Do you like a bowl of miso soup served at a sushi bar?  Miso soup does not always have to be with tiny cubes of tofu and scallion.  This hearty pork soup called Buta-jiru （豚汁） is everyone’s  winter favorite in Japan.

What you need
for pork meat ball
– Ground pork    1 lbs
– 1 egg
– Cornstarch   1 tbs
– Grated ginger   1tbs
– Miso 1tbs, scoop

other ingredients
– Potatoes   2-3
– Tofu, 1 package
– Carrot  1
– 1/4 green ball cabbage
– Grated ginger 1-2 tbs
– Scallion, chopped
– Miso, about 3 tbs, scoop

Meat Balls?

For making this hearty soup,  thinly sliced pork is usually used.

Thinly sliced meat can be found in a Korean or Japanese grocery shop but not  at a local supermarket in the U.S.  I have tried to chop/ slice/ cut different parts of pork from my neighboring shops but did not like any of them for their dry, hard texture in the soup. I ended  up to make balls which are soft, fluffy and  with a hint of miso & ginger flavor. I am happy with this.

Preparation for meatballs

Put all the ingredients in a bowl.

And mix well.  Easy, isn’t it?

Preparation for soup

1) Peel and cut vegetables.

I cut carrot lengthwise, then slice, and cut potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes.

2) put potatoes and carrot in a pot with 3 quarts of water.

This time I used greater burdock (called Gobo ゴボウ) which looks just like a branch of a tree.

Gobo is loved in Japan, Korea and a few more countries for its unique fragrance and great health benefits.

If you want to try it, it is available at a Korean/Japanese grocery shop.

3) Heat the pot over high heat to boil, and spoon meatball down into the pot.

I use two spoons to form a ball.

And drop into the boiling pot.

Discard  foam on the surface.

4) After dropping all the meat, reduce the heat to medium-low heat and add two spoons of miso paste. Mix well to blend the miso into the soup and simmer until vegetables get tender.

5) When potatoes are tender but not mushy, add cubed Tofu.

and add cut cabbage.

6) When the pot is boiling again, taste the soup and see how salty it is, and add remaining miso paste accordingly.

7) Add grated ginger and chopped scallion to finish up.

Then enjoy!

This hearty soup is not only tasty but has great health benefit. This promote vegetable intake and calories for a bowl would be approximately  300- 400kcal .  Also ginger and miso paste keep our body warm so great in cold season.

I have the recipe in Japanese, too.
海外でもおいしく作る！豚汁