Bok Choy Tofu Soup

This simple soup is not only tasty, but healthy as well. Make sure you add the tofu and mushrooms at the end to keep them from overcooking and loosing their form and texture.

Yield:

Serves 4

Ingredients

1. 8 cups water
2. 8 Japanese dried scallops
3. 2 cups bonito shavings
4. 2 tsp dashi (or to taste)
5. 1 inch piece of ginger, sliced
6. 2 scallions, cut into 2 inch pieces
7. 1 package tofu, cut into 1 inch squares
8. 1 1/2 lbs bok choi
9. 1 bunch enoki mushrooms
10. chopped scallions, for garnish
11. salt (to taste)

Directions

1. Boil the water over high heat. Add the bonito shavings, dried, scallops, scallions and ginger. Let simmer for a few hours (one hour at least). The longer it simmers, the more the flavors will be infused in the broth. At this point, you can add the dashi and salt to your liking. After it simmers, strain the broth to pull out bonito shavings, ginger, and scallops. I usually keep the scallops to throw back into the soup.
2. When you’re almost ready to serve, toss the tofu, mushrooms, and bok choi into the broth and let simmer for a few minutes until the bok choi is cooked through. You can also add noodles to the soup (often we add somen). If you have leftover soup, it can be frozen by straining out the broth/liquid.

Notes