japanese veggie soup with ginger

Awhile back, I tried this soup at Soup Stock Tokyo.

I finally got around to trying the recipe from their cookbook.

I adapted it to what veggies I had on hand.

Japanese Veggie Soup with Ginger : adapted from "Soup Stock Tokyo" : makes about 4 servings

2 tablespoons barley, water to reconstitute
150 grams minced chicken
1 stalk of gobo, cleaned then diced
1/2 a large carrot, diced
1/4 onion, diced
some maitake, finely chopped
3 fresh shiitake, cleaned and sliced (dice the stalks)
a small bunch of spinach, cleaned and diced
1 tablespoon oil
3 cups water
2 nubs ginger, grated
2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)

In a bowl, put the barley and some water to cover, let sit for about 30 minutes
In a pan, on medium heat, heat the oil and add the carrots and gobo, toss to coat
After 2 or 3 minutes, add the onion
When the onion turns transparent, add the chicken and cook until it changes color
Add the rest of the veggies and then add the water and barley
Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil
Scrape off the scum
Then turn down the heat to low and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes
When the veggies are the tenderness to your liking, add the ginger, shoyu and mirin

NOTES: Love this soup! The ginger helps to warm you up, which is perfect for our icy weather these days. The hardest part was chopping up all the different veggies. I'm making this again.