Japanese Onion Soup

Boppie's Note:

My oldest son loves a Japanese restaurant in Springfield, Missouri named Nakato's. His favorite of all is their Japanese onion soup. After trial & error in the kitchen, I came up with this recipe that my son says is almost a perfect match for his favorite soup. While the restaurant removes almost all the veggies before serving, we actually prefer leaving them in. Enjoy!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 3

• 1/2 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 large carrot, peeled & chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon minced garlic (to taste)
• 1 (15 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 cups fresh mushrooms, brushed & sliced
• 1 beef bouillon cubes or 3 tablespoons beef bouillon granules
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives or 2 teaspoons dried chives

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients except chives.
2. Place over high heat & bring to a rolling boil. Cover & reduce heat to medium. Continue cooking for 45 minutes.
3. Remove from heat & strain out the vegetables.
4. Place a few of the chopped mushrooms from the strained vegetables in the bottom of each soup bowl & pour strained broth over them.
5. Sprinkle soup with chives & serve.

Reviews

[kateleestar]

I changed this recipe a little. I use low sodium beef broth and low sodium chicken broth, and a little low sodium soy sauce. I let it simmer for at least 45 mins, strain the veggies out and then let it sit until were ready for it. I put the green onion and mushrooms in each bowl, and then top with the broth. It's really good, and spot on to my local hibachi place. Using the low sodium stuff and adding more water cuts the salt by a lot. We have this several times a month now, it's a total keeper!

[caf188xoo]

I would NOT recommend this recipe as is! I made it last night and could not eat, it was way too strong. As the other review said, there seemed to be too much ginger and it was also very dark. I am wondering if it is meant to call for 1 TSP of ginger rather a tablespoon? I made this soup again today, without any ginger OR beef bouillon. It came out great! I might try to make it again soon with less ginger (tsp) and adding in the beef bouillon, but it was still plenty flavorful without either!

[Brittany B.]

I think with some adjustment I could get this right. My roommate and I tried it last night, and we decided after it was done that next time we definitely needed to cut back on the ginger. The soup also came out much darker than the one I'm used to at our local Japanese restaurants...