Over the holidays, I made chicken soup. It’s much more difficult to make than dashi, so I did not want to forget about it! Of course chicken soup is not exclusive to Jewish cuisine. Ms. Shimbo was inspired by Chinese mushroom soups to include this recipe in her book. Best quality dried shiitake mushrooms are soaked and then steamed in chicken stock for an hour. The mushrooms become juicy and chewy, adding a nice flavor to the soup.
To be honest, after I made the dinner, I was too tired to eat. Mr. Tess enjoyed the food, though I think I’ll cut the mushrooms to make them easier to eat at work; the mushrooms are huge! Edited to say that this soup is really delicious!
Dried Siitake Mushroom Soup
Hoshi Shiitake Sûpu
serves 2
page 232
- 8 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in cool water for 30 minutes
- 2 cups chicken stock, homemade
- 1/4 cup sake
- Salt to taste
- Ground white pepper to taste
Optional:
- 2 large chicken thighs, hacked into 2 ” pieces
Garnish:
- 2 scallions, green part only cut into thin rings
Drain the mushrooms, and reserve 1 cup of the soaking liquid. (The mushrooms float so soak them in a bowl, covered with a soup plate to hold them under water.)
Cut off the stems. The stems are tough to chew even after soaking!
Slice the mushrooms into spoon-sized pieces.
Strain the mushroom liquid through a fine cloth.
Strain the chicken stock, discarding the bones, skins, etc.
In a wide, moderately deep heat-proof bowl, combine the 2 cups chicken stock with 1 cup of the reserved mushroom water. Add the sake, mushroom caps, and if you are using them, the chicken thighs. Cover with plastic wrap and place into your steamer. Steam over medium-high heat for 1 hour. Check the water level in the steamer and add water as necessary.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve hot in individual bowls sprinkled with the green onion rings.
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Tess's Japanese Kitchen 
Wow…that DOES seem like a lot of work. No wonder you were tired! And after all that it served only two?
I think Mushroom was big for Soup. But it is so nice for Mr.Tess. Shitake is health. And Shitake works for high blood person.
Anyway kids usually don’t like them.
Erik,
I’d actually started the soup a few days before, but had only strained enough of the broth for a few bowls of chicken soup, so I still had to remove the vegetables which had cooked almost to mush and remove the carcass, which had disintegrated. Making dashi is so simple and neat compared to degreasing chicken stock, etc… In all, I probably have 20 or a little more servings of the chicken broth. I have what’s left in the freezer now, so this soup, or another one, will be easy to make. The recipe made more like 3 servings, but it was only part of the whole meal.
Lucy,
Those mushrooms were certainly very large! I’ve never had such big shiitake. They are much easier to eat when they’re cut into smaller pieces.
Maybe they are not shiitake? I bought them from the Korean store on the corner so do you think they look like shiitake?
I think this is a healthy and tasty soup. It would be very easy to make with canned chicken broth. But homemade chicken stock is delicious.
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I have never seen this in Japan. I think you are posting Japanese food recipes here, but…I do not know what it is.
We Japanese people do not eat Shiitake with chicken broth.
hmm…where it comes from?
Hi!
Your blog is very interesting: I’m sure to learn much from your work. I’ve added you to my blog-roll.
Thank you for adding my blog on yours. I am glad to heat it!
Yeah, I am posting real Japanese food and sometimes I create new recipes.
I hope you enjoy it!
I’m sure you are right that this is not a regular Japanese recipe.
Most of the recipes on my blog are from the book I am using to learn about Japanese home cooking: The Japanese Kitchen
The author’s blog: Hiroko Shimbo’s blog
Ms. Shimbo is an interesting person—she grew up in Japan where her father was a doctor associated with a Christian missionary school so she is not so typical of many Japanese women. She is an excellent cook, judging by her recipes. Many are traditional Japanese recipes, but some are her own with Western ingredients (or Chinese) and Japanese flavors.
In this particular recipe, she says that she was inspired by Chinese mushroom soups.
Now I understand that she (Hiroko) is not Japanese Japanese…. so, she cooks different to real Japanese food. hmm…that is interesting.
She creates many mixed cultural foods…
No, Ms. Shimbo is 100% Japanese. But she has lived in many other countries as an adult. Her family still lives in Japan.
A few of her recipes are the result of what she learned while living abroad. I think it’s good that she is creative enough to retain the Japanese essence even when she is inventive.
Is sake a necesity?…. Here i cant find it…
I think you could substitute the sake with some other wine. Sake is white or clear wine, sort of sweet, but not too sweet. Or maybe a dry sherry. Or if you don’t want to use alcohol, use apple juice or pear nectar, half water half juice with a little (half teaspoon) rice vinegar.
Thanks a lot for your reply!! I will take into account