Dango Jiru Recipe is a delicious and easy-to-make Japanese soup made from dumplings, vegetables, and miso. Get a taste of Japan with this traditional recipe. Follow our simple instructions and you’ll be able to make your own
A characteristic of Japanese gastronomy is its wide variety of soups, from those that are eaten as an accompaniment, such as miso soup, to those that constitute a complete dish, such as the different types of ramen or this soup that we are offering you today: Dango Jiru Recipe
Dango Jiru Recipe is a dish that until recently was little known even in Japan itself but is now gaining notoriety.
Dango Jiru Recipe origin in the prefecture of Oita, in the south of the country, famous for its thermal baths.
The main characteristic of the Dango Jiru Recipe is that it has some long, flat noodles called Dango, which are normally made with homemade dough. These noodles have a rather pleasant, sticky, and syrupy texture that encourages you to taste more and more of them.
It’s very common to prepare the Dango Jiru Recipe, although you can also find it with tofu or only with vegetables. Regarding the latter, although the ones we are talking about here are those that have been used many times, you can adapt them to your tastes and use the ones that you like the most.
To finish, the Dango Jiru Recipe is fortified with miso (soybean paste), although if you don’t have any, a fairly accessible alternative is to season the soup with a little soy sauce. However, miso is quite easy to find in Asian supermarkets and the result will be much better with it.
When ready to serve, place everything in bowls and simply add chopped spring onions and possibly a few drops of kaboshu, which is a fairly common citrus fruit in Japan. Here we can replace it with lime or even lemon.
INGREDIENTS
For the dango dough or flat noodles:
- 70g all-purpose wheat flour
- 40ml water
- 1 pinch of salt
For the soup:
- 4 or 5 shiitake setas (or 1 shimeji manojito)
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 piece of Japanese daikon radish (optional)
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 nabo redondo mediano
- 2 or 3 Chinese cabbage leaves
- 1 or 2 Chinese chives (or the green of a regular chive)
- 500ml dashi stock
- 2 tablespoons miso paste (or soy sauce)
- ½ lima or kaboshu
HOW TO MAKE DANGO JIRU RECIPE
STEP 1
Let’s start with the Dango Jiru Recipe, which is flat noodles. To make this, combine 70 g all-purpose wheat flour, 40 mL water, and 1 pinch of salt.
Knead the ingredients for 5 minutes, or until it is uniform and smooth. We divide the dough into 16 pieces and shape them into ovals (like small bites).
Cover with a clean, moist kitchen towel to prevent drying and set aside while we continue with the preparation.
STEP 2
Now we’ll take care of the remainder of the items that will go into Dango Jiru Recipe
First, we soaked 4 or 5 dried shiitake mushrooms in 1 cup of boiling water. Then we take two boneless, skinless chicken thighs and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
Peel and chop 1 daikon, 1 Japanese radish, 1 medium carrot, 1 medium round turnip, and 2 or 3 Chinese cabbage leaves in addition. Finally, thinly slice 1 Chinese onion.
STEP 3
We’re going to blanch the vegetables now. This step is optional, however, it is said to improve the flavor of the Dango Jiru Recipe.
We have to bring water to a boil, then add them and let them boil for 1 minute. Drain and set aside.
STEP 4
We do the same thing with the chicken as we did with the veggies since it helps to remove contaminants.
Boil the chicken for 1 minute in the same water before draining and setting aside.
STEP 5
We now discard the blanching water, rinse the pan, and add 500 mL of dashi broth to the pan together with the water for soaking the shiitake mushrooms.
The hydrated mushrooms are chopped and added to the pan with the carrot, turnip, and radish. Cook for about 10 minutes, covered, over medium heat.
STEP 6
We’ll make the flat noodles while the vegetables cook. We crushed and stretched the dough pieces that we had set aside one by one.
To thin them out, we take both ends and very gently move the noodle up and down to release tension and allow the dough to stretch more freely.
STEP 7
When the vegetables are done, we add the noodles to the soup along with the chicken and cabbage. Allow the mixture to cook, partially covered, for about 10 minutes, or until the dango are tender.
STEP 8
Finally, add around 2 teaspoons of miso paste to the soup.
To do this is customarily done in a colander to dissolve the miso paste in the soup without incorporating any lumps, resulting in a finer broth.
STEP 9
All we have to do now is let everything cook together for a few more minutes to combine the flavors, and our dango jiru will be ready.
STEP 10
We serve the dango jiru immediately, dusted with chopped chives and if preferred, a few drops of lime. Have a delicious meal!
