🍲🥚Myoga, Tofu, Egg Soup!

So I can’t name any of my recipes (not that you couldn’t tell), but at least the title’s descriptive enough that you can PROBABLY guess what recipe I’ll be teaching you today!

This is one of my all-time favorites. As a big fan of myoga (Japanese ginger) and that spicy sweetness it provides, it’s my main veggie go-to for this recipe. But if you don’t have access to myoga, you can use whatever other vegetable tickles your fancy! The tofu and egg will do the heavy lifting with their hearty proteins, so the rest of its creative cooking process is up to you!💪

For the uninitiated, here’s what myoga looks like.

[Under construction💦 I’ll take a picture once the rain stops and I can take decent pictures]

Isn’t it cute??♥ They’re generally pink or purple. Cutting through it, it has an onion-like, soft, layered texture, but its flavor is sweeter with a ginger bite to it. JUST the thing we need to spice things up for this soup!

The Ingredients*

• 1 TBSP of Dashi Powder
• 800g-ish of Water
• 3 TSBP of Soy Sauce
• 1 block of Tofu (soft, firm, any kind will do!)
• 2-3 pieces of Myoga
• 1 Egg

The Prep

• Scramble 1 egg in a bowl.
• Cut your tofu into bite-sized pieces. Or into piece sizes that will be otherwise easy to pick up with chopsticks or a spoon.
• Cut your myoga length-wise. Or however you want to cut them. I won’t judge.

The Process

• Add water to your pot. Less than you think you’d need. Tofu is heavy stuff.
• Add dashi powder to the water.
• Boil that dashi stock you’ve just brewed.
• Add soy sauce to the boiling water by swirling it in (should be 5-6 rotations worth, which equals around 3 TSBP if you’re using a saucepan-sized pot).
• Give it a taste-test. If it tastes a little strong, you’re in the right place. Tofu is going to suck up that brew like a spongy fiend, but don’t worry, there’ll still be some soy sauce flavor left for you once it’s had its fill.
• Add tofu to the water.
• When the tofu starts really jumping around, cut the heat.
• Now here’s the hard part:
  • (CAUTION: We’re about to add the egg. There is a chance that your egg will break apart into pieces, and be all up in the soup’s business. If you want your eggs to be fluffy, floaty, and intact in your beautiful stock, then listen carefully.)
    • As SOON as you cut the heat, that’s when the egg goes in. The soup has to be hot for this to work.
    • Swiftly swirl in the scrambled egg. If you swirl it in too slowly, it might not turn out intact.
    • After that, give your beautiful egg clouds a mix or a pat with your spoon. If your egg sinks to the bottom, give it a little waft back up to the surface.
    • If all goes well (and sometimes, it doesn’t; but no worries, you soup’ll taste great just the same), your egg should be fairly intact, floating fluffily in your soup.
    • (Whew, now that THAT’S over…)
• Add myoga to the soup now.
• FIN!

And what was Tofu Soup became Tofu/Egg Soup that then become Myoga/Tofu/Egg Soup! 😀

If you plan on eating the soup right after you make it, then put the myoga in sooner. But otherwise, just by having it bathe the broth, it’ll soak in them lovely juices by the time you’re ready to consume♥ (This goes great in a thermos to add to your bento lunch for tomorrow.)

Enjoy! And keep warm!