Recipes · Japanese · Main Courses
Kenchin-jiru (Japanese Temple Vegetable and Tofu Soup)
One serving has 642 kcal and 27 g protein, and at least a fifth of a woman's daily need of manganese (141%), copper (122%), calcium (78%), thiamin (67%), folate (67%) and selenium (58%). Ready in 75 minutes.
- Preparation: 45 min
- Cooking: 30 min
- Makes: 1 serving (725 g)
- Difficulty: Medium
- Diets: Vegan, Dairy-free
- Contains: alcohol, celery, gluten, sesame, soy
Ingredients
- 3 g Kombu (dried kelp, for the stock)
- 4 g Dried shiitake mushrooms
- 330 g Water (stock and rice)
- 100 g Firm tofu
- 70 g Taro (satoimo)
- 50 g Daikon radish
- 30 g Carrot
- 25 g Burdock root (gobo)
- 8 g Sesame oil
- 8 g Sake
- 12 g Soy sauce
- 10 g Spring onion
- 75 g Japanese short-grain rice (to serve)
Method
- Make the stock: soak the kombu and dried shiitake in 230 g of the cold water for at least 30 minutes (or overnight in the fridge). Wash the rice until the water runs clear and cook it with the remaining 100 g water: 12 minutes covered on low heat, then 10 minutes resting.
- Wrap the tofu in kitchen paper and press it under a plate for 15 minutes. Peel the taro, cut it into bite-sized pieces and rinse off the slipperiness. Scrape the burdock with the back of a knife and shave it into thin slivers into a bowl of water. Cut the daikon and carrot into thin quarter-moons. Lift out the kombu, squeeze the shiitake and slice them.
- Heat the sesame oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the drained burdock, the carrot and the daikon and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Crumble the tofu in with your hands and stir-fry for 2 minutes more, until everything is glossy and smells of toasted sesame.
- Add the taro, the shiitake and the stock. Bring to the boil, skim off any foam, then simmer partly covered for 15 minutes, until the taro is tender to a knife.
- Add the sake and soy sauce and simmer for 2 minutes more. Taste: it should be gently savoury, not salty.
- Ladle into a large bowl, scatter with the sliced spring onion and serve with the rice. The soup is said to come from Kenchō-ji, a Zen temple in Kamakura, and is made without fish stock, unlike most Japanese soups.
Nutrition per serving
| Nutrient | Per serving | Share of a day's need |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 642 kcal | 30% |
| Carbohydrates | 96.2 g | |
| Water | 577 mL | |
| Fiber | 10.7 g | 36% |
| Protein | 26.7 g | 56% |
| Tryptophan | 0.33 g | |
| Threonine | 1.1 g | |
| Isoleucine | 1.2 g | |
| Leucine | 2 g | |
| Lysine | 1.2 g | |
| Methionine | 0.37 g | |
| Cystine | 0.23 g | |
| Phenylalanine | 1.3 g | |
| Tyrosine | 0.97 g | |
| Valine | 1.3 g | |
| Histidine | 0.63 g | |
| Fat | 17.7 g | |
| Monounsaturated | 5.3 g | |
| Polyunsaturated | 8.6 g | |
| Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) | 0 g | |
| Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) | 0 g | |
| Omega-6 | 7.9 g | |
| Saturated | 2.6 g | |
| Trans-Fats | 0 g | |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | |
| Calcium | 782 mg | 78% |
| Copper | 1.1 mg | 122% |
| Iron | 7.9 mg | 44% |
| Magnesium | 154 mg | 50% |
| Manganese | 2.5 mg | 141% |
| Phosphorus | 393 mg | 56% |
| Potassium | 1,175 mg | 25% |
| Selenium | 32.1 µg | 58% |
| Sodium | 747 mg | |
| Zinc | 3.4 mg | 42% |
| Thiamin (vitamin B1) | 0.74 mg | 67% |
| Riboflavin (vitamin B2) | 0.33 mg | 30% |
| Niacin (vitamin B3) | 5.4 mg | 39% |
| Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) | 2.5 mg | 49% |
| Pyridoxine (vitamin B6) | 0.62 mg | 48% |
| Folate (vitamin B9) | 268 µg | 67% |
| Cobalamin (vitamin B12) | 0 µg | 0% |
| Choline | 34.1 mg | 8% |
| Vitamin A | 259 µg | 37% |
| Vitamin C | 19 mg | 25% |
| Vitamin D (D2 + D3) | 6.2 IU | 1% |
| Vitamin E | 2.3 mg | 15% |
| Vitamin K | 27.8 µg | 31% |
Shares of a day's need are for a woman of 30, 165 cm, 60 kg, lightly active, by the US and Canadian Dietary Reference Intakes. SustainBite works out each person's own needs, by the standard where they live: the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations in Norway, the UK's, EFSA's in the EU.
Climate footprint
0.4 kg CO2e a serving: lower than most main dishes on SustainBite. Source: ADEME, Agribalyse 3.2.
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