About the Recipe
I hesitate to make any patriotic claims in these politically correct times, but I can say with no hesitation that the Japanese sweet potato is the best there is - it's sweet and perfect for simmering and roasting. Roast sweet potato, "yaki-imo" as the Japanese call it, is also one of the country's best loved street foods although sadly, autumn evenings when the "yaki imo man" walks around your neighbourhood crying out his wares, grow rarer and rarer. Another great way to use sweet potato is in a miso soup like I do here. You'll notice that in the ingredients, I use a dashi stock bag instead of making my own stock. In quality terms, stock bags sit between making your own stock on the one hand and using instant stock granules on the other, so I use them quite regularly when I don't have the time or inclination to make my own but want a superior flavour. You can buy these stock bags online and they make a very presentable stock.
Ingredients
1 japanese dashi bag*
500ml water
100g onion
120g sweet potatoes
2 fresh shiitake mushrooms
1.5 tbsp miso
*if you can’t buy Japanese dashi bags, use 1 heaped tsp of dashi granules
or, check out my diy dashi stock recipes on the website
Preparation
to make dashi stock, put the dashi bag & water in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 4 mins over a low heat with the lid on
remove the bag, squeezing out of any excess liquid
peel & slice the onion thinly
cut off the ends of the mushroom stalks and slice
peel & halve the sweet potato lengthways then cut into 1cm slices
add the onion, mushrooms & sweet potato to the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 5-6 mins
dissolve the miso into the stock using a ladle (this avoids breaking up any of the vegetables)
serve immediately