The Other Way of Japanese Fusion
06 October 2009
I quite often cook Japanese-style food – usually composed of a number of dishes, each prepared with great care, and served on plenty of different little plates and bowls - most of the times adding some "western" ingredients as my personal note.
Now this time my fusion cooking is turned the other way round. I prepared a cream soup, totally "western-style" in appearance, but based on Japanese "dashi" fish stock. I have always liked subtly seasoning our local kohlrabi with some more exotic spices such as curry, or nutmeg, or ginger (use the latter with caution so it won’t cover the gentle and sweetish flavour of the kohlrabi!). And, as I more recently discovered, I particularly like this vegetable in combination with the taste of fish and seafood (most of all, scallops).
This is how it occurred to me to try using a dashi base for this warming soup, which is indeed a wonderful thing to eat these days as autumn is knocking on the door, bringing us still bright and sunny but increasingly chilly days.
Dashi-Based Kohlrabi Cream Soup with Scallops
| serves 4 (as a starter) |
| 750ml dashi stock
(based on 750ml water, an about 6x6cm kombu seaweed, and about 3 tablespoons bonito flakes) |
| 2 kohlrabi roots |
| about 15g of a fresh ginger root |
| 1 (organic) vegetable stock cube |
| 1 teaspoon mildish curry powder |
| some freshly ground nutmeg |
| some garlic powder |
| about 50ml coconut milk |
| 1 tablespoon crème fraîche |
| a dash of white wine |
| soy sauce to taste |
| about 150g fresh scallops |
| some freshly chopped chives to garnish |
With about ¾ of a litre of water, an about 6x6cm piece of kombu seaweed and about 3 tablespoons of bonito flakes, prepare some not-too-concentrated dashi (the Japanese fish stock base) [how to prepare dashi stock]. After the seaweed and bonito flakes have been drained, add a vegetable stock cube to the soup.
Peel the kohlrabi as well as the ginger and cut the former into 2cm (or so) cubes, and the latter into fine slices. Add both to the soup, bring to a decent boil and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes (the kohlrabi bits should be very soft), then process in a blender until smooth.
Bring the soup base to a light simmer again and season with a teaspoon or so of a mild curry powder, a generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and some garlic powder to your liking. Stir in some coconut milk and a little dash of white wine, and season to taste with soy sauce (or just salt, or another veggie stock cube, if you prefer).
Cut the fresh scallops (the white parts only) into about 3 slices each and add them to the cream soup. Boil gently for about 8-10 minutes; make sure not to overcook to prevent the scallops from getting hard and chewy rather than soft and juicy. To finish, stir in a tablespoon of crème fraîche and serve quickly, garnished with a pinch of freshly chopped chives.
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