Tonjiru: Hearty Pork & Root Vegetable Miso Soup

⏱ 45 min · Serves 4

Japan's ultimate comfort bowl — thin slices of pork belly browned in sesame oil, then simmered with daikon, carrot, burdock and konnyaku in a dashi broth finished with two kinds of miso. It's a soup that eats like a meal, and it tastes even better the next day.

Per serving: 392 kcal · 18.5g protein · 22.0g carbs · 25.5g fat

Ingredients

• 200g thinly sliced pork belly, cut into 4cm pieces
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1.2 litres dashi (or water + 1 tsp instant dashi powder)
• 200g daikon, quartered and sliced 5mm thick
• 1 medium carrot (120g), half-moon sliced
• 1 burdock root (gobo, ~100g), scraped and shaved, soaked in water 5 min (or 100g extra carrot/parsnip)
• 200g konnyaku, torn into bite-size pieces and blanched 1 min
• 1 small potato or 150g taro, peeled and chunked
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1/2 block (150g) firm tofu, cubed
• 3 tbsp awase or white miso
• 1 tbsp red (aka) miso
• 1 tbsp sake
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• Shichimi togarashi, to serve

Method

1. Heat the sesame oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the pork belly and stir-fry 3–4 minutes until the edges are golden and the fat has rendered.
2. Add the daikon, carrot, drained burdock, konnyaku, potato and onion. Stir-fry 3 minutes so everything is coated in the pork fat.
3. Pour in the dashi and the sake. Bring to a simmer, skimming off any grey foam that rises for the first few minutes — this is the secret to a clean-tasting tonjiru.
4. Lower the heat, part-cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes, until the daikon is translucent and the potato is tender.
5. Add the tofu and simmer 3 minutes more, then turn the heat right down so the soup is no longer bubbling.
6. Ladle a little hot broth into a bowl, whisk in both misos until smooth, then stir back into the pot. Add the soy sauce and taste — never let it boil after the miso goes in.
7. Ladle into deep bowls, scatter with spring onion and offer shichimi togarashi at the table.