Kasujiru / sake lees soup with salted salmon and root vegetables

A hearty soup with sake lees is another great winter dish that warms up both your body and soul.

<Ingredients>

(Serves 3-4)

1 fillet shiozake salted salmon
10 cm carrot
2-3 cm daikon radish
2 satoimo baby taro root
1/4 konnyaku yam cake
1 small (or 1/2 large) usuage thin deep-fried tofu
1 green onion (not in photo)
400 cc dashi
60-70 g sakekasu sake lees
50 cc dashi or water (to soften sakekasu; not in photo)
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce


<Directions>
1.

Rangiri diagonal cut carrot, daikon and satoimo. Prep boil konnyaku, and tear with hand into matching size.
Prep boil usuage, and cut into matching size.
Thinly slice green onion.
Cut shiozake into cubes.

2.

Add dashi or water to sakekasu, and soften.

3.

In a pot, put dashi, carrot and daikon, and cook on medium low heat for several minutes.

4.

In the meantime, shimofuri boil salmon.
Bring water to boil, and put salmon.

When surface turns white, immediately remove from boiling water, transferring to ice water.

Remove skin (optional) or scales (if any). Set aside.

5.

Add satoimo and konnyaku, and cook until vegetables are almost soft.

If liquid level goes down too fast, add water or dashi as necessary.

 Add usuage and salmon, and cook for a few minutes.

6.

Add sakekasu and 2/3 of the specified amount of soy sauce.

Taste, and add more soy sauce if necessary.

Serve in individual bowls, garnishing with green onion.

<Notes>

• Kasujiru is a soupy dish cooked with sakekasu. Sakekasu itself does not have a salty flavor, and miso or soy sauce is added. Root vegetables are typical ingredients. Fish is optional, but salted salmon probably is the most common choice if using fish.
• Shimofuri [lit. frosted] is a technique of quickly boiling fish (or meat) to seal in umami, eliminate the extra fishy smell or sliminess and make it easy to clean.