About the Recipe
This tofu and vegetable soup dish is about as traditional as they come. Nobody knows exactly how old it is but it certainly originated several centuries ago at the Kencho-ji temple in Kamakura (or so they say.) My recipe uses some Japanese ingredients such as "konyaku" (an edible gelatinised root) and "aburaage" (deep fried tofu in sheet form. If you can't get hold of these don't worry, just substitute some other vegetables or some more tofu. Some recipes include pork or chicken but I prefer to keep this soup true to its Buddhist origins so it's meat free and uses my vegan dashi recipe.
Ingredients
650ml vegan dashi stock
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
5g dried konbu
650ml water
1/2 sheet abura-age
1/3 pack konyaku
150g daikon, peeled & sliced into bite size pieces
70g carrot, peeled & sliced into bite size pieces
70g leek, peeled & sliced into bite size pieces
3 baby potatoes, peeled & sliced into bite size pieces
200g firm tofu, cut into 1cm cubes
1.5 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
a little shichimi (Japanese chili)
Preparation
cut the shiitake into half
halve the abura-age and cut into 1 cm strips
cut the konyaku into bite size pieces
heat the oil in a pan, add the carrot, leek, potatoes and daikon. stir briefly
add the dashi stock, shiitake mushrooms, konnyaku, tofu, mirin, salt, soy sauce & abura-age. simmer over a medium heat for about 20 mins
your soupr is ready. garnish with the chopped spring onion and a little shichimi (or other chilli flakes)
serve with a bowl of steamed rice