Myoga flower clear soup 花茗荷のお澄まし

I am trying to come up with more recipes using the myoga flowers ミョウガのはな we harvested the other day. Since the myoga flower is rather delicate in appearance and flavor, I made a simple clear soup. It is important to start this type of clear soup from a good broth. Since this was a lunch and I did not have much time to prepare (we were hungry), I used a dashi pack (mixture of bonito and kelp). I made about 2.5 cups of broth. I seasoned it with a splash of mirin (you do not want to taste real sweetness) and light colored "usukuchi" soy sauce 薄口醤油 . I tasted it and thought it was ok but if you prefer more saltiness and don’t want to make the clear soup too dark (even using light colored soy sauce), you could just add salt. I had some silken tofu from Japan (which is meant to be eaten "raw") so I made some small cubes and put it in the soup. I also added a small amount of myoga buds finely julienned and scallion (in retrospect, I should have omitted the scallion. It was a bit too strong; the myoga flavor alone was sufficient). After I put the soup in individual serving bowels (or "owan"  お椀), I garnished with several myoga flowers in the center.



This soup was an accompaniment for a marinated tuna rice bowl or "maguro-zuke-don" 鮪ずけ丼.



This soup was very good. The tofu was nicely silken. The soup made with good "dashi" was flavorful and mild. The myoga flowers had a subtle and distinctive myoga flavor. My wife is usually not a fan of Japanese soup but she drained the bowel and asked if there was any more.