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A wooden bowl of homemade tonjiru pork miso soup with pork, cabbage, carrot, and green onion, next to a bowl of rice

Tonjiru (Japanese Pork Miso Soup)

Hearty Japanese pork and vegetable miso soup: pork belly and ginger fried in sesame oil, simmered with taro, daikon, carrot, burdock, and mushrooms, and seasoned with dashi and miso to taste.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 250 g thinly sliced pork belly any thin pork works
  • 2-3 small taro (satoimo) 100-150g, peeled, bite-sized
  • 100 g daikon radish thin rectangles
  • 100 g carrot thin strips
  • 100 g burdock root (gobo) thinly cut, soaked in water
  • 1 green onion (negi) sliced; save some for garnish
  • 100 g mushrooms shimeji, maitake, or shiitake
  • cabbage, fried tofu, or other vegetables optional, whatever you like
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • grated ginger a little
  • 900 ml water about 3 3/4 cups
  • 1 tsp instant dashi granules about 3g, adjust to taste
  • 60 g miso about 3 1/2 tbsp, adjust to taste

Method
 

  1. Cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Soak the cut burdock in water for a few minutes and drain. Cut the pork into bite-sized pieces.
  2. Heat the sesame oil in a large pot, add the ginger, then fry the pork until no longer pink.
  3. Add all the vegetables (and fried tofu, if using) and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes to coat them in the oil.
  4. Add the water and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam, add the dashi granules, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the taro and daikon are tender.
  5. Reduce the heat to low and dissolve about two-thirds of the miso. Taste and add more until it tastes right. Do not boil hard after adding the miso.
  6. Serve in large bowls topped with chopped green onion.