Japanese Kenchinjiru: Buddhist Root Vegetable Soup and the Kamakura Temple Tradition

Ingredients

• For the kombu dashi
• 15 g dried kombu
• 1.2 litres cold water
• 300 g momen tofu (medium-firm cotton tofu), briefly pressed, broken by hand into rough irregular pieces
• 100 g gobo (burdock root), scrubbed, cut on the diagonal into thin slices
• 100 g lotus root (renkon), peeled, cut into half-moons
• 100 g carrot, peeled, cut into half-moons
• 150 g daikon, peeled, cut into half-moons
• 100 g konnyaku, torn by hand into rough pieces, briefly blanched
• 2 tbsp roasted (dark) sesame oil
• For seasoning
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sake

Method

1. 1
   Place the kombu in 1.2 litres of cold water and bring slowly to just below a simmer. When the kombu has softened and the water is fragrant and pale gold — but before any bubbles break the surface — remove the kombu and reserve the dashi. The broth should be clean and lightly saline with no bitterness.
2. 2
   Heat the roasted sesame oil in a wide, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the broken tofu pieces in a single layer and fry without moving them until each piece shows a golden, firm crust on at least one side. The kitchen will smell of roasted nuts; the tofu will have shed its raw moisture and taken on colour at the edges. Remove and set aside.
3. 3
   This is the step on which the dish lives or dies. In the oil remaining in the pot, sauté the gobo first, stirring for two minutes until it smells of earth and begins to colour at the edges; then add the lotus root, then the carrot, then the konnyaku, and finally the daikon, sautéing each briefly before adding the next. Every vegetable should carry some Maillard colour and a faint roasted note before the liquid is added — this is what separates kenchinjiru from ordinary vegetable soup; skipping this step produces an insipid broth.
4. 4
   Return the fried tofu to the pot. Pour the kombu dashi over the vegetables and tofu and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook, partially covered, until the gobo and lotus root yield to light pressure and the broth has absorbed the sesame-roasted character of its contents. The soup should look clear and amber, not cloudy.
5. 5
   Add the soy sauce and sake. Taste: the broth should be savoury, clean, and lightly sweet, with the sesame note present but not dominant. Adjust soy sauce if required. Serve immediately, or cool and reheat gently the following day — the flavours integrate further overnight.