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Kenchin Jiru

A bowl of broth with carrots tofu pea shoots and lotus root with a ladle and dishcloth.
Photo by Yuki Sugiura

This kenchin jiru recipe is from my great teacher Mari Fujii, who taught me Shojin Ryori (Buddhist temple cuisine). Like all Shojin Ryori dishes, this soup is vegan. It is a really hearty, comforting dish for a wintry day, but it won’t weigh on your stomach for hours. I find crushing the tofu in by hand at the end so satisfying. 

The story goes that several centuries ago, a young monk dropped a fresh block of tofu onto the kitchen floor. The floor was kept clean, so they added the smashed tofu into the evening soup rather than waste it. This became the same nutritious recipe that you see today.

This recipe was excerpted from 'Atsuko's Japanese Kitchen' by Atsuko Ikeda. Buy the full book on Amazon. Head this way for more tofu recipes→

What you’ll need

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