June 8, 2008

Breakfast this morning/今朝の朝食


I usually buy eggs on Thurday for 98 yen per pack of ten, because it's "Eggs Day" here in my area. Yesterday, however, I found eggs that looked good, so I bought one pack for 350 yen. They were free-range eggs and free from artifical color. When I broke some of the eggs this morning, I was disappointed! The whites were not firm. They were so runny that I thought they were water! The yolks were yellow, not orangish, just as I had imagined.
I made clear soup with the eggs.
普通、卵は10個パックのを98円で木曜日に買います。この日がこの辺では「卵の日」だからです。でも、昨日、良さそうな卵があったので、1パック350円で買いました。放し飼いの卵で、着色料無添加です。今朝、卵を割ってみましたが、がっかりしました。白身はしっかりしてなくて、水のようにでした。黄身は、予想通り、オレンジ色っぽくなく黄色でした。
この卵で澄まし汁を作りました。

I used these fresh shiitake mushrooms, which I also bought yesterday.
この生シイタケを使いました。これも昨日買ったものです。

For about 900 ml water, I added:
1 tsp salt
2 tsp instant dashi
4 shiitake mushrooms
2 eggs

After the soup was done, I finally added some koikuchi (dark) soy sauce for flavoring. Usually, clear soup (sumashi jiru in Japanese) calls for usukuchi (light) soy sauce, but I don't have any in my house. I am a Kanto (Estern Japan) man, and I don't want to use usukuchi!
約900 mlの水に、
塩小さじ1
出汁の素小さじ2
シイタケ4つ
卵2個
入れました。

汁ができてから、最後に濃口醤油を少し風味付けに入れました。普通、澄まし汁には薄口醤油を使いますが、我が家にはありません。私は関東人で、薄口は使いたくないんです!

This is the salt that I used:
使った塩はこれです。

Expensive salt, 16 times more expensive than regular table salt, but milder.
高価な塩で、普通の食卓塩の16倍の値段ですが、マイルドです。

I also made an omelet for myself. I had two packs of natto (45 g x 2 = 90 g) for breakfast, like I almost always do every morning.
また、自分用にオムレツも作りました。納豆を2パック(45 g x 2 = 90 g)も食べました。殆ど毎朝そうです。

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your soup looks like a Japanese version of what we call egg drop soup or egg flower soup, a specialty of Chinese restaurants here in the US and one of my all time favorites. I will have to try your recipe soon. Thanks!

Hiroyuki said...

If you want to be authentic, use real dashi, and season it with salt very lightly. I was once guilty of seasoning Japanese clear soup rather heavily with soy sauce. Most importantly, the water has to be soft.