Apple Pie, Patis, and Pâté

Dotted with tiny bits of yellow, it looks like any other corn soup but one taste and you’ll know it’s unmistakably Japanese. Pureed corn kernels are seasoned with dashi, miso, and soy sauce to create a soup that can be enjoyed hot or cold. Served with tofu, a poached egg, or shredded crabmeat, it can be a light meal by itself.

recipe adapted from Shizuo Tsuji’s Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art

Pureed Corn Soup
とうもろこしすり流し汁 (Tomorokoshi Surinagashi-jiru)

makes 4 servings

1 cob fresh corn or 1 cup frozen corn kernels
5 cups dashi
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce
3 tablespoons white miso
1/4 teaspoon Japanese or Dijon mustard

Optional:
1/2 cake tofu, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
4 eggs
cooked shredded crabmeat

Notes:

• I prefer white miso for soups for its lighter taste but red miso will also work nicely.
• I used instant dashi granules, also known as dashi-no-moto or hon-dashi. I used 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of instant dashi to make 5 cups.

Cook the corn on the cob or frozen corn kernels in lightly salted boiling water for about 1 minute. Strip the kernels from the cob and chop coarsely on a cutting board. Press the corn kernels through a sieve with the back of a wooden spoon. Discard the pulp.

Bring the dashi to a boil then lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Add the salt and light soy sauce.

In a small bowl, mix the miso with a half cup of the simmering dashi broth to dissolve, making sure that the miso is thoroughly incorporated with the dashi. Do not add the miso directly to the pot since it will be more difficult to evenly disperse.

Mix in the miso-dashi mixture and the pureed corn and heat until the soup comes to a simmer. Add the Japanese or Dijon mustard and stir well.

To Serve:

With tofu: Add the tofu cubes to the simmering soup and cook just until the tofu is heated through.

With eggs: You can either break the eggs directly in the simmering liquid to poach or beat the eggs in a bowl beforehand.

With cooked shredded crabmeat: Top a bowl of pureed corn soup, hot or cold, with cooked crabmeat.

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