Tonjiru Pork Miso Soup with Barley Miso
Cuisine: Japanese
Region: 鹿児島県
Servings: 4人分
Tonjiru Pork Miso Soup with Barley Miso is a home-style soup. Ingredients and step-by-step instructions are below, with notes for home cooking.
Ingredients
- Thinly sliced pork (belly or shoulder loin) 80 g
- Daikon radish 100 g
- Carrot 50 g
- Taro 100 g (2 pieces)
- Konnyaku 50 g
- Atsuage (thick fried tofu) 50 g
- Salad oil 2 tsp
- [Dashi] Dried baby sardines (iriko/niboshi) 20 g
- [Dashi] Water 600 ml
- Barley miso (mugi-miso) 50 g
- Scallions 2 stalks
- Ginger 1 knob
Steps
- Remove the heads and guts from the dried sardines and soak them in the measured water for 30 minutes. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then simmer on low for 3 minutes. Strain out the sardines to make the dashi.
- Cut the daikon and carrot into 5 mm fan-shaped slices. Peel the taro, cut into 1 cm rounds, rub with a pinch of salt (extra), and rinse off the sliminess.
- Tear the konnyaku into small pieces with a spoon and blanch. Pour hot water over the atsuage to remove excess oil, then cut into 1 cm bite-size pieces. Cut the pork into 3 cm strips.
- Heat the salad oil in a pot over medium heat and stir-fry the pork. When the color changes, add the daikon, carrot, taro, and konnyaku; cook about 2 minutes until coated with oil.
- Add the iriko dashi and atsuage. Once boiling, skim the foam, lower to medium-low, and simmer 10–15 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
- Reduce the heat. Dissolve the barley miso in a ladleful of broth and stir it in. After adding the miso, keep it just warm—do not let it boil.
- Ladle into bowls and top with thinly sliced scallions and julienned ginger.
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Notes
Barley miso, popular in southern Kyushu such as Kagoshima, is mildly sweet and gentle. If you cannot find it, blended or rice miso works—adjust the amount to taste.
Sautéing the root vegetables in oil first lets the pork fat soak into them and gives the soup deeper body.
Feel free to add whatever you have—burdock, shiitake, napa cabbage. The more fillings, the better.
Reheating after a night in the fridge lets the flavors sink into the vegetables even more.
Origin and history
Tonjiru is a hearty miso soup of pork with daikon, carrot, taro, and other vegetables. Depending on the region it is called tonjiru or butajiru, and it is a winter staple at home and at cold-weather community meals across Japan.
Kagoshima has long raised pigs, and pork dishes are deeply rooted in daily life. In southern Kyushu, barley miso is everyday miso, and families have long made a sweet, mellow tonjiru with iriko dashi and mugi-miso.
Because it can take many seasonal vegetables, it often doubles as a side dish. Fillings vary by household, and each place and family keeps its own taste.