Kasu-jiru is a soup made with sake lees.I don't like this soup because the sake smell is strong. Satoshi on the other hand, loves this soup.
My MIL served this to us the other time we visited her last month. I picked at it and eventually gave my serving to Satoshi, when it came time for us to leave, my MIL gave me some extra kasu to make some kasu-jiru for Satoshi, as she knows it is his favorite.
Satoshi comes home late every night, but for the past couple of weeks, Satoshi has been working extra late. His company will be changing to a new computer system soon, so they are trying to prepare for the switch over.
Since he usually comes home so late, I don't serve him a proper dinner because eating a full meal at midnight or 1 am wouldn't give him enough time to digest it all before going to bed.
So, in the morning, I send him to work with a musubi and some tea, this is for him to eat at about 7 or 8 in the evening. Then when he comes home, I usually serve him salads or soups like this or even this so that he won't have to go to bed feeling hungry. Then the next morning, I try to feed him a hearty breakfast. (When we first moved to Japan, I would feed him a full meal late at night and in the morning, he wouldn't be hungry and want to skip breakfast.)
Anyway, here is how I made the soup.
Salmon kasu-jiru : serves 2
40 grams sake kasu (sake lees)
1/2 a stick of gobo (about 8-inches long), whittled
1/2 a carrot, sliced
1/2 a sweet potato, cubed
1 piece of salmon, take bones off, cut into bite sized pieces
Add 3 cups of water, put veggies in and bring to a boil
After 10 minutes, check to see if sweet potato is soft
Turn down heat to low and add salmon,cook for 5 minutes.
Add kasu and mix well. (It should "melt" into the soup)
After kasu is well mixed into the soup add some salt and shoyu to taste.
Serve.
NOTES: Most times daikon is used in this soup, but I would suggest using whatever veggies you have on hand. Also, if you don't have salmon, just leave it out. My MIL served her soup with just veggies.
13 comments:
Hi there,
I've never heard of sake lees being used in cooking. There's a sake maker here in Berkeley. I wonder if they sell the lees at Japanese stores.
Thanks for adding us as a friend on Foodbuzz, and thanks for visiting our site!
aww! You are always so supportive of what your husband does! haha sometimes the salmon has too much oil for soup that I really can't drink too much of it without feeling sick.
Despite the smell, do you like the taste of it?
I think some sake breweries may actually give their lees away, Nate-n-Annie :)
Nah, I don't even eat it Phoebe!
Take care everyone.
Kat
It looks good but if you don't like the flavor and its too strong, it makes it really hard to eat.
Thanks Deb :)
Take care.
Kat
You should know that I ended up liking kasu-jiru a LOT! Made some with the lees when I was back home and yeah, the flavor is strong but I guess I'm a real boozer at heart *wink* -- wish I could have brought over the rest.
Yay for your giveaway in the previous post. Since you've already been so generous towards me, I figure it prudent to skip out on this one, but it should be fun to see who receives the package!
Rowena, you boozer you...lol. ;)
If you want to enter, no prob, just let me know :)
Take care.
Kat
Thanks for this recipe. I usually just marinade fish with sake lees, but now I'll add some to soup. I just bought a big jar of it. What is the shelf life of sake lees?
Hi Sarah,
Not sure what the shelf life of sake lees is but I have mine in a air tight container in the refrig. I hope you like the soup :) I want to try the marinade for fish.
Take care.
Kat
Love your blogs...just back from Osaka ourselves....keep them coming!
Thanks Gringo :) Hope to see you around here more often!
Take care.
Kat
I have a new appreciation for your site now, Kat -- for some reason Japanese products are hard to come by in our area, tho' Korean stores carry some Japanese products. *sigh* I did hand carry some kasu over from Hawaii and we've made kasu jiru a couple of times already. I'm with Rowena on the booziness of this soup! ; )
I'm sorry to have missed your giveaway, it's taken me awhile to play catchup with everyone's sites!
Thank you Manju, sorry to hear the Japanese products on the mainland aren't plentiful where you are.
I'm thinking of having another giveaway, hope you'll be able to enter then :)
Take care.
Kat
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