Kakitama-jiru
かきたま汁·(kakitama-jiru)
O-kaze: When the Body Needs Healing
Tuesday night, past nine—when the fever breaks and the body demands comfort, this is the soup that appears on the bedside tray. The trick to making the ethereal egg ribbons cloud isn’t a rare mountain herb; it’s a simple potato starch slurry added to a rolling dashi broth before the egg ever touches the pot. The starch acts as a cushion, suspending the egg perfectly and keeping the golden broth crystal clear. It takes five minutes on the back burner, elevates standard supermarket stock, and dirties exactly one saucepan. Sip it while the broth is still scalding.
Before you start
Beat the egg to cut the whites.
Crack the egg into a small spouted measuring cup and beat it with chopsticks, keeping their tips pressed firmly against the bottom to integrate the yolk and white without whipping in foam.
Prepare the slurry.
Stir the potato starch and cold water together in a small bowl until completely smooth.
Ingredients
- dashi stock1 3/4 cup
- light soy sauce1 tsp
- sake1 tsp
- kosher salt1/3 tsp
- potato starch1 tbsp
- cold water1 tbsp
- egg1 large
- mitsuba or scallions1 small handful
Method
- 01
Simmer and season the broth.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the dashi to a gentle simmer and stir in the light soy sauce, sake, and kosher salt.
- 02
Thicken the soup.
Lower the heat, give the starch slurry a quick stir so nothing sticks to the bottom, and slowly drizzle it in while stirring the broth continuously.
- 03
Return to a rolling boil.
Increase the heat to medium-high and let the broth come to a vigorous boil; this cooks the starch and creates the essential suspension cushion for the egg.
- 04
Create the whirlpool and stream in the egg.
Stir the boiling broth in a circle to form a gentle whirlpool, then slowly pour the beaten egg into the swirling liquid in a very thin, steady stream.
- 05
Kill the heat and step away.
Immediately turn off the heat and do not touch the pot for five seconds, allowing the egg to instantly bloom into silken, floating ribbons.
- 06
Gently fold and serve.
Give the soup a single, gentle stir from the bottom up, ladle into warm bowls, and garnish immediately with the chopped mitsuba or scallion.
Notes
Sourcing the dashi.
While traditional ichiban dashi is a beautiful thing, a weeknight cook can easily dissolve one teaspoon of high-quality Hondashi powder into hot water with perfectly respectable, deeply comforting results.
The importance of light soy sauce.
Usukuchi (light) soy sauce is saltier but lighter in color than standard soy sauce, preserving the soup's brilliant golden clarity. If you only have standard dark soy sauce, use just a few drops for umami and rely heavily on the kosher salt for seasoning.
From Cook Japanese in America.