorial by clicking Miso Soup with Egg Tomato and Enoki or by scrolling to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below.

Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX.

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ingredients:

(makes 2 servings)

40g /1.5oz enoki mushrooms, rinsed

1 spring onion, rinsed

500ml / 17fl oz water

1 heaped tsp  Japanese instant dashi stock granules*

1.5 tbsp miso

1 medium egg

8 baby tomatoes

*you can substitute a Japanese dashi bag for dashi stock granules if you prefer.

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how to:

Cut off the bottoms of the enoki mushrooms and gently separate the mushrooms into individual strands.

Finely slice the spring onion and set aside for your garnish.

Pour the water into a small saucepan. Add the dashi stock granules and enoki mushrooms. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 minute.

Next, add and dissolve the miso into the broth.

Break the egg in a small bowl and give it a quick whisk. Pour the whisked egg into the saucepan and gently stir the egg into the soup.

Add the tomatoes. Simmer for 30 seconds and turn off the heat.

Pour the miso soup into serving bowls. Top with the sliced spring onion.

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Miso Soup with Egg Tomato and Enoki