Category Archives: Soups
Corn & Cabbage Buttered Miso Soup
The Japanese love corn:
on pizza, pasta, at McDonald’s, in gyoza, in soup, …so why not add it to miso soup?
As for cabbage in Japan, it is used in one of their most famous dishes: okonomiyaki, the cabbage-stuffed “as you like it” pizza.
Cabbage is also popular in soups, pickles, and as a side dish for deep-fried foods.
So why not enjoy it in miso soup?
Add a pat of butter, and you’ll experience sweetness and richness if only in a meal.
Corn & Cabbage Buttered Miso Soup
The Japanese love corn:
on pizza, pasta, at McDonald’s, in gyoza, in soup, …so why not add it to miso soup?
As for cabbage in Japan, it is used in one of their most famous dishes: okonomiyaki, the cabbage-stuffed “as you like it” pizza.
Cabbage is also popular in soups, pickles, and as a side dish for deep-fried foods.
So why not enjoy it in miso soup?
Add a pat of butter, and you’ll experience sweetness and richness if only in a meal.
Sweet Miso Soup with Udon
Miso soup is simple, a blank palette, which can be transformed with the addition of extra ingredients. When choosing the gu for your miso, think about contrasting colors, whether ingredients float or sink, strong flavors and bland; think about seasonal ingredients; most important: please your palate!
Sweet Miso Soup with Udon
Miso soup is simple, a blank palette, which can be transformed with the addition of extra ingredients. When choosing the gu for your miso, think about contrasting colors, whether ingredients float or sink, strong flavors and bland; think about seasonal ingredients; most important: please your palate!
味噌汁 Miso Soup by Mr. Tess
Miso soup is a traditional Japanese soup based on dashi stock mixed with softened miso paste.
Good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, miso soup is a comfort food.
This post has lots of information about making dashi and about miso as an ingredient.
Mr. Tess often cooks, but rarely cooks Japanese foods. We, neither of us, were feeling great. I suggested miso soup with salmon (which was in the freezer—neither of us wanting to go to the store). So I gave him some instructions and had a nap while he produced a lovely meal.
味噌汁 Miso Soup by Mr. Tess
Miso soup is a traditional Japanese soup based on dashi stock mixed with softened miso paste.
Good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, miso soup is a comfort food.
This post has lots of information about making dashi and about miso as an ingredient.
Mr. Tess often cooks, but rarely cooks Japanese foods. We, neither of us, were feeling great. I suggested miso soup with salmon (which was in the freezer—neither of us wanting to go to the store). So I gave him some instructions and had a nap while he produced a lovely meal.
Rosh Hashanah: Chicken Soup for 5772
For the first Rosh Hashanah in our new house I wanted to make a meal which would reflect the change from summer to autumn. This soup is traditionally eaten in the hottest part of summer in Korea, the theory being that it warms the body so much as to make the outside temperature feel cooler. Yet the dates, chestnuts, and ginseng, and even the rice are fruit of fall. In any season, it is traditionally believed that sam gae tang helps to rejuvenate the body by replenishing essential nutrients while sweating out the toxins, thus promoting a long and healthy life. As we look forward to a sweet new year this soup was a flavorful meal to begin.
Rosh Hashanah: Chicken Soup for 5772
For the first Rosh Hashanah in our new house I wanted to make a meal which would reflect the change from summer to autumn. This soup is traditionally eaten in the hottest part of summer in Korea, the theory being that it warms the body so much as to make the outside temperature feel cooler. Yet the dates, chestnuts, and ginseng, and even the rice are fruit of fall. In any season, it is traditionally believed that sam gae tang helps to rejuvenate the body by replenishing essential nutrients while sweating out the toxins, thus promoting a long and healthy life. As we look forward to a sweet new year this soup was a flavorful meal to begin.
Green Purslane and Cucumber Gazpacho
Oh the things that summer brings, the lovely verdant world when one can find treasure even in the grass.
Icy summer soups make for easy eating when it’s too hot to cook.
The original recipe called for lettuce and spinach, but I had to try it with my latest leafy discovery: purslane—it’s not your ordinary weed!
Green Purslane and Cucumber Gazpacho
Oh the things that summer brings, the lovely verdant world when one can find treasure even in the grass.
Icy summer soups make for easy eating when it’s too hot to cook.
The original recipe called for lettuce and spinach, but I had to try it with my latest leafy discovery: purslane—it’s not your ordinary weed!
Japanese Menu for Six
 A few weeks ago, we hosted a dinner for Mr. Tess’s “new” brother, his wife, their neice, and her boyfriend. We don’t know these folks very well, and I get nervous whenever we have guests. I wanted to have most of the dinner ready when they arrived, just in case an unanticipated kitchen disaster meant I’d have to resort to pizza delivery… Yes, Mr. Tess always tells me that it’s the company and not the food that is important, but none the less, I wanted to make a nice evening where things went according to plan.My solution was a menu which I could prepare the evening or morning before, with only a small bit of close attention in the kitchen just before serving. |
Japanese Menu for Six
| A few weeks ago, we hosted a dinner for Mr. Tess’s “new” brother, his wife, their neice, and her boyfriend. We don’t know these folks very well, and I get nervous whenever we have guests. I wanted to have most of the dinner ready when they arrived, just in case an unanticipated kitchen disaster meant I’d have to resort to pizza delivery… Yes, Mr. Tess always tells me that it’s the company and not the food that is important, but none the less, I wanted to make a nice evening where things went according to plan. My solution was a menu which I could prepare the evening or morning before, with only a small bit of close attention in the kitchen just before serving. |
Tenobe-Dango-Jiru
Hand stretched wheat dumplings (noodles) are a speciality of Oita Provence in Japan, usually served in an iriko dashi based soup flavored with miso and vegetables. These noodles are also popular in Hawaii: the first time I made this dish was as a test for The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook. The dumplings were quite thick noodles, similar to the savory mochi (rice-flour) dumplings sometimes added to soups all over Japan. Looking at pictures online, it seems the “dumplings” in Oita are thinner and more like noodles.
