Mussel and Leek Chowder

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

Mirugai no Omi-Otsuké

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

Asia
Japan
Pescatarian
Soup

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