Name: Mussel and Leek Chowder (Mirugai no Omi-Otsuké)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Japan
Ingredients: 2½ tablespoons shiro miso (light fermented bean paste); 2 teaspoons soy sauce; 1 small leek (about 2 ounces ), trimmed of roots and tough green stalk; ½ cup water; 1 tablespoon saké (Japanese rice wine); 2–2½ cups dashi (basic sea stock); 20 square inches dashi kombu (dried kelp for stock making); 8 stalks flat-leafed Italian parsley, for garnish; 12–15 fresh mussels

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

An American Taste of Japan

By Elizabeth Andoh

Published 1985

About

Neither mussels nor leeks are native to Japan, but both are enormously popular among those Japanese who live abroad. In this chowder, the “foreign” broth from cooking the mussels enriches a traditional Japanese stock that’s later flavored by leeks and thickened with bean paste. All together it makes for a memorable cross-cultural soup.

Ingredients

12–15 fresh mussels
20 square inches dashi kombu (dried kelp for stock making)
½ cup

Method

With a brush, scrub the mussels well and remove their beards. Place the shells in a 4-quart, wide-mouthed pot with the dried kelp, water, and 1 tablespoon of rice wine. Cover the pot and, over high heat, co