Pork soup (豚汁)

Experiment: Pork soup (豚汁)

Introduction:

I mentioned a few days ago that I made dashi stock for something yesterday.  I have leftover dashi stock.  I flipped through a few magazines to see if there are any dishes that I would like to try.  I saw this "pork soup (豚汁)" recipe, and it happened that I have all the ingredients at home.  So... I made this soup for dinner.

Materials: (serve 2)

80-100g Sliced pork

1 tbs miso paste

2 tbs of chopped green onions

100g thinly sliced daikon
Shichimi tougarashi (七味唐辛子) to taste

Procedure:

1)  Cut the pork into small pieces, and cut the thinly sliced daikon in quarters.

2)  In a pot, boil the dashi stock. Put the daikon in the pot and let it boil for a bit.  Then put in the sliced pork.  When the meat changes colour, add the green onions and miso paste.  Stir the soup until the miso paste is well dissolved.

3)  Serve the soup in bowls.  Sprinkle the Shichimi tougarashi as you like.

Results:

Discussion:

1) I'm not a big fan of pork, and I really don't like cooking pork.  I always think that pork has a stinky smell, and I can't usually get rid of that taste/smell when I cook.  I wasn't expecting much from this soup, but when I tasted it... To my surprise, wow, this soup actually tasted very good!  Even Mr. Clam liked this pork soup.  :) 

2) By the way, in case you're wondering what Shichimi tougarashi (七味唐辛子) is... here's a picture of it:

This powder contains 7 ingredients, and it's spicy.  You can find it in most of the Asian supermarkets.  I usually use it on noodles, or bonburi (rice bowl dish) at home, and now I know I can use it on soup too.  :)

When I went to Japan in November, I went to a store that has been selling Shichimi tougarashi in Kyoto for 350 years.  They sell many varieties of powders... When I was thinking of which powder to get, I saw this:

Hahaha I didn't have to think which one to get as I am a BIIIG Hello Kitty fan! :P  I haven't opened it yet so I don't know how it tastes like... but I'll definitely post it up when I open this package! :)

Conclusion:

It was a good and easy soup!  Will definitely make it again! :)

Reference:

Lettuce Club (レタスクラブ) April 25, 2009, Vol. 671