Most know this as clear soup; a common find at Japanese restaurants and hibachi steakhouses. I find it to be warming and filling; just what I need before stuffing my belly with veggies, noodles, and rice. I don't do the hibachi restaurant routine often, but when I do, I eat.
Miyabi soup is essentially vegetable broth with mushrooms and green onions. Why do I always get it in my head that my favorite recipes will take hours of sweating in my apron, despairing over the amount of time it's taking to make dinner to make my favorite dishes? After 9 years of running this blog and learning how to cook (YES, you read that right - I'm in my ninth year of this nonsense!), you'd think I'd know better. Sure, I can taste many dishes and pick up spices far better than I ever could before, and a lot of times can figure out how a dish comes together. When it comes to ethnic dishes especially, I fear the hyper-special processes and take my time to meander over to the recipe book and put it together (See Koliva).
Alas, this one is nothing to fear.
It all starts out with vegetable broth. I added broth to a saucepot along with some onions, carrots, celery, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, soy sauce, and sriracha. All vegetable broth really is anyway are vegetables boiled in water and some salt or seasonings added, so adding the additional vegetables makes it a stronger broth. I am sure that in a pinch, adding extra bouillon to make the broth stronger would suffice (my vegetable broth of choice lately has been a tube of condensed broth that I add to water anyway). I heated this up to a boil and then lowered it to a simmer, letting it cook for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
Regarding the mushrooms, it is important to have some fresh mushrooms set aside for the end. I tend to cook mushrooms and then freeze them so I have them available to toss into dishes when I need them (we all know mushrooms can't hang that long in the fridge), but cooked mushrooms are more dense and do not have the same texture as fresh mushrooms, so the result will be a sunken shroom sitting at the bottom of your soup instead of a light, chewy mushroom floating in your bowl. In my case, I added some to add flavor to the broth, and used fresh mushrooms at the end as well. It's totally optional so I didn't even note it in the final recipe.
Then, I strained out the vegetables and put the broth in a bowl and sprinkled on some fresh green onions and mushrooms.
I'd love to leave it at that, but I'm a woman of many words. I'm a big fan of the sriracha because it gives a slight spiciness that I found to be a great accent to the veggie flavor. The ease still surprises me, and I'm yet again delighted I gave a new dish a go (yet again). One day I'll figure out that I'm a simple enough lady that most things I enjoy won't be that hard to make. Most things.
I kept the strained veggies - why would I waste perfectly good vegetables? - and in the leftovers wound up spooning some back in. Other uses include using them as a side dish or throwing them in another meal.
Miyabi Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
6 cups water
3 tablespoons vegetable bouillon
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons sriracha
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup green onion, finely chopped
Instructions:
Heat water and bouillon to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sriracha, then lower to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, until vegetables are soft. Strain the vegetables out. Top soup with fresh sliced mushrooms and green onions.
recipe adapted from japanese clear onion soup
No comments:
Post a Comment