“Snake’s Eyes” Soup

Janomé-jiru

Preparation info
  • Serves

    4

    .
    • Difficulty

      Medium

Appears in
At Home with Japanese Cooking

By Elizabeth Andoh

Published 1986

  • About

The name of this soup derives from the curled, striped shrimp that lie at the bottom of each bowl. Typical of Japanese clear dinner soups, a few artistically designed morsels rest in a subtly flavored broth.

Ingredients

  • 8 jumbo shrimp
  • 1 teaspoon saké (rice wine)
  • 8–12 stalks

Method

Shell and devein the shrimp and sprinkle the rice wine over them. Blanch the shrimp in rapidly boiling water for 1 minute and drain them. Place two curled shrimp in the bottom of each of four individual bowls.

Plunge the trefoil or coriander into fresh boiling salted water until it barely wilts. Remove the greens immediately to a bowl of cold water. Knot together 2 or 3 stalks to make a