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Iwashi Tsumire Soup (Sardine Ball Miso Soup)
Serves 2–3 · About 40 min
Sardines chopped with a knife and rolled into balls, cooked in miso soup with daikon, carrot and leek.
① Cut the vegetables→② Chop the sardines→③ Mix the sardine ball mixture→④ Simmer the vegetables→⑤ Cook the sardine balls and dissolve the miso
What to buy
Fish
Vegetables
Seasonings & dry goods
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How to make it
1
Cut the vegetables
- Peel the daikon and cut into quarter-rounds 5 mm thick (cut rounds into 4)
- Peel the carrot and cut into quarter-rounds 5 mm thick too
- Finely chop 5 cm of the leek (for the sardine balls), and cut the rest into 1 cm diagonal slices
How to tell it's doneEverything is cut, and only the finely chopped leek is kept separate.
2
Chop the sardines
- Cut off the sardine tails if they have them. Pinch the skin at the head end and pull it toward the tail to peel it off
- On a cutting board, cut the fish into 1 cm pieces, then chop with the knife up and down to make it fine
- It's fine to chop the small bones too. Keep going until it's all sticky and holds together
How to tell it's doneThe fish has lost its shape, and it sticks together in one clump when you scoop it with the knife.
Be carefulMove the knife blade straight up and down on the cutting board. Keep your fingers off the cutting board.
3
Mix the sardine ball mixture
- Put the sardines from step 2, the chopped leek from step 1, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp miso and 1 tbsp potato starch in a bowl
- Mix well with a spoon until everything is blended
- Wash your hands, knife and cutting board with soap after touching the raw sardines, before moving on
How to tell it's doneThe leek is spread throughout, and there are no white lumps of starch.
4
Simmer the vegetables in dashi
- Put 600 ml water, 1 tsp dashi granules, 1 tbsp sake, the daikon and carrot in a pot and put on medium heat
- When it boils, turn to medium-low heat and simmer for about 5 minutes
How to tell it's doneA bamboo skewer (or a chopstick) goes easily into the daikon.
5
Drop in the sardine balls and cook
- Using 2 spoons, shape the mixture from step 3 into bite-size balls (about 3 cm across) and drop them one at a time into the simmering pot
- When they're all in, add the diagonally sliced leek too
- After the sardine balls float up, cook 2–3 minutes more. Skim off the whitish foam on top with a ladle and throw it away
How to tell it's doneAll the sardine balls are floating. Take out the biggest one and break it in half: it's grayish all the way through, with no pink.
6
Dissolve the miso
- Turn to low heat
- Put 2 tbsp miso in a ladle and dissolve it little by little into the soup with cooking chopsticks
- Taste it. If it's too mild, add miso 1/2 tsp at a time
- Turn off the heat just before it boils, and ladle into bowls
ReadyNo lumps of miso are left, and the soup is the same color all over.
Be carefulIf it boils hard after adding the miso, the miso loses its aroma.
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If it didn't work out
The sardine balls fell apartThe mixture wasn't mixed enough in step 3, or there wasn't enough potato starch. Mix well, and shape it after it becomes sticky.
The sardine balls smell fishyAdd 1/2 tsp more ginger. Make it on the day you buy the sardines.
The sardine balls are hardThey cooked too long. Move on 2–3 minutes after they float.
The broth is too saltyAdd water 50 ml at a time, reheat, and taste.
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