Japanese garden creamy Winter soup

When it’s so cold inside, you need a soup every day. Yes, I wrote inside that’s not a typo, as outside the weather is mild, it’s Winter, but not freezing. In my place without heating, the day is just OK, but at night it’s a little chilly. So I put on a big sweater, my half-gloves and I get a bowl of good soup to warm me up…

It’s very quick to throw stuff in. Then, just let simmer a while. Today’s soup is a miso-minestrone. See the 3 steps at the end, but first let’s look at what is in it :

It’s full of season produce. Can you recognize them ?

Do you know that animal ? His name is taro. Well, he is a potato… and it’s usually called…

…satoimo here.

That’s the season of black soy bean kuromame. I had them boiled.

Some greens.

Shungiku, chrysanthemum leaves.

Kezuribushi, bonito fish flakes.

Koji-miso. There exist very different types of miso. The color depends on ingredients. The more rice, the whiter, the more soy, the darker. This one is light colored miso with a high content of fermented rice (komekoji), and it’s rough textured. Its taste is sweet and mild.

Step one : in some water, put to simmer some dry daikon radish skins (I keep them to make broth), a few peeled satoimo taros, a ts of pasted garlic, 2 tbs of tomato paste, a dry chili and a cup of boiled black beans with their broth. Let 20 minutes.
Step two : I made a 1/2 cup of neri-goma (tahini, white sesame paste), mixed it with a tbs of miso, a ts of fish flakes. I’ve diluted that in the soup and let 2 minutes on low heat.
Step 3 : pour the soup on shungiku greens, top with more fish flakes.
If you want it vegan, just don’t add the fish flakes, replace the topping with aonori seaweed flakes.

Crispy mochizza inflated in 10 minutes

Yeah, a mochi pizza ! La mochizza ! You may wonder if I have turned into a wholesaler of mochi. Not really, but I surely have a big stock to of the white goodies… And well that’s really good.

A pizza whose crust is like that ! Crispy like a cracker and soft like a chewing gum, with a delicate flavor of grilled rice.
And that takes only 10 minutes to be into your mouth…

The recipe is simply to slice some block of mochi, put on some oiled pie tray, garnish like a pizza and bake 10 minutes under the broiler/grill at full heat. Take into account that the mochi doubles of volume when it cooks, so slice it thin.

The small cubes are also mochi, added after 5 minutes so they just become soft like melted cheese, not hardened yet.

This vegan version is made with lots of onions, a little green sweet chili, garlic, tomato paste, black pepper and later flavored with argan oil poured on top after baking.

Here is one with veggies (carrot, red sweet chili, tomato paste, onion, a little garlic) and shrimps. Olive oil, dry hot chili and kezuribushi (fish flakes) as flavoring.

That’s how the bake “dough” is. You have to eat it directly from the tray. And eat quickly because it’s so goood, and it has to be eaten hot. Later it deflates. Oh enough photos, anyway it’s night. Make yours someday.