Simplest Sukiyaki Soup

NEW BEGINNINGS, NEW EATS
Welcome to, technically, my second blog! I used to run a food blog with a friend about ten years ago and while the old blog is still online, it's been defunct for at least 3 years. I have not personally posted on the old blog in over five years and my friend added her last post in 2019. Could I have revived ye old blog? Sure. But I'm getting (re)married again in a week and to me, it's a significant new chapter in my life. So a new blog it is.

I AM STILL A FOODIE
Some things never change so this blog will still be centered around food along with glimpses into my life with a soon-to-be husband, a grown daughter, a dog, and seven cats. Feel free to stick around.

ONE WEEK LEFT
The wedding is next week and while I have had grand plans two months ago to eat healthily and exercise more, I did neither of those things. In fact, two weeks ago, I bought a giant bag of Hot Cheetos from Costco and I'm still kicking myself for it. Only half a bag remains.

Today, I started a lighter eating plan. My goal is to cut back on carbs, added sugar, and added salt for this coming week. For lunch today, I made a very light sukiyaki soup that was also filling because I packed it with lots of goodies such as mushrooms, tofu, cabbage, and thinly sliced pork. The sun is nowhere to be found today and the soup hit the spot on such a dreary day.

SIMPLEST SUKIYAKI SOUP

Serves 8 to 10.

This is very much an eyeball type of recipe. The base of the soup comprises of hondashi powder (or homemade dashi stock if you prefer), soy sauce, and mirin. The rest of the ingredients can be whatever combination of protein and vegetables you'd like. Since I'm making this a lighter, low-sodium soup, I used less of the soup base ingredients. You can adjust the saltiness by adding more soy sauce and hondashi.

Soup Base Ingredients:

10 cups water

1 tbsp. hondashi powder

2 tbsp. mirin

1/3 cup soy sauce

Add-ins:

1/2 of an onion, sliced thinly

Any vegetables that float your boat. I like to use napa cabbage, regular cabbage, bok choy, bean sprouts, or spinach. 

Proteins such as thinly sliced beef, pork, chicken, ground turkey, or tofu chunks.

Mushrooms

Noodles such as udon, soba, or cellophane noodles. To keep it low carb, try it with Shirataki noodles which is what I've used today.

Directions:

Bring the water to a boil and add the hondashi powder, mirin, and soy sauce. Add in your protein and cook for 5 minutes. Add your vegetables next and simmer until they are tender. Top with chopped scallions and serve immediately.