About the Recipe
You may have come across red miso from time to time. Compared to the lighter coloured varieties of miso, the red version has been fermented longer and has a saltier taste making it perfect for stews and hotpots. If you have none to hand, don't worry, just use brown miso but increase the quantity (keep tasing as you stir in the extra miso a little at a time until your dish is flavoured to your taste. If you read the recipe below, you'll see an instruction to cut star marks in the mushroom heads - this is purely for decoration so you don't need to do it if you haven't the time or inclination - if you are interested in how to do it, take a look at the video tutorial where you can see it being done.
Ingredients
2 portions of udon
2 chinese cabbage leaves
1 leek
4 shiitake mushrooms
6 sugar snaps
40g carrot
120g boneless chicken thigh or breast
2 seafood sticks
2 tsp japanese dashi granules
700ml water
1/2 tbsp sugar
2.5 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp red miso
2 eggs
Preparation
cut the cabbage leaves into bite sized pieces
slice the leek diagonally
cut star marks onto the shiitake mushroom heads (this is decorative only, so miss this step if your wish)
peel & slice the carrot into thick matchsticks
halve the seafood sticks diagonally
cut the chicken into bite sized pieces
pour the water & dashi granules into a large saucepan.
add the mirin, sugar, and miso and stir & bring to the boil
add the carrot, leek, chinese cabbage & chicken to the pot
bring back to the boil and cook for 5 minutes
add the shiitake mushrooms & udon and cook for a further 3 - 4 minutes
break the eggs into the centre of the pan, add the sugar snaps & seafood sticks, then cook with a lid on for 2 more minutes
your red miso and udon hotpot is ready. serve at the tabe, using a ladle for the vegetables and broth and cooking chopsticks to serve the udon noodles