Farmhouse Tonjiru: Pork Belly & Root Vegetable Miso Soup

⏱ 45 min · Serves 4

Japan's most comforting bowl — sweet daikon, earthy burdock and carrot simmered with thin slices of pork belly in a dashi-rich miso broth. It's a soup with the heft of a meal, finished with nutty sesame oil and a scatter of spring onion.

Per serving: 392 kcal · 15.5g protein · 21.0g carbs · 27.5g fat

Ingredients

• 250g pork belly, very thinly sliced (or thin-cut shoulder), cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 200g daikon, peeled, quartered lengthways and sliced 5mm thick
• 1 medium carrot, halved lengthways and sliced 5mm thick
• 1 small burdock root (gobo), scrubbed and shaved into thin diagonal slices (soak 5 min in water)
• 150g taro or 1 medium potato, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
• 1/2 onion, sliced 1cm thick
• 100g konnyaku, torn into small pieces and blanched 1 min (optional)
• 1.2 litres dashi (from 1 tsp instant dashi powder or kombu + bonito)
• 1 tbsp sake
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp white or awase miso (about 70g)
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• Shichimi togarashi, to serve

Method

1. Heat the sesame oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the pork and stir-fry 3–4 minutes until it loses its pink colour and the fat starts to render.
2. Add the drained burdock, daikon, carrot, taro, onion and konnyaku. Stir-fry 3 minutes so every piece is glossed with the porky oil.
3. Pour in the dashi and sake. Bring to a gentle boil, then skim off any grey foam that rises — this is the secret to a clean-tasting tonjiru.
4. Lower the heat, cover partially and simmer 20–25 minutes, until the daikon is translucent and a knife slides easily into the taro.
5. Turn the heat right down. Ladle a little hot broth into a bowl, whisk in the miso until smooth, then stir it back into the pot. Add the soy sauce.
6. Warm through for 2 minutes without boiling (boiling dulls the miso). Taste and add a spoonful more miso if you like it punchier.
7. Ladle into deep bowls, scatter with spring onion and offer shichimi togarashi at the table.