Kenchinjiru and Buddhist Root Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• For the kombu-shiitake dashi
• 10 g kombu, cold-soaked overnight
• 5 dried shiitake mushrooms, cold-soaked overnight with the kombu
• 1 L cold water
• 1 gobo (burdock root), scrubbed, cut on the bias into thin slices, held in cold water to prevent browning
• 1 carrot, peeled, cut on the bias into rounds
• 150 g daikon, peeled, cut into half-moons
• 100 g lotus root (renkon), peeled, sliced into rounds, held in acidulated water
• 100 g konnyaku, torn by hand into irregular pieces, blanched briefly and patted very dry
• 200 g firm tofu, cut into rough cubes
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce (usukuchi shoyu)
• 1 tsp fine sea salt, or to taste

Method

1. 1
   Combine kombu and dried shiitake in 1 L cold water and leave overnight. The following day, set the pot over low heat and raise the temperature slowly to 60 °C; hold at that temperature for 20 minutes — the liquid will turn pale gold. Remove the kombu. Raise the heat to 80 °C, then lift out the shiitake. The finished dashi is dark amber, carrying a deep earthy-ocean depth; it must not boil, as boiling draws bitterness from the kombu.
2. 2
   Drain and thoroughly dry the konnyaku pieces. Set a wide, heavy pot over medium heat and add the sesame oil when the pan is cold. Add the gobo first and sauté, moving it frequently, until its cut surfaces are lightly caramelised and the pan smells of toasted earth. Add the carrot, then the lotus root, then the konnyaku — each in succession, allowing a moment of searing contact before the next goes in. The oil will carry the aromatic compounds of the sesame into the fat that will ultimately float on the soup's surface.
3. 3
   This is the step on which the dish lives or dies. The sauté must produce a visible, dry caramelisation on the cut surfaces of the burdock and lotus root before the dashi is added: the surfaces should show a faint bronze, not a grey steam. Skipping or curtailing this step reduces kenchinjiru to a plain simmered vegetable soup, erasing the flavour depth that defines it and leaving the vegetables vulnerable to disintegration in the broth.
4. 4
   Pour in the prepared kombu-shiitake dashi. Bring to a gentle simmer — not a rolling boil — and add the daikon. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until the harder root vegetables (gobo, lotus root) yield to the point of a knife without resistance but retain their shape. The broth will be clouded slightly by the sautéed oil; this is expected.
5. 5
   Add the firm tofu cubes. Continue to simmer gently for 5 minutes; the tofu should be heated through and just beginning to show a slightly firmer exterior where it meets the hot broth.
6. 6
   Season with light soy sauce and salt. Add no sweetener — mirin or sugar would undermine the austere shojin character. Taste: the broth should be modest, clean, and allow the earthiness of the root vegetables to be the dominant experience. A thin golden film of sesame oil on the surface is the mark of the finished soup, not a defect.