To Rest My Stomach - Chirashizushi & Butajiru -

Chirashizushi (uncaked sushi) and Butajiru (Pork miso soup) Maybe you’re thinking that after all those cooking/baking for Christmas, obachan must be taking an easy way out? You’re absolutely right. My dinner last night was Chirashizushi and butajiru, and I used an instant chirashizushi mix in retort pouch. This instant chirashizushi mix used to be for 4 servings, and I always hesitated to buy one worrying about having too much leftovers. Now they have a smaller unit (one serving) :D I'm sure I'll be buying it often. All I had to do to make this sushi was mix cooked rice with the ingredients in the pouch and top with the nori (dried seaweed) strips which also come with the instant ingredients. I didn't even prepare kinshi-tamago (shredded thin egg sheet). Butajiru Butajiru is also called tonjiru ("buta" and "ton" are different pronunciations of the same chinese character representing "pork," and "jiru" means soup.) This is my favorite miso soup. For me this soup is easier to season than other kinds of miso soup. Usually, when used light-tasting ingredients only, like tofu, daikon etc., the flavor of dashi and miso has more importance in the taste, so you need to use the right amount for the delicate teste of the soup. But when with pork, the meat seems to determine the taste mostly and you can’t really fail---unless you use ridiculously too much or too little miso. It was a quick and easy meal after coming back from a bowling game yesterday ;) ---- Recipe: BUTAJIRU Ingredients (1 cup = 200cc) 3 servings 3 cups water (1 tsp instant dashi (fish stock) powder…optional) 1 Tbsp sake 3 1/2 to 4 Tblsp miso paste 80g thinly sliced pork 1 yam or potato 30g carrot 50g daikon radish (1 tsp salad oil…optional) (20g burdock, shredded … optional) (a little konnyaku, diced… optional) Some minced scallion Peel and cut daikon radish, carrot and yam (potato) into icho-giri or ginkgo leaf shape. (Scroll down and see "cutting vegetables".) If using burdock, shred like the“sogi-giri” as shown in the same site. Cut pork into bite-size. Heat salad oil in a pot and sauté the meat and vegetables. Add water and dashi powder. (If you like lighter taste, skip sautéing and just put raw ingredients in the water to boil.) Bring to boil. Skim off the scum that rises to the surface. Add sake. When ingredients are cooked, reduce or turn off the heat and dissolve miso into the soup. Turn the heat up very briefly and remove from heat as soon as it starts boiling. Do not boil too long after adding miso to the soup. Sprinkle minced scallion on top and serve. My mom doesn't saute the ingredients, so I usually don't do that, either.