Grated-Daikon Clear Soup (みぞれ汁, Mizorejiru)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Medium pot
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth or sturdy paper towel
• •Oroshigane (Japanese grater), or the fine holes of a box grater
• •Lidded soup bowls (wan), or small warmed bowls

Instructions

1. 1

   Steep the konbu

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. That pale dust on the surface is flavor, not dirt. Put the konbu in the cold water and, if you have 30 minutes, let it sit before heating. Bring it up slowly over low heat until the water trembles and small bubbles climb the sides of the pot, 10 to 12 minutes. Lift the konbu out before the water boils. A rolling boil pulls bitterness and slickness from the kelp, and this soup has nowhere to hide it.

   This is ichiban dashi, first dashi. Clarity matters more than strength, so treat the kelp as something to steep, not something to wrestle.
2. 2

   Add the flakes

   Bring the water to a gentle boil after the konbu is out. Add the katsuobushi all at once, turn off the heat, and leave the pot alone for 2 to 3 minutes, until the flakes sink. Don't stir. Stirring makes a rougher stock, and the flavor you want here is clean, not loud.

3. 3

   Strain the dashi

   Strain the dashi through a fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth or sturdy paper towel. Let it drip naturally. Don't squeeze the flakes, because squeezing presses out strong, oily flavors and clouds the stock you just took such care to keep clear.

4. 4

   Grate the daikon

   Grate the peeled daikon on an oroshigane, a Japanese grater, or on the fine holes of a box grater. Gather the grated daikon in a small sieve and let it drain for 2 or 3 minutes. Don't press it dry. The loose water would thin the soup, but a little moisture keeps the grated daikon soft enough to float like sleet.

5. 5

   Season the broth

   Measure 4 cups of dashi into a clean pot. Add the sake, usukuchi, and salt, then bring it to a bare simmer for 1 minute so the sake loses its raw edge. Taste the broth. It should be lightly salted but not sharp, a little more seasoned than plain stock because the tofu and daikon will soften it.

6. 6

   Warm the tofu

   Slide the tofu cubes into the seasoned dashi and warm them gently for 1 to 2 minutes. Keep the broth quiet. Hard bubbling breaks the tofu and makes the bowl look careless, which is a great deal of trouble to cause with very little effort.

7. 7

   Finish with daikon

   Lower the heat so the broth is barely moving. Stir in the grated daikon and warm it for 30 to 60 seconds, just until the white grains are suspended and heated through. Do not boil it. Long boiling dulls the daikon, collapses its snowy texture, and turns clear soup into cloudy soup for no good reason.

   This is the detail that decides mizorejiru: grate late, drain lightly, warm briefly.
8. 8

   Serve at once

   Ladle the soup into warmed lidded bowls, filling them only about two-thirds full. Set mitsuba and one sliver of yuzu peel on each bowl. Cover the bowls if carrying them to the table, because the first lift of the lid gives you the yuzu scent. Serve while the daikon still drifts through the broth.

Chef Tips

• •Choose daikon in winter when it feels heavy, firm, and smooth-skinned. The upper half near the leaves is sweeter, the tip is sharper. For this soup, sweetness serves you better than bite.
• •Usukuchi is light in color, not light in salt. It keeps the broth pale. If you only have regular dark soy sauce, use 1/2 teaspoon and let salt carry the rest of the seasoning.
• •Grate the daikon close to serving. It loses its fresh sweetness as it sits, and the water separates. This is a small dish, so make the small effort.
• •For a meatless table, make konbu-shiitake dashi: soak 15g konbu and 3 dried shiitake in 4 1/2 cups cold water overnight, then warm gently and strain. That's the temple-kitchen path, honmono, not an apology.
• •Do not use instant dashi here. There are soups where a sensible stand-in gets dinner on the table. In mizorejiru, the dashi is the dish.

Advance Preparation

• •The konbu can soak in the measured cold water overnight in the refrigerator for a rounder, gentler dashi.
• •Finished dashi keeps for 2 days refrigerated. Reheat it gently and season it just before serving.
• •The broth can be made and seasoned a few hours ahead, but grate and add the daikon at the end. Its texture is the point.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 350g)