Kanako's Kitchen

Here’s another of many possible variants on Osuimono, a simple clear broth that we use as the main alternative to miso soup. As always with Osuimono, this recipe is simple: a light, delicate broth with a couple of ingredients suspended in it, nothing more.

Whichever variant you choose, you’ll find there’s really not a lot to Osuimono. It takes a certain sensibility to appreciate a soup as austere as this one. But in Japan, this kind of thing is deeply appreciated.

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Ingredients (for two)

 

• Water – 1.5 cups
• Dashi – 1 teaspoon
• Soy sauce – ½ a teaspoon
• Sake – 2 teaspoons
• Salt – just a pinch (less than ½ a teaspoon)
• One egg
• Dried Wakame seaweed – 1 teaspoon (this will seem like too little, but remember, wakame will expand many times over in the soup)

Preparation

1. Lightly beat an egg without fully homogenizing it
2. Bring 1.5 cups of water to a boil
3. When it boils, set stove to medium, add dashi, soy sauce, sake and wakame.
4. Allow to simmer for a minute or two. Taste and add salt if needed.
5. The tricky bit: drop the egg in a circular motion into the boiling pot. Using a fork or chopsticks, quickly swirl the egg around in the broth once - not twice, once.
6. Immediately remove from heat – if you leave it on the heat for too long, the egg will overcook and the soup will lose that wonderful light feel that is the whole point of egg-drop soup.

click to enlarge

Ladle onto small bowls, serve hot.

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Today we had shiso-gohan, osuimono, daikon-no nimono (which my husband made following the recipe I wrote), and carrot salad.

 

Itadakimasu!