I’ll start with a quick 自己紹介 (that’s “jikoshoukai,” or “self introduction”), since that’s what we do in Japan. My name is Celia. As I mentioned, I met Baroque Diva when we started school at Boston University in the Historical Performance department of the School of Music back in 2003. Oddly enough, my parents met her first at a music festival, and they arranged things so that we were in contact even before school started. That was awesome, since I didn’t know anyone at all in Boston. Anyway, we spent the next 2 years playing/singing in each other’s recitals (I play cello and viola da gamba), shopping, eating out, watching movies, cooking, watching baseball games (GO SOX!!), griping about boys, etc. We did occasionally get some studying and practicing done, I recall.
I’m married to Keith, and we’re living in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. I’ve spent the last 8 months working as “cellist on call” for the churches of Sapporo and the surrounding area. They call me up, and I come and play at their church services and events. I LOVE my job… and I can’t believe we’re leaving next month! I also love Sapporo: friendly people, great restaurants, cheap and fresh food at the grocery store… and many other things too.
While most of Japan is densely populated with relatively little land available for agriculture, the island of Hokkaido has a population of only 5.5 million (compared to Honshu, which has over 100 million) and a thriving agricultural industry. With the exception of rice, a large percentage of Japan’s food is imported, but in Hokkaido, eating local is easy and delicious.
Keith and I are known among our friends as the king and queen of eating cheap. We don’t eat out very often, except at restaurants that serve things we cannot make at home or that are simply inspiring to me as a cook. We usually make our own food. Sometimes we even bring a homemade bento (boxed lunch) along when we are out at mealtime. Trying as much as possible to eat locally and seasonally and to limit the amount of meat in our diet also lowers costs. We found a friendly farmer near our home who sells potatoes, onions, and other delicious veggies right at their farm. Our last 10 kg bag of onions cost 150 yen (about US$1.60)!
Unfortunately, given our limited Japanese skills, trying to check if a given product is organic or reading a list of ingredients is pretty much impossible. We have learned, however, that most products in a Japanese grocery store are clearly labelled with their place of origin. Thus, what we want to see is “北海道” (Hokkaido)!
One thing I love about living in Japan is the seasonal foods. In the summer, we ate cool, refreshing foods such as zarusoba (cold soba with dipping sauce) and anmitsu kurimu (red bean paste, ice cream, rice dumplings, and green tea syrup). Since it is winter now (at least it still is in this part of the world), we eat lots of warming soups and stews. The best vegetables to eat right now are kabocha squash, various kinds of greens and cabbages, mushrooms, and root vegetables. There are many different hearty dishes which incorporate these ingredients.
One such dish is Tonjiru (豚汁), one of my favourite Japanese foods. Literally translated, it simply means “pork soup,” although it is a hearty miso soup with lots of vegetables. It’s pretty healthy… although I probably used too much oil to brown the meat and onions when I made it. Furthermore, it’s easy to make and very adaptable to the ingredients you have available to you.
Let’s start by talking about ingredients. When I make tonjiru here in Japan, I use (known as either “daikon” or “Chinese radish” in English), renkon (lotus root), and gobou (burdock root). Daikon is a large, white root vegetable. I do mean large. The carrot in the picture for comparison is quite large too, actually.
The taste of daikon is similar to radish, although it takes quite a long time to cook. When prepared properly (that is, given enough time to become tender) it soaks up the flavor of whatever it’s cooked in.
Renkon is just pretty. :) It’s the vegetable with all the holes. When it’s cooked, it is still crunchy, so it makes a nice contrast with the carrots, potatoes, and daikon. And it looks good, too. Gobou is a long, skinny root. The taste is kind of nutty.
Gobou needs to be soaked in water for several minutes. I actually don’t know why, but seems to be common knowledge among Japanese women. Anyway, the water turns brown. Eww? Just don’t be alarmed. It’s supposed to do that.
The rest of the vegetables are fairly self-explanatory. If you can’t find the right kinds of root vegetables, just substitute what you have available. Maybe use more potatoes and carrots or try taro root or bamboo shoots. Beets would probably be very tasty, provided you’re okay with a bright pink soup. :)
A word about the pork: we get it pre-cut to thin slices for soup. Japanese grocery stores are just convenient like that. If your pork is not pre-sliced, it will cut easier if it’s partially frozen. Bonus point: can you figure out from the label where this pork came from??
If you are vegetarian or vegan, simply leave out the pork or substitute bite-sized chunks of tofu or konnyaku (the weird, slimy, gray, high-fiber miracle diet food—make sure to blanch it first by boiling it for a few minutes, since it’s stinky like its cousin, shirataki noodles—and be sure to chew it properly). Both would be excellent additions to the pork version, if you want your soup to be a little more substantial.
The broth of the soup is dashi, which is Japanese soup stock. I have included a link below for making dashi from scratch, but using powdered dashi granules is also fine. I used kombu dashi (made from kelp—this is the vegan option), but standard dashi stock, which is fish flavoured, is also fine. You will probably find dashi granules in any Asian grocery store.
Also making an appearance in the above photo is shichimi tougarashi (literally “seven flavours pepper”), a common seasoning for soups in Japan. Oh, and my kitty chopsticks. Had to get those in the post somehow.
Tonjiru
· A dollop of sesame oil
· 200-300 grams thin sliced pork
· 1 large or 2 small onions thinly sliced
· 6 inches or so of leek, thinly sliced on the diagonal
· 4 cups of dashi broth, either made from scratch (see links below) or reconstituted from granules according to the package directions.
· ½ gobou (burdock root), peeled, thinly sliced on the diagonal, and soaked in water for about 5 minutes, then drained
· 1 large potato, cubed (I used 2 small potatoes)
· 1 large carrot, quartered lengthwise and sliced
· 1 renkon (lotus root), peeled, halved lengthwise, and thinly sliced
· 4 inches or so of daikon (sometimes known as “Chinese Radish”), peeled, halved lengthwise, and thinly sliced
· 4 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
· 4 Tbsp miso (I used red miso)
· Optional: season with Shichimi Tougarashi (“7 flavours pepper blend”)
Instructions:
Prepare the vegetables according to the ingredient list.
Heat the sesame oil in a heavy pan. (If you are using non-stick, you may be able to get away with not using oil at all.) Brown the pork, onions, and leek.
Add the dashi, gobou, potato, carrot, renkon, and daikon; bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes. Add the shiitake mushrooms and continue to simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes longer. And yes, that earthenware pot (donabe) is actually on the gas stove. :)
Remove from heat. Measure the miso into a mug, then add some of the soup broth and stir until it is smooth. Dissolve the miso mixture into the soup…
…and you’re done!
Serve sprinkled with shichimi tougarashi.
When you’ve eaten all your vegetables and meat, the leftover broth is delicious with rice.
Finally, here’s some Japanese cooking links.
My favourite Japanese cooking blog (in English): http://www.justhungry.com/
A blog about making bento from the same person: http://justbento.com/
How to make dashi from scratch: http://www.justhungry.com/2003/11/japanese_basics.html
How to make kombu (vegan) dashi from scratch: http://www.justhungry.com/vegetarian-dashi-japanese-stock
If you want, you’re welcome to visit my blog too: http://keithandcelia.blogspot.com
I often write about Japanese cooking, Japanese culture, and occasionally about other food-related stuff too. It’s not a food blog, though, so you might have to wade through pictures of my family vacations and concerts to get to the recipes. I’ll just make that disclaimer.
Happy cooking!
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