I recently made this refreshing and nutritious Japanese soup for a light Sunday night supper; the recipe is adapted from a Japanese soup cookbook which focuses on using fresh simple ingredients and features different combination of Japanese flavours.
Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 cup chopped napa cabbage, 4 fresh shiitake mushroom, 8 cherry tomatoes, 1 cup water, 1 cup dashi, 1-2 teaspoon organic soy sauce, pinch of salt and pepper to taste, dried shrimp (optional).
Notes on preparing the dashi:
Dashi is a fundamental ingredient to many Japanese dishes; it is used in miso soups, noodle soup, stews (oden) and sauces.
For your convenience, you can purchase the instant bonito stock packages which are readily available at Japanese food stores, and follow the instructions.
I actually made my own awase dashi (basic stock), it is a combination of kombu (kelp) and katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and I have been using this recipe from Practical Japanese Cooking (by Shizuo Tsuji and Koichiro Hata) ; you can also find recipes available online.
Preparation:
– Cut cabbage into bite size pieces, remove the stems from shiitake mushrooms and sliced them into quarters; remove the skin from the cherry tomatoes
– In large saucepan, add water, dashi, Napa cabbage, shiitake mushroom and cherry tomatoes, cover with lid.
– Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes
– Add soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste, garnish with dried shrimp (optional).
My Golden Apron 