We’ve all seen those Chinese master noodle chefs (perhaps only on YouTube) pulling long strands of lamian from a lump of dough: great entertainment and a real mystery about how it can be done without breaking the strands!
Tenobe-Dango-Jiru
Hand stretched wheat dumplings (noodles) are a speciality of Oita Provence in Japan, usually served in an iriko dashi based soup flavored with miso and vegetables. These noodles are also popular in Hawaii: the first time I made this dish was as a test for The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook. The dumplings were quite thick noodles, similar to the savory mochi (rice-flour) dumplings sometimes added to soups all over Japan. Looking at pictures online, it seems the “dumplings” in Oita are thinner and more like noodles.
We’ve all seen those Chinese master noodle chefs (perhaps only on YouTube) pulling long strands of lamian from a lump of dough: great entertainment and a real mystery about how it can be done without breaking the strands!
Corn Cream with Crab
Corn cream is comfort food in Japan, bringing memories of mom and happy meals at home. Mr. Tess was out of town when I made this soup last summer, so this was his first taste of the Japanese childhood treat. This version is a little bit grown-up because I used real crab rather than chicken or surimi. Something satisfying, sophisticated, and simple for lunch, dinner, or even guests.
Corn Cream with Crab
Corn cream is comfort food in Japan, bringing memories of mom and happy meals at home. Mr. Tess was out of town when I made this soup last summer, so this was his first taste of the Japanese childhood treat. This version is a little bit grown-up because I used real crab rather than chicken or surimi. Something satisfying, sophisticated, and simple for lunch, dinner, or even guests.
Oxtail Soup 곰탕 (テールスープ)
Oxtail soup is the broth of the gods! It’s deeply robustly beefy delicious.
Shopping so often in the little Korean grocery store means that I see many foods which are unfamiliar. Though it leads me to a neighboring cuisine, I can’t help but be curious. I rarely see the tails of cattle for sale anywhere else! Imagine my surprise when I saw some lovely fresh oxtails in my regular grocery store. I grabbed a couple of packages and hurried home to find my Korean cookbook.
Oxtail Soup 곰탕 (テールスープ)
Oxtail soup is the broth of the gods! It’s deeply robustly beefy delicious.
Shopping so often in the little Korean grocery store means that I see many foods which are unfamiliar. Though it leads me to a neighboring cuisine, I can’t help but be curious. I rarely see the tails of cattle for sale anywhere else! Imagine my surprise when I saw some lovely fresh oxtails in my regular grocery store. I grabbed a couple of packages and hurried home to find my Korean cookbook.
Chicken Sandwiches, Fruit, and Soups
A hearth is the heart of a home, but in last Saturday’s storm, the wood was wet and too (two) tired people were not able achieve much warmth in the new house. Even so, the house is becoming a home with some home-made food.
Chicken Sandwiches, Fruit, and Soups
A hearth is the heart of a home, but in last Saturday’s storm, the wood was wet and too (two) tired people were not able achieve much warmth in the new house. Even so, the house is becoming a home with some home-made food.
Rice Consommé with Umeboshi
Rice consommé is a fair title for this recipe, but it is better described as rice porridge. Porridge connotes comfort and warm pleasure. Picture Goldilocks enjoying the little bowl of porridge—it was “just right!” Porridge is poor man’s food, extending a little grain or legumes with liquid and vegetables. It can be so magical as to offer freedom from poverty and hunger.
From fairy tales to Shakespeare with humor
Rice Consommé with Umeboshi
Rice consommé is a fair title for this recipe, but it is better described as rice porridge. Porridge connotes comfort and warm pleasure. Picture Goldilocks enjoying the little bowl of porridge—it was “just right!” Porridge is poor man’s food, extending a little grain or legumes with liquid and vegetables. It can be so magical as to offer freedom from poverty and hunger.
From fairy tales to Shakespeare with humor
Chawan Mushi with Ginkgo Nuts
One of the first Japanese recipes I ever made is this savory custard. It’s more unexpected than exotic, soothing and almost familiar. Twenty years ago, I had no idea what dashi was but I must have found an instant dashi soup mix in a store specializing in foreign foods. Ginkgo nuts, lily root, and chestnuts were impossible to find; eggs, chicken breast, shrimp, and soy sauce were easy.
Chawan Mushi with Ginkgo Nuts
One of the first Japanese recipes I ever made is this savory custard. It’s more unexpected than exotic, soothing and almost familiar. Twenty years ago, I had no idea what dashi was but I must have found an instant dashi soup mix in a store specializing in foreign foods. Ginkgo nuts, lily root, and chestnuts were impossible to find; eggs, chicken breast, shrimp, and soy sauce were easy.
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