Tonjiru Know What I Mean?

Have you ever seen the Netflix show “Midnight Diner”? Do you see the dish the main character cooks in the opening sequence? That is tonjiru. It is a pork and vegetable miso soup that is so good after a night of drinking, during a cold winter’s storm or anytime, for that matter. It is one of my favorite dishes to make and eat because it so easy yet the flavors are so rich. Check out my recipe below and also my YouTube channel for how to make this fantastic soup!

If you haven’t had a chance to check out my video on how to make homemade konbu and katsuo dashi, don’t worry. I’ll run you through that right now too. For starters, let’s get the ingredients in order.

Ingredients

For Konbu and Katsuo Dashi

Dried Kelp/Dashi Konbu 2 4in x 4 in slice (cut in half)

Bonito Flakes/Katsuo Bushi 1/2 c

Water 6 c

For Tonjiru

Pork (cubed) 1/2 lb

Burdock Root/Gobo (1/4 in slices) 2 c

Daikon (1/2 in slices cut into 4th) 2 c

Carrot (same size as daikon) 2 c

Mirin 1 tbs

Sake 1 tbs

Soy Sauce 1 tbs

Miso 3 tbs

Homemade Dashi 5 c

Dashi

If you have time and you want to blow your socks off with this dish start with making your own dashi. You will first need to soak the kelp from 4-12 hrs in water. Sometimes it’s best to leave it soaking in the refrigerator overnight but you don’t really need to go any longer. Basically, once the umami is released it is moot to keep it soaking.

Once it’s softened, make slits in the konbu to release more kelp flavors. You can taste the water, at this point, to see if it’s to your liking. It does taste like the ocean so don’t think you made a mistake if that is what you taste. It’s kelp at any rate, isn’t it.

So let’s continue to bring more umami to our dashi table by heating the konbu until it almost reaches a boil. Once it does, turn the fire off and take out the konbu but don’t throw it away. You can make lots of things with it and can freeze it up to a year so put it in a ziploc and store til my next post. Now, add the katsuo bushi. Katsuo adds a smoky and salty flavor which really makes the dashi pop. Let the katso bushi sit for about a minute or two.

After the minute or so has passed, strain the dashi to remove the katsuo. You can keep that, as well, to add to rice or make okaka with (see previous blog). You now have this amazing dashi which you can use for miso soup, nikujaga, stews OR tonjiru!

Tonjiru

So now we have the dashi for our tonjiru, yay! Let’s start by making sure all our vegetables have been cut and peeled, even the carrots. Simmer the pork and onions in cooking oil until the pork is no longer pink. Then throw in the vegetables adding the sake and mirin to help them soften. After 10-15 minutes add the dashi and turn down the heat to medium. This will further help the veg to soften. You will leave this on a slow cook for another 30-40 minutes, depending on the softness of the vegetables.

After the veg has softened, place the heat on low and add the miso. You can, quintessentially, eat the soup now or you can keep it on a low heat until you decide to eat it.

If making the dashi, from scratch, is too much trouble you can use different dashi such as a powdered dashi which you can get from the Japanese or Asian supermarket. However this homemade way, even though time consuming, is something to explore. It really does change the entire way the dish explodes with flavor.

Check out the link to my YouTube video on tonjiru👉🏼https://youtu.be/Pyrfn2hmebk AND also the link to my video on dashi👉🏼https://youtu.be/EYCbi1U8hxs

Thank you for coming with me on this epicurean journey and, as always, お召し上がれ！

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