Japanese · soup

Kenchinjiru (Temple Soup of Root Vegetables and Crumbled Tofu)

Name: Kenchinjiru (Temple Soup of Root Vegetables and Crumbled Tofu)
Prep time: 38 min
Total time: 8 h 38 min
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: shiitake-kombu dashi — 1200 g; firm tofu — 300 g; daikon radish — 300 g; carrot — 100 g; burdock root — 80 g; taro root — 150 g; konnyaku — 100 g; sesame oil — 27 g; sake — 15 g; soy sauce — 30 g; salt — 3 g; green onion — 80 g; shichimi togarashi — 1 g

Kenchinjiru (Temple Soup of Root Vegetables and Crumbled Tofu) reads umami 6.5, salinity 5.1 and nutty 4.2 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Japanese soup, about 8 hr 38 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 7.3 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 3.2 / 10
Sour & Bright — 1.2 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 2.7 / 10
Rich & Fat — 5.4 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 1.5 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 6.5 · Salinity 5.1 · Nutty 4.2 · Richness 4.0 · Funk & Ferment 2.9 · Sweetness 2.8 · Earthy 2.6 · Fruity 1.4 · Herbaceous 1.3 · Allium 1.2 · Floral 1.1 · Sourness 1.0 · Bitterness 0.6

What's in it (13)

shiitake-kombu dashi — 1200 g
firm tofu — 300 g
daikon radish — 300 g
carrot — 100 g
burdock root — 80 g
taro root — 150 g
konnyaku — 100 g
sesame oil — 27 g
sake — 15 g
soy sauce — 30 g
salt — 3 g
green onion — 80 g
shichimi togarashi — 1 g

Time & effort: about 8 hr 38 min (38 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 42.9 kcal, 2.6 g protein, 2.3 g fat, 3.7 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (6 steps)

This is shojin ryori, Buddhist temple cooking, so the stock carries no fish: steep the kombu and dried shiitake in cold water overnight and lift them out before the liquid ever boils. The mushrooms give the guanylate that katsuobushi would otherwise provide, and the two together taste deeper than either alone.
Crumble the drained tofu into rough thumbnail pieces with your hands. Do not cube it. The torn faces catch the sesame oil and take on colour, which is where the soup gets its body.
Heat the sesame oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat and fry the crumbled tofu 4 to 5 minutes without stirring much, until patches of it are golden and it smells toasted. Lift it out and set it aside.
In the same oil, fry the daikon, carrot, gobo, satoimo and konnyaku for 5 minutes, until the daikon edges turn translucent. Add the sake and let it hiss away.
Pour in the dashi, bring to a simmer, skim once, and cook 20 minutes at a soft bubble, until the satoimo is tender enough to cut with the side of a ladle. Return the fried tofu and season with the usukuchi soy and salt. Simmer 5 minutes more.
Add the negi off the heat so it keeps its bite, and serve with shichimi togarashi at the table. Kenchinjiru is attributed to Kencho-ji, the Zen temple in Kamakura, and the traditional account has the name coming from Kencho-jiru, the temple's soup; the story is old and widely repeated but not documented in a contemporary source.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Chikuzenni (Simmered Chicken and Root Vegetables) — Japanese
Lo Mein (捞面) — Chinese
Claypot Rice with Lap Cheong (Bo Zai Fan) — Chinese · Cantonese
Japchae with Beef — Korean
Vegetable Lasagna — Italian

Keep reading: what umami, salinity, nutty mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.