Name: Japanese Mixed Vegetable Soup
Yield: Makes 12 Servings
Cuisine: Japan
Ingredients: 1 cake of Japanese tofu, cut into ½-inch cubes; 2 quarts dashi; 2 tablespoons dark miso; 2 tablespoons light miso; 2 tablespoons light soy sauce or more to taste; 1 small cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, and seeds removed with a spoon; 1 4-inch length of daikon, ½ pound, peeled and cut into fine julienne; 2 medium-size turnips, peeled, cut into 10 wedges, and boiled for 3 minutes; 1 8-ounce cake of konnyaku, torn into ½-inch pieces; 2 medium-size carrots, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced; 8 medium-size shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, sliced; 2 bamboo shoots, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced

Preparation info

Makes
12
Servings

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Splendid Soups

By James Peterson

Published 2000

About

What makes Japanese soups distinct from all others is the use of dashi as the cooking liquid. Dashi is one of the easiest and certainly the quickest of all broths to make. The basic ingredients, although they may require a trip to an Asian grocery or a mail-order wait, are easy to store and use.

Although the Japanese use many of the same vegetables as Western cooks, certain vegetables and starchy ingredients are peculiar to Japanese cooking. At least one of these shoul